• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, April 7, 2015

Publicis Groupe has elevated Joseph LaSala to General Counsel for Groupe, the holding said Tuesday. He replaces Eric Antoine who is leaving the company. LaSala joins Publicis Groupe from Sapient Corp., the agency, consulting and technology services company that Publicis acquired earlier this year for $3.7 billion.

LaSala, who reports to Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, General Secretary and a member of the Publicis Groupe Management Board, joined Sapient in 2011 as SVP, General Counsel and Secretary, overseeing worldwide legal, commercial and regulatory affairs for the company.

Earlier he was General Counsel at Discovery Communications when the company went public in 2008 and prior to that he was GC at software company Novell.

Separately, Publicis Groupe said it hired Rachid Assas as Chief Procurement Officer. Most recently he held the dual roles of head of Indirect Procurement for the Renault-Nissan Alliance Worldwide and head of Asia Pacific Procurement for Renault.

Also the company has hired Tammy Moulin as VP, Compensation and Benefits, replacing Armelle Madar who is shifting to holding company subsidiary ZenithOptimedia. Moulin was most recently a human resources executive at Devanlay Lacoste.

Both Assas and Moulin also will report to Heilbronner.