• by Wayne Friedman , October 11, 2007

MPG senior media executive Bill McOwen has joined Publicis Groupe's Starcom USA, as its senior vice president-director of national broadcast.

A California native, McOwen will move to Los Angeles, and will report to President-Chief LA Operations Officer Kathy Ring. Most of his initial work will be for Starcom's major West Coast client, Walt Disney Company.

The position isn't a new one. Shelley Watson had the job previously, leaving over a year ago to go to Santa Monica-based Rubin Postaer & Associates.

McOwen has worked at MPG in New York, a Havas Media-owned media agency, most recently as executive vice president-director of media investments. He was responsible for broadcast, digital, print and the out-of-home media area, as well as taking the lead on cross-platform media deals.

At MPG, McOwen was part of Havas' Global Investment team and a co-founder and manager of the company's video investment unit.

An MPG spokeswoman said the agency has no immediate plans to fill McOwen's position, but may make some changes to its buying organization down the road.