Ludgate founder and the former head of the agency’s financial
services division, Andrew Sharkey, is leaving after seven years. He has
two potential job offers on the table and is considering his
options.
Sharkey is a director of both Ludgate Communications and the agency’s
holding company, the Ludgate Group, which was bought by the Interpublic
Group of Companies for an estimated pounds 10.5 million last year.
In 1991, Sharkey joined fellow director Tim Trotter in leading the
management buyout of the PR arm of financial advertising agency Murray
Hill, creating Ludgate Communications.
’I am looking at a couple of options, one of which would mean joining an
existing agency and restructuring it,’ said Sharkey. But he denied that
he would be setting up his own agency or joining forces with Trotter,
who left his post as Ludgate Group chief executive earlier this year (PR
Week, 10 April).
Sharkey reports to Ludgate chief executive Robin Hepburn. Until two
months ago, he ran Ludgate’s financial services division, before it was
merged with the corporate PR division and placed under director Neil
Garnett.