#149 | Matt Anthony, President and CEO, Y&R North America | Founder & President of Head For the Cure

As President and CEO, North America, Matt Anthony is the driving force behind Y&R’s continued evolution as a modern agency in the United States and Canada. As a founding partner of Y&R’s digital agency, VML, Matt possesses an entrepreneurial fervor, a deep knowledge of the complex digital landscape for brands, and long-standing relationships with many in the Y&R Group and WPP networks. Since taking the helm as President and CEO in 2013, Matt has been integral in the attraction of new clients throughout the North American network and the strengthening of the alignment between Y&R and VML. 

From 2011 to 2013, Matt served as Chief Digital Officer of Y&R, responsible for strengthening and optimizing the digital competency of the global Y&R Advertising network. 

Concurrent to his role as Chief Digital Officer and prior to joining Y&R, Matt Anthony was the catalyst behind the explosive growth of VML. When Matt joined the small Kansas City-based agency as its fourth partner in 1994, VML had one major client and fewer than 10 employees. Since then, Matt has led the formerly small shop’s expansion to a formidable global digital agency with more than 1500 employees across 22 offices on five continents, turning out difference-making, award-winning work for some of the world’s most famous and respected brands.

In 2001, Matt guided VML’s decision to join the WPP Group of leading communication agencies, and then managed the agency’s alignment into Y&R Group four years later.

Matt is a passionate, tireless supporter in the fight against cancer. In memory of his brother Chris, whom he lost at age 37 to a glioblastoma brain tumor, Matt and his family established the Head for the Cure Foundation to raise awareness and funding for brain cancer research. Proceeds from Head for the Cure 5K Run & Walks, now in 15 markets, are directed to the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative, a consortium of 24 brain cancer centers across North America.