Keith Reinhard

Keith Reinhard is Chairman Emeritus of the DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc., one of the world’s largest and most awarded advertising agency networks. Keith is one of the few agency leaders to rise through the creative side of the business. He experienced being a writer, art director and creative group head before moving into agency management. As a working creative director, Keith and his team gave birth to McDonald’s “You Deserve a Break Today,” named the number one jingle of the 20th Century by Advertising Age magazine, as well as McDonald’s famous tongue-twister,“Two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions on a sesame seed bun.” He and his group also created State Farm’s long-running theme, “Just Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There.” Over the years, his agency has been responsible for award-winning campaigns for Volkswagen, Audi, Anheuser-Busch, Michelin Tires, Philips Electronics, Diesel Jeans and many others.

In 1986, Keith was one of the architects of the advertising industry’s first and only three-way merger, creating Omnicom, which ranks as one of the world’s largest advertising and marketing services holding company. Concurrent with Omnicom’s creation, Keith accomplished the successful merger of Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper Worldwide to create the present network, DDB Worldwide, which he led as Chairman and CEO for 16 years.

A member of the Advertising Hall of Fame, Keith has been referred to as the industry’s “soft-spoken visionary” by Advertising Age, which in 1999 named him one of the 100 most influential figures in the history of advertising.

Keith is a past Chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and past Chairman of the Board of Union Theological Seminary in New York. From 2002 to 2010 he was President of Business for Diplomatic Action, a not-for-profit effort he founded to enlist the U.S. business community in actions aimed at improving the perception of America in the world. Among many other civic and philanthropic activities, Keith has served on the boards of New York City Ballet and Sesame Workshop. He is currently a board member of the Starfish Foundation and Jazz at Lincoln Center where he heads the board’s Marketing Committee. He is also the author of Any Wednesday, a collection of notes on advertising and life.

Keith is the father of seven children. He and his wife Rose-Lee, live in Manhattan.