• by Fern Siegel , November 8, 2022

Grey Global and Grey New York have added muscle to their leadership team.

Jason Kahner has been promoted to Global Chief Client Officer, delivering the agency's "Famously Effective" mantra. A 20-year Grey vet, he is charged with leading the agency’s top 20 clients.

In addition, Thiago Cruz joins as Chief Creative Officer Grey New York, effective Dec 1. Cruz reports to Grey CCO Javier Campopiano.

Prior to his hire, Cruz was global executive creative director at AKQA. He has worked with various top brands throughout his career, including AB InBev, Heineken, Motorola, Diesel and American Express.

Campopiano cited Cruz’s “creative abilities, his entrepreneurial spirit, can-do attitude” as critical to the team’s future success.

“With an ambition to be the most entrepreneurial creative company, our strengthened leadership team places a relentless focus on nurturing and growing the people, clients and audiences we serve,” said Laura Maness, Grey’s Global CEO. She succeeds Michael Houston, who was promoted to the new role of U.S. president, WPP in September.

In August, Grey New York tapped Nur El Shami as COO. Her remit includes Grey’s approach to the future of work, reshaping project and operational management.

Grey is part of AKQA Group. Its parent company is WPP. The agency’s client roster includes Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Haleon, Kellogg's, Pfizer, HSBC, Genentech, MassMutual, Nestlé and Google.