GREY Grey Global Grp. (MM)

Steve Blamer Named President/CEO Of Grey Worldwide North America NEW YORK, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Steve Blamer has been promoted to President and CEO of Grey Worldwide North America. The announcement was made today by Edward H. Meyer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Grey Global Group. Mr. Blamer has been President/CEO of Grey Worldwide New York since April of 2000. Mr. Blamer will have responsibility for all Grey Worldwide offices domestically including New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver. Ed Meyer appointed Steve Blamer to run the New York and Atlanta offices of Grey Worldwide when the former Grey Advertising was restructured into Grey Global Group, (NASDAQ:GREY) the third largest U.S.-based holding company overseeing a diverse offering of wholly-owned global marketing communications business units. "I charged Steve with energizing and leading new growth in our flagship advertising agency, Grey Worldwide New York as well as building our Atlanta office," offered Mr. Meyer in making the announcement. "Steve focused our New York office on revitalizing creative work and client service. He successfully oversaw the restructuring of the agency into eight autonomous mid-sized agencies called 'Villages.' I'm proud to say that during one of the worst recession periods in the agency business, our revenues, profits and most significantly, the quality of creative work are all up significantly at Grey Worldwide New York and at Grey in Atlanta. This success, coupled with Steve's energy and leadership skills, are among the reasons I'm promoting Steve Blamer to this new position," said Mr. Meyer. Mr. Meyer went on to say: "And even though Grey Worldwide is doing very well these days, with his promotion, Steve and I believe we will need added firepower in New York. To this end, Steve will now deepen and strengthen his management team, in order to help him continue to build Grey Worldwide domestically." In 1998 Ed Meyer appointed Steve Blamer as head of Grey London, the third-largest agency in Grey's 88-country network. During his tenure as Chief Executive, Grey London led the UK ad industry in new business wins. Prior to that, Steve served with Grey in Los Angeles. He joined the agency in 1989, after a two-year hiatus from the agency world (during which, he and a former client founded a fruit drink company), and in l997 he was appointed Managing Director of Grey LA. During his year in that position, the agency had one of its strongest years ever. While at Grey in Los Angeles, Steve helped to build business for Caesars Palace and Coldwell Banker real estate and he oversaw Mars Petcare for the United States, Canada and Latin America. Steve began his advertising career working on the Sunkist beverage account at FCB Chicago, following his graduation from Arizona State in 1979. In 1981, he left FCB for DDB Needham/Chicago and the Kraft Foods business. In 1984 Steve moved back to FCB -- and his native California -- to work in its LA office on First Interstate Bank, the agency's largest account. Steve, 47, currently serves on the board of directors of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. He and his wife, Linda and their two children reside in Chappaqua, New York. DATASOURCE: Grey Global Group Inc. CONTACT: Jan A. Sneed of Grey Global Group Inc., +1-212-546-2422, cell - +1-917-543-4125 Web site: http://www.grey.com/

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