Publicis hired Emmanuel André in the newly-created role of chief talent officer, effective September 18.
So, while Publicis employees can’t win awards (for a year or so), they do at least have a manager now.
In the role, André will be tasked with talent management and recruitment, working closely with the Publicis’ Solutions CEOs and CTOs while reporting directly to Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun.
“Emmanuel’s appointement is an important step in our ambition to become the market leader in marketing and business transformation. Bringing a CTO at the top level of our organisation was critical at a moment when our people need to embark on our transformation journey,” Sadoun said in a statement. “Talent is the Groupe’s top priority and biggest asset. Emmanuel will have an important role to play in all the initiatives that are building our Groupe culture while attracting, rewarding, retaining and training the best and most collaborative team in the industry to serve our clients even better than before.”
“Publicis Groupe clearly has the vision, the right business model and the energy to write an exciting new chapter for our industry, and they’ve placed talent and culture at the top of their priorities,”André added. “I’ve spent my whole career witnessing how these things make all the difference in our business and I’m honored to join the team.”
André joins Publicis from Omnicom’s TBWA, where he has served as international president for the past two and a half years, following around four and a half as chief operating officer. He had been with TBWA since the agency absorbed Anglo-French marketing network GGT BDDP in 1998.
With TBWA he held roles as global account director, director of its corporate office, regional director for the Asia Pacific region and worldwide operations director, before becoming chief operating officer in November of 2010.