David Kershaw

David Andrew Kershaw is a British advertising executive and angel investor best known as one of the five founders of M&C Saatchi. M&C Saatchi plc says the company was formed in January 1995 by Jeremy Sinclair, Bill Muirhead, David Kershaw, Maurice Saatchi, and Charles Saatchi. The group was built from London as an international creative network, with an operating model based on backing leaders with ownership stakes in local businesses.

Kershaw was born in 1954. He was educated at Bedales School, studied Politics at Durham University, and completed an MBA at London Business School from 1980 to 1982. His advertising career began as a graduate trainee at Wasey Campbell-Ewald in 1977. He joined Saatchi & Saatchi UK in 1982, became managing director in 1990, and became chairman and CEO of the UK agency in 1994.

In January 1995, Kershaw resigned from Saatchi & Saatchi alongside Maurice and Charles Saatchi, Bill Muirhead, and Jeremy Sinclair to create M&C Saatchi. After M&C Saatchi listed in July 2004, he was appointed group chief executive. He remained CEO until the 2020 leadership transition, when M&C Saatchi announced that Kershaw, Sinclair, and Muirhead would leave the business as part of a board and management reset.

Alongside his advertising career, Kershaw has held cultural-sector roles. The Guardian lists him as chairman of the Advertising Association from 2002 to 2006 and a fellow of the Marketing Society and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. London College of Communication also reported his involvement with the Clore Leadership Programme and his chairmanship of the Cultural Leadership Programme from 2006 to 2011.

• Kershaw’s disclosed angel activity clusters around businesses where advertising, marketing, media, and talent development are central rather than purely financial-engineering opportunities.
• His clearest stated operating philosophy comes from M&C Saatchi’s start-up model: “Every business [M&C Saatchi] has started has been a start-up. It’s a very different culture.”
• He appears to value entrepreneurial teams with domain depth and a practical route to market. M&C Saatchi’s own history page says the group started businesses with strong local leaders who had ownership stakes.
• In AI, his Shimmr investment suggests interest in applied AI that changes advertising workflow, audience targeting, and content promotion rather than generic AI infrastructure.
• In education / HR tech, his Digital Mums investment suggests interest in companies combining digital skills, flexible work, and measurable social impact.