Innocean Worldwide Canada has hired Leslie Kross as its EVP of client and business development.
In her new role, Kross will lead the Kia Canada business, including all of the agency’s client services teams working on the brand.
Kross joins from KBS Toronto, where she had been chief marketing officer since her previous agency, Kenna, was absorbed last summer. She had been EVP of business and client development at Kenna for seven years, and has also worked as a director at TBWA and a VP at Wunderman and MacLaren McCann.
Kross shares a similar title with Norm Melamed, EVP of client business, though her duties also include exploring “innovative new opportunities to strengthen the agency’s growth,” according to a press release. Melamed, formerly a managing director at Sonic Boom, joined Innocean after Garry Lee left the agency a year ago.
The need for a new lead on the Kia business came after former SVP of client business, Christina Hill, joined Zulu Alpha Kilo in February as its creative operations director. Hill was hired in the fall after Laura Pacey left for a position at Chevrolet Canada.
In other leadership changes, Y.S. Seo left Innocean after five years as CEO in October. It was announced last week her departure was to take the EVP and COO role at Canvas Worldwide, a new media agency network jointly launched by Innocean and Horizon Media. Peter Kwan, previously a director at Innocean’s global headquarters in Korea and former president of its Shanghai office, was brought in as president and CEO following her departure.
