Business
UniWorld Group founder and CEO Byron Lewis retires, Monique L. Nelson appointed new CEO
Byron Lewis Sr., founder and outgoing-CEO UniWorld Group, Inc.
(PRNewswire via COMTEX) – UniWorld Group, Inc. (UWG), the longest-standing full-service multicultural advertising and communications agency in the U.S., announced the retirement of its Founder and CEO, Byron Lewis Sr., and the appointment of its new CEO, Monique L. Nelson. Mr. Lewis will now become Chairman Emeritus of the award-winning agency.
Monique L. Nelson incoming-CEO UniWorld Group, Inc.
“I have spent my entire career working to present positive portrayals of people of color across communications platforms, including print, film, radio, TV and beyond. At the same time, UniWorld has opened doors for many of today’s top advertising and media professionals of color. I am extremely proud of the agency and all that it has accomplished in its 43-year history,” said Byron Lewis Sr. “I have been impressed by Ms. Nelson since she joined the agency five years ago. She understands the business very well. And, it is my honor to turn over UniWorld to her very capable hands as she leads the agency in its next exciting chapter.”
Mr. Lewis founded UWG in 1969 during a time when minorities were not represented in a positive manner in mainstream media. Nor were minorities employed within the major Fortune 500 companies or Madison Avenue advertising agencies. Centuries of negative and stereotypical portrayals of minorities severely damaged minority and mainstream audiences alike. During the late 1960s and ’70s, the federal government initiated a series of Affirmative Action mandates for major corporations and communications companies to hire minorities to help offset these negative social conditions. Mr. Lewis was able to take advantage of these mandates and launch UWG.
Throughout the years, UWG has created award-winning and impactful campaigns for such clients as the Ford Motor Company, U.S. Marine Corps, Eastman Kodak, AT&T, Burger King, Colgate-Palmolive, Pepsi-Cola, and The Home Depot, to name a few. He also is known for creating successful media properties including the nationally syndicated television news program, America’s Black Forum, that aired in 100 markets; Sounds of the City, a nationally syndicated radio program created for Quaker Oaks; and the highly successful American Black Film Festival, which continues to this day.
In 2000, Mr. Lewis formed a strategic alliance with WPP, the world’s largest communications services groups, sharing and collaborating on a number of clients. Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP Group CEO, commented on the transition: “We have always admired and respected and have been proud of Byron and his tremendous achievements at Uniworld. Monique has a lot to live up to, but we’re certain she will!”
Today, UWG is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and has satellite offices in Atlanta, Georgia, and Dearborn, Michigan. Known as one of the “founding fathers of multicultural advertising and marketing” in the United States, Mr. Lewis built a company out of necessity and ended up changing an entire industry in the process.
