Richard B. Fizdale
Richard B. Fizdale retired at the end of 2001 as the chairman of the board of the Leo Burnett Company and as the director of Bcom3 Group, Inc. He had been a member of the management team that oversaw a global advertising and diversified marketing services company with more than $1.7 billion in annual revenues, over 520 units in 90 countries, and more than 18,000 employees.
Joining Leo Burnett in 1969 after a brief stint at BBDO Chicago, Fizdale spent virtually his entire business career at the Chicago-based company.
Under Fizdale’s leadership, Leo Burnett won major global assignments from such clients as H.J. Heinz, Motorola, G.D. Searle, Procter & Gamble, The Coca-Cola Company, and Delta Airlines. Today, Burnett handles seven of the world’s 25 most valuable global brands as ranked by Interbrand: McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Marlboro, Kellogg, Tampax, and Nintendo. It handles 22 other brands in the top 100, as well as 17 Fortune 500 companies, including Allstate, General Motors, and Maytag. The agency also works with numerous technology-based companies and has made significant gains in the dot-com arena.
Fizdale spent his first 10 years at Burnett writing copy on such classic campaigns as “All Temperature Cheer� for Cheer laundry detergent and “Me and My RC� for RC Cola. In 1979, he became senior vice president/manager of Creative Operations, overseeing the day-to-day aspects of the creative department.
In 1982, Fizdale was promoted to executive vice president/deputy director of Creative Services and was named president/chief creative officer of Leo Burnett USA three years later. That same year, he was elected to Burnett’s board of directors. In 1987, Fizdale became CCO for the agency’s entire global operation. He was named chairman, chief executive officer, and chief creative officer for the global company in 1992. Just over a year later, Fizdale relinquished his CEO title, citing that the three titles didn’t allow him the time to concentrate fully on the chairmanship and his duties as chief creative officer. In 1997, he returned as CEO and turned over the CCO title to Michael Conrad.
On January 1, 2000, Fizdale retired as CEO but continued on as chairman of Leo Burnett Worldwide. He assumed the role of vice chairman of Bcom3Group, Inc. in February 2000 when The Leo Group’s merger with The MacManus Group was completed, creating Bcom3 Group, Inc., in which Tokyo-based Dentsu acquired a significant minority stake.
Fizdale asserts the greatest single honor of his life came when he occupied Leo’s old office in the Prudential Building during the 18 months before the agency moved to the Leo Burnett Building.
Fizdale attended the University of Illinois, University of Houston, and the University of Texas between 1957 and 1960.