-By Eleftheria Parpis

NEW YORK Jose Cabaco, a creative director at Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., has been hired by Euro RSCG Worldwide here as its first chief creative officer for North American operations.
 
"Jose is that rare creative talent who combines excellence in both strategy and creative, in both creative concept and execution, in both inspiring and authoring, and in driving both creative vision and creative operations," said Esther Lee, CEO, North America and president of global brands, in a statement.
 
At Wieden, Cabaco, 43, oversaw creative strategy for Nike Europe, Nike Latin America and Electronic Arts. Cabaco, who also worked at Wieden in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, spent much of his career in Portugal.

Born in Maputo, Mozambique, Cabaco studied industrial design at the Institute of Art & Design in Lisbon and went on to work at agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Cineponto/Leo Burnett Lisbon, Vitruvio Leo Burnett Madrid, Young & Rubicam, Nova Publicidade and EPG/TBWA in Lisbon. He co-founded his own agency in Lisbon in 2001 called Home, which later merged with Grey Advertising.
 
Prior to advertising, Cabaco worked as a car, furniture and ceramics designer. He also co-founded Bike magazine and was a creative partner at Sneakers Delight stores in Portugal.
 
"Jose's vast and varied experience has prepared him for this sizeable leadership role at Euro," added Lee. "He has been an entrepreneur, and has worked on small brands at big agencies and big brands at creative hot shops. While he has strong U.S. experience, he has worked on four continents, speaks five languages and embodies a global cultural spirit. And his ventures go beyond advertising and even communications. His perspective on our clients' business challenges and on how we set up an agency model of the future will be invaluable."