Content area
Full text
Adrian Sayliss, the VivaKi UK chairman, appears to have the skills and experience - if not yet the reputation. By Ian Darby
HEADLINER
He may have worked at ZenithOptimedia, via Zenith Media, for 15 years. He's also a London-based Brit, so there's no question of him coming from some funny foreign market. So why did the appointment of Adrian Sayliss to the new role of UK chairman of VivaKi, the Publias Groupe media unit, prompt the almost uniform response of: "Adrian who?"
Perhaps because he's studiously steered clear of the front line in terms of both leadership and publicity. Starting as an accountant and then occupying several senior finance jobs, he was appointed the worldwide chief operating officer of ZenithOptimedia in 2005 (a job he will now combine with the VivaKi UK role). So Sayliss, who hails from Sheffield, could be seen as the classic"bean-counter".
But, those who have worked closely with him say, he's actually proved himself as far more than that. Along with Steve King, the global chief executive of ZenithOptimedia, and Tim Jones, its chief executive in North America, Sayliss has formed part of a tightknit team that, following on from the former chief executive John Perriss, has grown the Zenith brand from a single London office of 200 people to a global operation with more than 4,500 people in 60plus markets.
Sayliss' role has, according to some Zenith insiders, been vital. One says:"Adrian is very, very bolted down. He was an accountant, but he's...