Publicis' Saatchi & Saatchi appoints Kate Stanners as global chairwoman to replace Kevin Roberts amid string of senior appointments

The news comes as Publicis Groupe announces a slew of senior appointments throughout its network.

In addition to Stanners' new role, which will be added to her existing remit, Carla Serrano and Bill Kanarick have been appointed to the the role of co-chief strategy officers of Publicis Communications, the division that oversees all of the creative companies within Publicis Groupe. This appointment extends the duo's respective existing responsibilities as chief executives of Publicis New York and chief strategy officer at Publicis.Sapient.

Over at Leo Burnett, Judy John, has been named chief creative officer of North America. The company has said she will retain her current chief executive title at the agency's Canada offering on top of this. Brent Nelson, who works alongside John as executive vice-president and chief strategy officer will take on the role of chief strategic officer of North America at Leo Burnett.

At Publicis Worldwide, Valérie Henaff has been named global president, in addition to her role as chief executive of Publicis Conseil, the network’s flagship agency. In this role she will work alongside Bruno Bertelli, global chief creative officer, Publicis Worldwide.

The local management teams in Publicis Communications’ markets are being further reinforced, notably in North America, where Andrew Bruce has been promoted to chief executive of Publicis Communications, North America.

Elsewhere, Kurt Ritter will serve as the region’s chairman and Suellen Ravanas has been promoted to the role of chief finance officer, Publicis Communications, North America.

To further facilitate collaboration at the local level, Loris Nold and Justin Billingsley are appointed chief operating officers at Publicis Communications. Nold will focus on operations in Asia and MEA, while Billingsley will be responsible for Latin America and Europe.

Publicis Communications chief executive Arthur Sadoun said that the group's mission is to be clients' "indispensable creative partner in their transformation."

"With these appointments, we are creating closer ties with Publicis.Sapient to deliver the interdependent model of the future to all of our clients. We are strengthening our leadership teams to continue to raise the bar for creative excellence."

He went on to say that the changes have been made to reinforce the organisation's new 'Power of One' model, which is being implemented in order to enable clients to access the right skills and expertise from their agencies. The boss hopes the shakedown will help simplify the agency's structures at local level to "foster greater collaboration and seamless access to resources."

"In just nine months our approach has delivered some fantastic results, and I know that with these latest moves the best is yet to come," he finished.