- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK TBWA has named the CEO of its Manchester office in the U.K. to steer management of its global Infiniti account.

Robert Harwood-Matthews takes the title of managing director on the business. The Omnicom Group agency handles Infiniti in more than two-dozen countries, including the U.S., Canada, France, Italy, Spain, China and South Korea.

Harwood-Matthews, 38, will shift to TBWA\Chiat\Day's office in Playa del Rey, Calif., to assume the role, which is new. He'll start in February and report to John McNeel, TBWA's president of global clients.

"Our network and the Infiniti team have set big ambitions for the brand globally, and Robert has got the talent and leadership to get us there," said McNeel, in a statement.

The brand's global spending was not immediately available. But in the U.S alone last year, Infiniti -- the luxury division of Nissan Motor Co. -- spent more than $230 million in major measured media, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The total through September of this year exceeded $175 million, per Nielsen. Those figures do not include online spending.

In the past 1 1/2-years, TBWA\Manchester has added some 20 new assignments from the likes of Electronic Arts, BP Retail and Manchester United.

Harwood-Matthews has been CEO since 2007 and will be succeeded by Fergus McCallum, the office's chief operating officer.

Before TBWA\Manchester, Harwood-Matthews was client services director at TBWA\London, where he worked on accounts such as Sony PlayStation (across Europe) and Nissan in Great Britain. He joined the agency in 2002.