John Osborn

John Osborn is President and Chief Executive Officer of BBDO New York.

John joined BBDO in 1991. Over the years, he has demonstrated that he is an energetic, positive and passionate leader with a proven ability to build strong client relationships and to lead big multi-disciplinary teams in the creation of powerful communication programs. For example, he has been actively involved with many of the agency’s clients including FedEx, GE, Sony, Lowe’s, Monster and Mars. He began his BBDO career on Pepsi and was the principal architect of the agency’s integrated marketing efforts, expanding the agency’s service offerings to include digital marketing, direct, CRM, custom-publishing and more. He was named President and CEO of the New York agency in February 2004 and was a key member of the team that helped BBDO achieve recognition as “Agency of the Year” by all of the leading trade publications (Ad Age, Adweek and Campaign) two years later.

Among John’s notable accomplishments was his involvement with the “New York Miracle” campaign, which helped lift spirits of New Yorkers in the wake of the September 11 attacks. John has been equally active outside business, lending his talents to other important causes such as the New York University’s Child Studies Center and Big Brothers/Big Sisters, for whom he has served as a mentor to Cory Collins for eleven years. He is President of the Board of Directors of the Police Athletic League of New York and serves on the Executive Committee of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. John is also Chairman of the Board for the Center for Excellence in Advertising at Howard University, Vice Chairman of the Board of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and a member of the New York Chapter of the 4A’s and Dartmouth Alumni Association.

In recognition of his accomplishments, in 2003, John was inducted into the AAF Hall of Achievement, which honors people 40 years of age or under for their contributions to business. He has also been named to the Crain’s New York Business list of “40 under 40” as well as BtoB magazine’s “Who’s Who in BtoB.” In 2006, John was named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum.

John earned his B.A. at Dartmouth, is married to Lesley and is the proud father of a 6 year-old daughter (Caroline) and a 5 year-old son (John Jr.).