Havas Formula Elevates Agency Presidents Tara Reid and Adrienne Cadena to CEOs

Reid takes over firm's PR business while Cadena leads its experiential practice, Havas Street, as founder and CEO Michael Olguin steps into chairman role

NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of its 30th anniversary and after achieving double-digit growth that solidified 2022 as its best year ever, award-winning public relations agency Havas Formula announced the appointment of tenured leaders and presidents Tara Reid and Adrienne Cadena as its new CEOs. Reid takes over Havas Formula, the firm's PR business, and Cadena leads its experiential business, Havas Street. Founder and CEO Michael Olguin is stepping into the role of chairman.

Given the agency's distinct yet collaborative service offerings of strategic communications and experiential programming, it selected two CEOs—one for Havas Formula and one for Havas Street—who will work together but maintain independent responsibilities. Both Reid and Cadena have been with the agency for 15-plus years.

"I couldn't be more optimistic about the future of Havas Formula," said Olguin. "With the PR and experiential landscapes changing more rapidly than ever, Tara and Adrienne have what it takes to enhance and expand our offerings, drive culture amid the evolving world of work, and continue our track record of impressive growth. Leading with passion, intelligence, intuition and empathy, Tara and Adrienne bring the very best leadership traits to lock arms and shape the agency's next 30 years."     

"From culture to growth, Havas Formula has been a positive force and an integral part of the Havas Group since its acquisition. With these new leaders at the helm, I'm confident the excellent momentum will continue," said Donna Murphy, global chief executive officer of Havas Creative and Havas Health & You. "I'm most excited to strengthen the collaboration and integration between Tara and Adrienne and our existing agency CEOs both in the US and globally."  

With a focus on inspiring and empowering people and brands to reach their fullest potential, Reid has established herself as a trusted PR partner and mentor. An accomplished public relations executive and storyteller with 20 years' experience, she most recently served as president of Havas Formula Midwest. In that role, she was responsible for building a positive reputation and driving awareness of signature B2C and B2B brands through award-winning integrated marcom programs. Beginning in Havas Formula's San Diego office, Reid relocated to Chicago in 2016 to open that location. In addition to managing the Midwest office, she became an integral part of the Havas Chicago Village leadership team.

"Havas Formula has forged a path of bravery for the last 30 years, which I have been fortunate to be a part of, and I'm thrilled to continue paving the way in this new role," Reid said. "To set us up for transformative success, I'm excited to cultivate a culture of collaboration, foster the growth of our teams—whose talent is unmatched—and unlock new business opportunities to make a meaningful impact in the lives of our people and on the business of our clients."

After beginning her career in PR, Cadena launched Havas Formula's experiential arm, Havas Street in 2006. Nearly two decades later, and most recently serving as the practice area's president, she has been the principal architect behind Street's dramatic growth and in raising its profile to become one of the nation's foremost experiential groups. With her energetic spirit and strategic approach, Cadena created impactful growth for some of the world's leading brands. She also launched internal staffing services to support Street's experiences and managed the development of state-of-the-art reporting tools to directly measure brand success. Cadena is a past recipient of the "40 Under 40 Award" by PRWeek, and she serves on the board of advisors for USC's Center for PR, a group that helps to define the future of the communications industry.

"Having spent nearly two decades building Havas Street, I'm more energized than ever to drive our company forward with a new focus on the future," Cadena said. "With collaboration at the center of everything we do, I look forward to working with our immensely talented team to create incredibly meaningful experiences that will positively impact our brands and help shape our industry."

The CEO announcement anchors a long-term succession plan to ensure Havas Formula's sustained growth and expansion in the coming years. A bolstered management structure harnesses the power of the agency's deep bench of outstanding leaders who have been with the company for 15 years or more. In addition to the new CEOs, the agency has expanded its Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to include Alexis Anderson, who takes over as president of Havas Formula Midwest; John Marchini, who steps into the role of president of Havas Street; and Katie Lippman, who becomes president of Havas Formula East. Jarrod Walpert, who previously held that role, moves into the newly created chief creative officer role. Emily Porter remains president of Havas Formula West and adds the title of chief marketing officer, also a new role for the agency. As chairman, Olguin will focus on agency new business, future planning and serving as a global liaison within Havas.  

Olguin founded Formula in 1992 as a national public relations boutique, which was acquired by Havas in 2014. Havas Formula's Be Brave manifesto has been the singular driving force that not only engages the agency's clients but also challenges its talent to think, act and be different.

About Havas Formula
Havas Formula is a top-ranked national public relations agency headquartered in New York, with additional offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Miami and Denver. A subsidiary of Havas—one of the world's largest global communications groups—the firm specializes in general market and Hispanic PR, digital and experiential marketing, and crisis communications. Following this integrated approach as champions of bravery, Havas Formula drives strategic marketing solutions that yield bottom-line results for today's passion brands. The award-winning agency's core practice areas include consumer, lifestyle, consumer technology, high-tech, sports and entertainment, and travel, with category expertise in food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, spirits and retail/restaurants. For more information, visit www.havasformula.com.

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