-By Steve McClellan

NEW YORK Jon Raj has been named chief digital officer of OMD USA, effective March 31, the Omnicom-owned media shop confirmed today. Raj replaces Scott Hagedorn, who last month was named managing director of OMD's East Coast region.

Raj will report to OMD North American CEO Page Thompson and also becomes a member of the agency's operating council.

A top priority for Raj will be overseeing further integration efforts of OMD's digital operations into the agency's core offering. As part of that integration, a digital specialist now sits on every account team and employee training is being implemented to instill new technologies as a core competency among all team members.

Previously, Raj was vp, advertising and emerging platforms at Visa, an OMD client, where he was responsible for online and new-media communication efforts. (In January, OMD successfully defended its Visa media planning and buying account in the U.S. and added a number of additional regions worldwide.)
 
"OMD is in full-forward momentum and it was the perfect time to bring Jon on board," said Thompson in a statement. "His breadth of experience as a former client and in marketing at creative agencies gives him a unique perspective and will help us reach our goal faster."

Prior to Visa, Raj spent seven years in marketing at Saatchi & Saatchi, Ketchum, CKS and Tonic360 (now JWT), working on such high-profile brands as Disney, Hewlett-Packard and Macy's.
 
Before he got into advertising, Raj was a middle-school teacher in Houston as part of the Teach for America program. After fulfilling a two-year commitment to the program, he stayed on for an additional two years working as the organization's director of marketing and recruitment.
 
In 2007, Raj was inducted into the American Advertising Federation's Advertising Hall of Achievement. In addition, he was awarded the AAF's Jack Avrett Volunteer Sprit Award.