Chris Savage
Professional Growth Expert, Author, Keynote Speaker & Facilitator
A leading growth expert and keynote speaker in the Asia Pacific communications sector. With over 25 years’ experience building and advising agencies, global brands, and executives, he inspires leaders to accelerate growth, strengthen client relationships, and unlock their full potential.
Quick Contact
Chris Savage is a leading growth expert in the Asia Pacific communications sector, renowned for helping individuals and businesses accelerate growth and achieve their full potential. An internationally respected keynote speaker and strategy facilitator, Chris is regularly engaged to inspire audiences at major conferences and corporate events worldwide. His weekly blog, Wrestling Possums, attracts over 11,000 followers, sharing insights on personal growth, leadership, and high performance.
Chris’s career spans more than 25 years in public relations and communications. He began at Burson-Marsteller in 1984, rising to CEO of the Australian business and Vice Chairman for the Asia Pacific region, overseeing 1,200 employees across 21 offices. In 2000, he co-founded financial PR firm Savage & Horrigan, which became a market leader and was fully acquired by Ogilvy and STW. Chris subsequently launched Ogilvy PR in Australia, growing it to become the country’s largest and most profitable PR group.
In 2008, Chris was appointed Chief Operating Officer of STW Group (now WPP AUNZ), Australasia’s leading marketing, content, and communications company. Over seven years, he chaired and advised more than 40 of the group’s 75 businesses, specialising in advertising, digital communications, branding, PR, government relations, sports sponsorship, and research.
In 2015, Chris launched The Savage Company, focusing on growth advice, communications, and inspirational leadership. He specialises in accelerating agency growth, M&A, reputation management, thought leadership, client relationships, personal branding, and storytelling.
Chris’s achievements have been recognised with numerous awards, including Mumbrella’s 2020 Industry Leader of the Year, PRIA’s Golden Targets President’s Award 2020, and Silver for GTA Golden Targets PR Leader of the Year 2020.
Educated in South Africa, England, and Australia, Chris combines global experience, strategic insight, and a passion for growth to help organisations and leaders navigate change, unlock potential, and deliver transformative results.
Topics
- Keeping yourself at the edge of your career – relevant and wanted – at times of massive change
- How to become the oldest person in the room – leading your career for as long as you want to
- Deliberate Oxygen – how to be more efficient and effective, every day
- What got you here won’t get you there – the secret to staying ahead of change
- Becoming Awesomely productive- how to turbo-charge your efficiency and effectiveness, every day
- Turbo-charging your ‘change intelligence’
- Powering profits during disrupted times
- The Six’s Ps to powering revenue pipelines
- Stop being so bloody busy – the secrets to inspiring careers
- SPRINT – igniting future-fit professional services careers
- Brand You – managing your personal brand for career success
Strategy Facilitator
Chris is one of the leading ‘leadership strategy session’ facilitators in the world, differentiated from others by his unique methodologies to help leadership teams develop powerful, relevant, actionable and inspiring strategies, ambitions, and growth intent.
Training and Workshops
Chris’ workshops focus on ‘selling’… how to build stronger, deeper, more profitable client relationships, how to deliver outstanding customer service, driving new business pipelines, how to structure pitches to win, becoming a ‘trusted advisor’, and many more specialist sessions on driving growth and professional services success.
With his brother, Greg, Chris delivers the globally renowned ‘Savage Growth Accelerator” half day and full day master classes for professional service firm owners and managers, which focuses on powering profits during disrupted times.
