Gary Leih

Gary started out his advertising career in 1980 as an Account Executive at Ogilvy (then RS-T&M) in Cape Town and progressed through the ranks in Cape Town, before transfering to Ogilvy in Johannesburg as Group Account Director.

In 1989, Gary left Ogilvy and joined co-founded The White House, which was voted Agency of the Year in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
Gary sold his share of The White House in 1994 and joined The Campaign Palace in Sydney, Australia as New Business Director. A year later he was offered a partnership at Batey Kazoo in Sydney, which he ran as Managing Director for four years. During this time the agency grew by 300 per cent.

In 1999 Gary launched Public Image, a branding consultancy, which was acquired by TBWA after only six months of operation, and, once again, he took up the reins as Managing Director of the TBWA Sydney office.

Gary returned to South Africa in 2001 as Group Managing Director of Ogilvy South Africa, which comprises 14 operating companies and employs over 1300 people. In 2004, Ogilvy South Africa was voted Agency of the Year, Large Agency of the Year and awarded both Creative Campaign of the Year and the Grand Prix for Advertising Effectiveness.

He joined the London Office in May 2004 as the Chairman of the Ogilvy Group UK.