Publicis Communications CEO Arthur Sadoun announced a series of key promotions within the holding company’s network today, Adweek reports.
Among the promotions, Carla Serrano and Bill Kanarick were appointed as co-chief strategy officers of Publicis Communications. Serrano will also continue to lead Publicis New York as CEO, while Kanarick will retain his role as CSO of Publicis digital hub Publicis.Sapient.
“Our ambition is to be our clients’ indispensable creative partner in their transformation,” Sadoun told Adweek. “With these appointments, we are creating closer ties with Publicis.Sapient to deliver the interdependent model of the future to all of our clients. We are strengthening our leadership teams to continue to raise the bar for creative excellence.”
Sadoun added in an internal memo that part of the strategy involves leveraging SapientNitro’s digital capabilities across Publicis’ agency network.
Kate Stanners was also appointed global chairwoman of Saatchi & Saatchi, while continuing to serve as global chief creative officer. She takes over for Kevin Roberts in the role, following Roberts’ resignation at the start of the month in the wake of his controversial remarks about gender diversity issues in a Business Insider interview that “The fucking debate is over” and he doesn’t spend “any time” worrying about diversity issues at his agencies.
Leo Burnett Canada CEO and CCO Judy John will now also serve as Leo Burnett chief creative officer, North America, while Brent Nelson will take on the role of chief strategic officer for Leo Burnett, North America. John and Nelson will join global CEO Rich Stoddart and global CCO Mark Tutssel to complete Leo Burnett’s leadership team, and will be responsible for uniting the agency’s operations in the U.S. and Canada.
Rounding out the series of promotions, Publicis Conseil CEO Valérie Henaff will take on the additional role of Publicis Worldwide global president, while Loris Nold will now serve as Publics Communications chief operating officer, Asia and the Middle East and Justin Billingsley will serve as COO for Latin America and Europe.
“We are reinforcing the spirit of Power of One by simplifying our structures at local levels to foster greater collaboration and seamless access to resources,” Sadoun said. “In just nine months, our approach has delivered some fantastic results, and I know that with these latest moves the best is yet to come,” he added, referring to the restructuring moves last December which also led to Sadoun’s appointment as Publicis Communications CEO.