KBS has hired Ted Florea as its new global chief strategy officer. His hire follows the departure of agency veteran and former AdAge editor Jonah Bloom last month.
The MDC agency also named Madison Wharton as its first global chief production officer. AdAge first broke the news of both hires yesterday.
Florea arrives at KBS from Huge, where he has served as group vice president, head of planning for the past ten months. Before joining Huge he spent around a year and a half as chief strategy officer for PNYC, where he worked with clients including Lufthansa, Nokia Tech, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and the Singapore Economic Development Board. Prior to that he spent over two and a half years as head of brand strategy for Droga5, followed by a nine month stint as a freelance brand strategy consultant with agencies including W+K New York, 72andSunny L.A., McCann New York and PNYC.
Wharton was previously with DDB New York, where she has served as chief production officer since joining the agency from Barbarian Group in 2015.
In addition to the hires, KBS global chief technology officer Matt Powell also announced that he is leaving the agency at the end of 2017.
A KBS veteran for over a decade, Powell has served in his most recent role since last June. Before being named global chief technology officer he spent around three years as KBS New York president, following five and a half years as chief information officer. He first joined KBS as vice president, director of interactive marketing for KBS’ direct and digital marketing unit, Company C, in January of 2006.
“Matt has been instrumental to KBS’ success over the past 12 years, most recently as our global chief technology officer, and although we’re very sorry to see him go, we understand that he is ready to take on a new challenge,” KBS global CEO Guy Hayward told AdAge.