Chris Savage

Chris Savage is a leading growth expert in Asia Pacific’s communications sector. He is renowned for helping people to accelerate personal and business growth so they can achieve their full potential.

Chris is also an internationally respected motivational keynote speaker and a strategy session facilitator. He is regularly engaged to speak at major conferences and corporate events across Australia and around the world. His weekly blog, Wrestling Possums – which inspires people to be the best they can be – has attracted 11,000 weekly followers and subscribers.

Chris specializes in accelerating creative/comms agency business growth, agency M&A, reputation management, thought leadership, issues and crisis, winning, pitching, client relationships, trusted advisor, personal brand, elevator pitch, inspiring, personal growth, growth and story-telling.

More about Chris Savage:

Chris Savage enjoyed a highly successful career in public relations for 25 years before being appointed Chief Operating Officer of STW Group in 2008. STW (now WPP AUNZ) – Australasia’s leading marketing content and communications group – has more than 80 advertising, media buying, digital marketing, public relations, research, training, sports sponsorship, direct marketing and experiential agencies in its stable.

Chris retired from STW in February 2015 so he could focus all his energies on his passion for helping leaders accelerate growth. He launched his new business, The Savage Company (www.thesavageco.com) in August 2015, which specialises in growth advice, growth communications and growth inspiration.

Educated in South Africa, England and Australia, Chris started his career in 1984 as a junior consultant in the Adelaide office of global PR industry leader Burson-Marsteller. Ten years later, after a posting to Hong Kong and then a return to Sydney, he was appointed CEO of B Burson-Marsteller’s Australian business, covering five offices and more than 120 employees. He then took on regional responsibilities, and retired from his Burson-Marsteller career in early 1999 as Vice Chairman of the Asia Pacific region, with more than 1,200 employees and 21 offices.

In 2000, Chris launched his own financial PR firm with partner Jennifer Horrigan, and with Ogilvy PR/STW as a small founding shareholder. Savage & Horrigan quickly grew to be a market leader, and by 2007 the firm was fully acquired by Ogilvy and STW. Concurrently, Chris founded Ogilvy PR, of which Savage & Horrigan was a member. Under his leadership, Ogilvy PR grew to become the largest and most profitable PR group in Australia, a position it continues to maintain.

When Chris decided to retire from his Ogilvy PR career in mid 2008, Ogilvy shareholder of STW Group (now WPP aunz), southern hemisphere’s largest publicly listed marketing content and communications company, asked him to join its leadership team as Chief Operating Officer and held the position for 7 years.

Also board director/chairman of more than 40 of group’s 75 businesses specialising in digital communications, advertising, design and branding, public relations, government relations and lobbying, sports sponsorship, training, activation, and research.

Chris is the winner of Mumbrella 2020 Industry Leader of The Year (covering creative and marcomms industry), Public Relations Institute’s Golden Targets 2020 President’s Award (for leadership and contribution) and Silver for GTA Golden Targets 2020 PR Leader Of The Year.

Chris Savage speaks about:

Chris speaks on a wide range of topics, and can tailor content to suit your agendas and priorities.

His keynote content includes:

• Keeping yourself at the edge of your career – relevant and wanted – at times of massive change
• How to become the oldest person in the room – leading your career for as long as you want to
• Deliberate Oxygen – how to be more efficient and effective, every day
• What got you here won’t get you there – the secret to staying ahead of change
• Becoming Awesomely productive- how to turbo-charge your efficiency and effectiveness, every day
• Turbo-charging your ‘change intelligence’
• Powering profits during disrupted times
• The Six’s Ps to powering revenue pipelines
• Stop being so bloody busy – the secrets to inspiring careers
• SPRINT – igniting future-fit professional services careers
• Brand You – managing your personal brand for career success

Strategy Facilitator:

Chris is one of the leading ‘leadership strategy session’ facilitators in the world, differentiated from others by his unique methodologies to help leadership teams develop powerful, relevant, actionable and inspiring strategies, ambitions, and growth intent.

Training and Workshops:

Chris’ workshops focus on ‘selling’… how to build stronger, deeper, more profitable client relationships, how to deliver outstanding customer service, driving new business pipelines, how to structure pitches to win, becoming a ‘trusted advisor’, and many more specialist sessions on driving growth and professional services success.

With his brother, Greg, Chris delivers the globally renowned ‘Savage Growth Accelerator” half day and full day master classes for professional service firm owners and managers, which focuses on powering profits during disrupted times.