- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Saatchi & Saatchi New York has filled its top new business development post with Benjamin Bittman, a former global network director at M&C Saatchi in London.

Bittman, 33, becomes chief marketing officer at his new shop, reporting to both New York managing director Michael Zuna and Mary Baglivo, who is CEO of the office as well as the Americas region.

Saatchi's last CMO was Rob Moorman, who left the Publicis Groupe shop a year ago. The scope of Moorman's role, however, was global.

Bittman, who started this week, joins a New York management team that includes Baglivo, Zuna, chief creative officer Gerry Graf and director of strategic planning Claudine Cheever. Saatchi hired Cheever last month.

Bittman worked at M&C from 2006 until last year. Before that, he was director of marketing at Omnicom Group's TBWA under worldwide chief marketing officer Laurie Coots. He spent two years at TBWA, working out of its New York office.

Baglivo said in a statement that she "looked forward to Ben's leadership as we accelerate our business development and agency marketing initiatives. His business acumen and broad experience will add depth and creativity to our senior team."

In taking the role, Bittman cited Saatchi's brand recognition, "incredible talent with tremendous potential" and the newly restructured management team.