Overview

Gender

female

Shelly has been working, as she would say it, "In the business I love," for more than three decades, almost all of that time at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. Rising through the ranks of account service, Shelly has held positions of increasing responsibility in the management of the company, including president of O&M Direct North America, Ogilvy & Mather New York, Ogilvy North America, Chief Operating Officer, and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. She is currently Chairman of the worldwide company.

Shelly started at Ogilvy at a time when the agency's legendary founder David Ogilvy still walked the halls, and personally preached that the purpose of advertising was to build great brands. Under Shelly's leadership, that essential mission has remained the centerpiece of the company's philosophy, extending across regions and marketing disciplines, and attracting some of the world's largest and most respected brands including American Express, BP, Coca-Cola, IBM, Motorola and Unilever among many others. Shelly has been a frequent industry honoree. Advertising Women of New York selected Shelly as its Woman of the Year in 1994.


Shelly was the first woman to receive Columbia Business School's Distinguished Leader in Business Award as well as the first woman to receive the Advertising Educational Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also a member of the Direct Marketing Association's Hall of Fame.

Shelly serves on the boards of several corporate, philanthropic and academic institutions: General Electric, Merck, New York Presbyterian Hospital, American Museum of Natural History, Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, World Wildlife Fund and the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School where she received her MBA in 1970. She served for five years as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Smith College, her alma mater.

She is a member of Advertising Women of New York; The Committee of 200; Council on Foreign Relations; The Business Council; Women's Forum, Inc.; and Deloitte & Touche Council for the Advancement of Women. She has also served as Chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies.Shelly is the wife of Dr. George Lazarus, a New York pediatrician, and mother to their three grown children.