• by Fern Siegel , January 4, 2011

Harvey Goldhersz was named chief executive officer of MediaCom North America, part of WPP's Group M, replacing Doug Checkeris.

Goldhersz was previously vice chairman, COO of MediaCom Worldwide, where he supervised the agency's digital efforts. He retains those responsibilities, in addition to the CEO role.

 Goldhersz, a 28-year vet of the company, has held various executive positions and worked with an array of multinational clients, including Procter & Gamble, Dell, Kraft, Sprint and Canon.

Citing his global experience with clients, MediaCom Worldwide CEO Stephen Allan called him "the ideal person" to run North American ops.

In his new post, Goldhersz will be responsible for the management and operation of all agency activity in six cities in the U.S. and Canada, overseeing more than 1,000 employees and an estimated $7.4 billion in billings, per RECMA. He is based in New York.

Previously, from 1998-2004, he was founder and CEO of MediaCom Digital and CEO of Beyond Interactive. Under his leadership, MediaCom became the largest integrated interactive media agency network in the industry, as ranked independently by RECMA. He is credited with creating one of the first companies to deliver integrated online and offline media solutions.

MediaCom was named Media Agency Network of The Year at the Festival of Media 2010 Awards.