Ben Skelsey, the Australian managing director of IPG's creative consultancy Huge, is leaving after more than four years at the agency, AdNews can confirm.
IPG's Huge, the 20 plus year design and innovation outfit born in Brooklyn, officially opened for business in Australia at the start of 2023.
His departure comes after Mat Baxter stepped down as CEO of Huge in January, a role he'd had since 2021. Baxter returned to Australia from New York and was replaced by Lisa De Bonis, the chief product officer.
Skelsey joined Huge at the start of 2020, based out of Singapore as group vice president, client services APAC, before moving to GM.
He became MD, client partnership in October 2022. Prior to Huge, he spent time at Ogilvy UK and OgilvyOne Worldwide.
The agency needed Skelsey in the US and the UK, which was a large part of his job, working internationally, Skelsey told AdNews.
"It was around 50% international and 50% focused. They wanted it to be 100% international and wanted me there, but I need to be here," he says.
It wouldn't be impossible, he says, but he moved back here intentionally and is here to stay.
"We want to focus on things here."
In terms of what's next for Skelsey, he says he had a desire for a break but strangely it looks like he's going to be very busy, he says.
"I have some interim things lined up. But I like big jobs that I can throw myself right into to and finding one of them takes time," he says.
"But there's a lot of people that need help, so I'll be helping them over the next short while. I'll try to figure out how to take a break at some point, but that's where I'm at."
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