Ron’s photo is composed of his sources of inspiration:
Sunday New York Times, College Football, Broadway Theater, Youth Hockey and Door County.Ron was named President of Euro RSCG North America in 2009 following impressive growth across the region in 2008; he also continues to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Euro RSCG Chicago. Ron works closely with the region’s key CEOs and is responsible for the overall profitability and growth of the agencies and nearly 3,000 employees that make up the Euro RSCG network in this region.
In his role as CEO of Euro RSCG Chicago, Ron is responsible for the agency’s overall business performance and can be credited with leading the most significant turnaround in the agency’s history. In 2008, Euro RSCG Chicago experienced its third year of double-digit growth as a result.
My philosophy: Face it. Figure it out. Fix it.
As President and COO of Euro RSCG North America, Bess is responsible for the agency’s overall business performance. And as CEO of Euro Chicago, he led the most significant turnaround in the agency’s history.
As the architect of our unified business model, Ron believes cohesive collaboration is crucial to doing great work in today’s rapidly changing business environment.
Bess began his career in the 1970s at Foote, Cone & Belding in Chicago. After three years, he joined Needham, Harper & Steers (now DDB), where he was promoted in less than a year to account director for all McDonald’s advertising. While at Needham, Bess, led the team that introduced Bud Light, which they helped build into the largest-selling brand in the world.
With two creative partners, Bess next purchased the Chicago office of Backer & Spielvogel, renamed Bayer Bess Vanderwarker a year later. The business began with brands that included Cap’n Crunch cereal and Gatorade, which he helped grow into multibillion-dollar global brand with the campaign that had America wanting to “Be Like Mike.”
In 1996, BBV was purchased by True North Communications and merged into Foote, Cone & Belding, and Bess was named president of FCB Chicago. Under Bess’s leadership, the agency grew from $600 million to $1 billion – the largest revenue increase in the agency’s 125-year history – and was named Adweek’s Midwest Agency of the Year in 1996.
Bess then moved to New York to head Young & Rubicam’s Diversified Communications Group. After two years of 10 percent growth, Bess was named CEO of the company’s flagship New York office to stop a dramatic decline in clients and revenue. Bess left Y&R to revive Euro’s Chicago agency and assume responsibility for half the companies Euro owned in North America.
Bess lives in Chicago and enjoys time with family, theater, college football and basketball. As Chairman of the Chicago board of the 4As, he’s also helping lead an effort to attract talent to and enhance the reputation of Chicago’s creative community. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He’s a board member of the Off the Street Club, the James Webb Young Foundation and the Advertising Education Foundation (AEF). He’s also a member of the Economic Club and the Executives’ Club of Chicago.
