There’s change at the top of Ogilvy Health. Kim Johnson is leaving to pursue new opportunities after three years as CEO, driving Ogilvy Health to hire Mario Muredda from Avalere Health to fill the vacancy.
Muredda worked at WPP, Ogilvy Health’s parent company, early in his career. However, while that stint as a medical writer at Precept gives Muredda a link to his new employer, the incoming CEO made his name elsewhere. Muredda previously worked as president of marketing at Avalere Health and before that spent more than a decade at Omnicom Health Group’s Harrison & Star, culminating in five years as CEO.
At Ogilvy Health, Muredda will oversee a business that spans brand strategy, advertising, public relations, medical education and market access. Muredda forms part of a new-look C-suite. Earlier this year, the company promoted Shannon Walsh to the newly created role of chief operating officer, North America.
Ogilvy Health is tasking the new CEO with accelerating growth. That task fell on the shoulders of Johnson for the past three years. Ogilvy Health named Johnson as CEO in July 2021, one week after its former leader Kate Cronin left to take up a position at Moderna. Cronin is chief brand officer at Moderna.
Like her predecessor, Johnson is leaving to pursue new opportunities but she is yet to make the details public. Johnson said in a statement about Muredda’s appointment that “now is the right time for me to embark on the next chapter of my career.”
Ogilvy Health highlighted progress overseen by Johnson over the past three years, saying the outgoing CEO spearheaded significant advances by modernizing the agency’s capabilities, diversifying its client portfolio and elevating its reputation.