Amy Worley was promoted to executive director, channel activation. She leads a channel activation team of almost 100 people. With her promotion  comes an appointment to VML's executive leadership team. Worley reports to Brian Yamada, chief innovation officer.

Madeline Nies was promoted to group channel director, connections planning. She joined VML's channel team in 2013. In her new role, Nies will lead the integrated channel connections planning capability from the agency's Chicago office. Nies has a diverse background of experience for multi-brand, multimillion-dollar clients spanning CPG, travel and tourism, tech/mobile devices and alcohol. She reports to Worley.

Lastly, Lisa Purpura was hired as group director, media. She joins VML from Havas Media in Chicago, where she was vice president, account director. Purpura has more than 17 years of online and offline media planning experience and has held roles as media director, engagement director and online strategy director throughout her career. She also reports to Worley.

Kasprzycki joins the agency from Starcom Worldwide, where he most recently served as executive vice president, managing director, leading the New Establishment Brands Group. The group created award-winning business results for brands like Airbnb, Twitter and Houzz. Before that, he was founder and president at Proximity Chicago, a division of BBDO. The marks a return of sorts to DDB for Kasprzycki worked at Tribal Chicago from 2005-2008.

"We are thrilled to have Andrew joining our team in this leadership role," said Paul Gunning, CEO of DDB Chicago. He's a proven and highly acclaimed thought leader in the industry whose experience and know-how will have immediate impact for many of our client partners and our agency at large."

In 2010, she joined the 4A's, where she managed industry-wide strategic talent and culture initiatives. Her accomplishments included leading the transformation of the Multicultural Advertising Intern Program and the 4A's Foundation, as well as the development of The Face Of Talent symposium and  Talent@2030.

"We continue to work to ensure that McCann is a meritocracy built on a diverse workplace encompassing all of our employees," said Harris Diamond, chairman and CEO of McCann Worldgroup. "Diversity programs are key in enabling us to take advantage of a wide talent base that truly reflects the dynamics of today's multicultural world and that impacts the work we create for our clients."

In his new role, Davis will lead accounts including Lavazza, Huawei, BMW Canada and Saskatchewan Telecommunications, partnering with Lothar Boensch, managing director of Blast Radius USA, and Michel Sergio, president of Blast Radius Canada.

Prior to DDB San Francisco, Davis was executive creative director at DDB Chicago, where he was one of the lead creatives on the McDonald's account and helped guide successful pitches for FIATChrysler's Alfa Romeo brands. Davis also served as DDB Canada's chief creative officer, overseeing all Canadian operations from the Toronto office. Davis began his career as an art director at GSD&M, and later spent six years at Wieden+Kennedy, where he worked on leading brands including Nike, ESPN, Calvin Klein, Microsoft and Audi.

"We're thrilled to welcome Kevin to the Chicago office," said Boensch. "He's a proven creative leader with deep roots in social, digital, data and experience design – exactly what our clients need in order to achieve the awareness and recognition they're looking for."

The agency launched in January with creative operations in New York and London and content creation and delivery units in Chennai and Bangalore, India.

Cerame is a 20-year-plus industry veteran who was previously senior vice president/strategy lead at RAPP Worldwide. Earlier he worked for Rosetta/Razorfish, Point to Point, and Ligget Stashower, and has led strategic campaigns for accounts such as Adobe, Nationwide, Fidelity, J.M. Smucker and Sherwin Williams.