• by Steve McClellan , May 2, 2014

WPP media shop MEC has appointed Shenan Reed to the post of president, digital, North America. She replaces Susan Schiekofer, who the agency said is leaving to pursue other opportunities.

Reed will be based in New York, where she will report to Marla Kaplowitz, CEO MEC North America. She will also have a dotted line reporting relationship to Carl Fremont, MEC’s global chief digital officer.

Reed will lead MEC’s NA digital business and a team of 300 staffers. She has been tasked with “further driving the advancement of digital growth and innovation across North America” for the agency.

Reed is an agency entrepreneur who founded Morpheus Media in 2001 which became known for its work across luxury and fashion clients like Neiman Marcus, LVMH, Mont Blanc and Chanel. Her agency also did work for media companies, including The New York Times and A&E Television Networks. She sold the agency in 2011 to CreateThe Group and remained with the shop as Chief Media Officer responsible for all paid media, as well as SEO, analytics and social and mobile strategy.

“Strong digital leadership and innovation is crucial to moving us into the future,” said Kaplowitz. “I am confident that Shenan is poised to continue our growth trajectory in this area, enabling both our clients and agency to remain at the forefront of the rapidly evolving digital landscape while cultivating progress in exciting and new ways.”

In an interview with RTB Insiderlast year Reed shared her thoughts on developing trends in the digital space. “The sad fact is, if we look at the largest share of media, it is programmatic buying for high reach, low CPM,” she said at the time. “They know it works, and they’re afraid that if they shut that down, that low-cost, high-volume buying and begin paying twice the CPM to go to a larger ad unit or something that’s a little more engaging or a little sexier, and performance will suffer.”

Commenting on her MEC appointment, Reed said, “This is a phenomenal opportunity to apply my knowledge and experience to drive genuine integration across MEC’s impressive portfolio of clients.”

Prior to founding Morpheus, Reed was a senior media planner at Mass Transit Interactive. Earlier, she was an analyst at Spectra Marketing.