Philpott Leaves Harte Hanks

Former Synovate CEO Robert Philpott has left his most recent role as Chief Executive Officer of direct marketing and targeting giant Harte Hanks, in order to 'pursue other interests'. The firm expects to incur a pre-tax severance charge of around $2.0m to $2.5m.

Philpott (pictured) joined Harte Hanks four years ago, after fifteen years at Synovate. He left the latter firm in 2011, after overseeing its sale to Ipsos, for which he received a £627k 'compensatory payment' bonus. Earlier in his career he worked at Asia Market Intelligence in Malaysia and Hong Kong (before the firm was taken over by Synovate), as MD of MRC Ireland (now Ipsos MORI Ireland), and at Belfast-based Irish Marketing Surveys (now Millward Brown Ireland).

Christopher Harte, Chairman of Harte Hanks' Board, commented: 'On behalf of the entire company, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to Robert for his service and dedication to Harte Hanks during his tenure. Under his leadership, the business has successfully refocused its core activities and developed a corporate strategy to become a leader in smarter customer interactions'.

The firm says its Board has formed a search committee to identify a successor, and until this happens, Philpott has been replaced on an interim basis by the company's CFO Douglas Shepard.

Web site: www.hartehanks.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.