Shakespeare to depart as YouGov CEO

Hatch will join YouGov on 1st August 2023, with Shakespeare (pictured) taking up his board role on the same date following Roger Parry’s departure as non-executive chair on 31st July.

Shakespeare co-founded YouGov in 2000 with now Conservative MP and former chancellor of the exchequer Nadhim Zahawi, with Shakespeare serving as chief executive for the past 23 years. 

Hatch was at Meta before taking up his new role at YouGov, where he was made Facebook’s first regional director for the UK in 2014 and became vice-president for Northern Europe in 2016.

Prior to Meta, Hatch spent 15 years at WPP, most recently becoming chief executive at media agency MEC, and had spells in strategy roles at Omnicom and Y&R.

Hatch is currently a non-executive director at Reach plc, a position he has held since 2015 but will depart from before joining YouGov.

YouGov has also said that Nick Prettejohn will take on the role of senior independent director on 1st August 2023, taking over from Rosemary Leith, who will stay on the board and continue as chair of the Remuneration Committee.

Parry said: “Steve brings over 30 years of relevant leadership experience and valuable sector expertise in consumer profiling, e-commerce and business transformation with a proven track record in scaling technology platforms and digital media businesses.

“It has been a privilege to serve as chair of YouGov over the last 16 years. As I prepare to hand over to Stephan Shakespeare, I have full confidence that we have set the right strategic direction to deliver another long-term period of profitable growth for the business and have now established the right board and executive team to see that plan implemented to its full potential.”

Shakespeare said: “I am confident that I will be handing over the reins with YouGov in its strongest ever position and with a clear strategy to realising our vision of building the world’s leading marketing data and research platform.

“It will be an honour to step into the role of non-executive chair in August and continue my journey with the company.”

Hatch said: “YouGov is a business I have closely followed and admired for some time. The company is in a strong position with a clear strategic direction and significant investment in technology and international reach driving robust client demand and consistent top line growth performance in recent years.

“I look forward to working closely with Stephan, the wider board and the full YouGov team on the great opportunities ahead in the third strategic growth plan as we look to create further value for customers, partners, shareholders, and colleagues.”