Prior to joining Y&R, Potter held the position of Group CEO at VWV Group and has built up his career at blue chip companies such as South African Breweries and South African Tourism. He crossed over to agency life when he worked as the client service director at Herdbuoys McCann-Erickson’s Cape Town office. He later became director of Strategy and managing director at Herdbuoys eKapa. What’s more, up until last year for the past five years, Potter ran his own marketing consulting and entrepreneurial business called Imbrication International Trading that among other great milestones, led him to set up and manage the Western Cape sales infrastructure for the 2010 Fine Art company that had the fine art license from FIFA for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Potter addressed the Y&R agency staff on his first day, committing to pursue excellence in all that he does, asking only that they do the same. He was welcomed with much enthusiasm and warmth.

Andrew Welch, Y&R South Africa’s CEO stressed that the process to find a strong leader for the biggest agency in the Y&R SA stable was rigorous. He said, “We wanted someone who was accessible and strong enough to rally the team, a good listener and action-oriented. Potter is a highly qualified and experienced agency and client-side professional whose references have been nothing short of exemplary. I am delighted he will be joining our team.”