Publicis Media agency Spark Foundry has appointed Valerie Bernstein Chief Growth Officer. She succeeds David Calkins who shifted to a new role within Publicis Groupe. 

Based in New York and reporting to CEO Sarah Kramer, Bernstein will lead business development and growth for the media agency.  

Previously, Bernstein was the executive vice president/business development and marketing at Advantage Unified Commerce. 

She joined Advantage Solutions as a vice president, client services in 2005 and is credited with playing a key role there in merging five agencies under the Advantage Unified Commerce banner including Amazon specialists Beekeeper Marketing and eShopportunity, e-commerce solution provider Sage Tree and shopper agencies IN Connected and Edge Agency.  The new entity was announced in June of last year.  

During her tenure there, Bernstein worked with brands such as Anheuser-Busch, Bayer, L’Oreal, Panera, and Unilever.  

“I view this role in equal parts as a builder and storyteller,” said Bernstein. She added that she will give a lot of thought to “how we can prospect in new ways [such as] expanding into new verticals, showing up differently in the marketplace, and more. We want to hustle like a start-up, as that’s our spirit, but also coupled with the unmatched scale from being backed by the Publicis network.”