Omnicom said Wednesday that longtime SVP and chief diversity officer Tiffany Warren will leave the company.
Warren, who joined Omnicom as its first chief diversity officer in 2009 and one of the first diversity officers in the industry, will become EVP, chief diversity and inclusion officer, at Sony Music Group. She declined to comment for this article.
Omnicom is in the process of searching for a new chief diversity officer to fill her role.
“Over a decade ago, Tiffany joined Omnicom in a newly established role that was one of the first in our industry, and since that time, she has demonstrated an unwavering passion and dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion that has underpinned our own core values,” said Omnicom chairman and CEO John Wren in a statement.
He added that under Warren’s leadership, the organization has made “notable gains in recruiting, retaining and developing a diverse workforce” and done “more to advance systemic equity.”
During her decade at Omnicom, Warren steered the Omnicom People Engagement Network (OPEN) leadership team, which enlists Diversity Champions across the network to drive impact at individual agencies. She grew the group to include 25 Diversity Champions throughout her tenure.
Diversity numbers at agencies, particularly in leadership roles, have long been extremely low. Omnicom released its workforce diversity data for the first time in July, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S., which showed less than 3% of its senior leadership team is Black.
“Understanding and providing transparency in where we currently stand is a necessary first step in committing to change and paving a path forward,” Wren said in a July memo that released the data.
Omnicom has committed to expanding and supporting the OPEN team under a new platform OPEN 2.0, which will be carried out by Warren's successor.
This story first appeared on campaignlive.com.
