Starcom MediaVest Group Names Kim Kadlec President, GNC Americas and Promotes Jodie Stranger to President, GNC EMEA

New York, NY – March 31, 2015 – Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), a division of Publicis Groupe [EURONEXT Paris: FR0000130577, CAC40], today announced the appointment of Kim Kadlec to the newly created role of President, GNC Americas and the promotion of Jodie Stranger to the also newly created role of President, GNC EMEA. SMG’s Global Network Client (GNC) practice creates a seamless global organization for its clients that operate in multiple markets, providing brand growth and innovation. As GNC Presidents, Kadlec and Stranger will ensure leadership, strategy, top to top connections and greater consistency throughout their regions. Kadlec and Stranger will partner with market CEOs and global account leaders to drive GNC initiatives. A search is currently underway for a President, GNC APAC who will have similar oversight for SMG’s operations in the Asia-Pacific region. Kadlec will be based in SMG’s New York City office and report to Laura Desmond, SMG’s Global CEO, while Stranger will continue to be based in London and report to John Sheehy, President, Global Operations.

“Our new GNC structure will allow us to drive better work and thought leadership moving forward through more connectivity and a global client footprint,” said Desmond. “Kim and Jodie bring their unique perspectives and expertise to our global client practice, and will deliver competitive advantage for our clients in the Americas and in EMEA.”

Kadlec joins SMG from AOL, where, as Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, she led relationships with large-scale digital, content and technology organizations to grow audience and footprint for AOL worldwide, while improving user experience for consumers, marketers and agencies. Prior to AOL, Kadlec was Worldwide Vice President, Global Marketing Group at Johnson & Johnson, where over the course of eight years she had growing responsibility in global brand architecture and marketing communications, business model development and investment strategy across multiple sectors. Earlier in her career, Kadlec held marketing roles at NBCUniversal, News Corporation and began her career on the agency side at Backer & Spielvogel.

A veteran of the media business with over 20 years of experience, Stranger was most recently Executive Director of Global Network Client Operations for SMG’s EMEA region. She joined SMG from Aegis, where she served as the New Business and Marketing Director, Vizeum EMEA. In this role, she was responsible for executing the overall New Business and Marketing strategy, providing leadership, drive and support at a central and local level. Prior to this position, Stranger was the Vice President of Aegis Media Global Clients, where she led two of Aegis Group’s top 20 clients, Philips and Nokia. Earlier in her career, Stranger held several roles at Carat International and roles in domestic markets with both Carat and Dentsu.

These appointments follow SMG’s announcement earlier this year of a new global leadership structure of connected regional networks to more closely align with its clients’ global business. This also included the addition of new capabilities, companies (RUN, R24 and MRY), resources and the integration of ad tech and data to power SMG going forward.

About Starcom MediaVest Group
Starcom MediaVest Group architects connected human experiences to create value for our clients through precision marketing, content and technology solutions. Ranked the number one global network by Ad Age and RECMA, SMG partners with the world’s leading marketers and more digital disruptor brands than any other agency network. With 8,000 employees and 110 offices worldwide, SMG’s network includes our three global agency brands Starcom, MediaVest and Spark; content brands LiquidThread, MRY and Relevant24; and ad tech units, RUN, Audience On Demand and more. In 2014, SMG (starcomww.com) was named the top media network at Cannes, Eurobest, Dubai Lynx and Festival of Media Global. SMG is part of Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40], one of the world’s leading communications groups.

Primary Contact:
Erin Styles
Manager, Brand Reputation & Communications
Starcom Mediavest Group
(212) 527-8860
[email protected]