Hill+Knowlton Strategies has appointed Chris Davies to SVP and executive creative director, marking the former national creative director’s return to the agency.

Davies will lead the firm’s Canadian creative team out of the Toronto office, and report directly into Sheila Wisniewski, who was named the agency’s Canadian president and CEO last month.

Davies first joined the PR shop in the new role of VP and national creative director in 2014, leading the development of its expansion into more creative work in response to client demand. He left in 2016 for the role of executive creative director at Traffik. His more than 20 years of creative leadership roles include stints as ACD at Bimm, creative group head at Taxi and ACD at Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG (now Havas).

When Davies left Hill+Knowlton in 2016, the role of national creative director was taken over by Matthew May. May left the agency earlier this year, taking on the creative director position at Brightworks Interactive Marketing.

In the spring, Hill+Knowlton picked up the assignment as IKEA’s PR agency of record in Canada. It also handles creative work for sports streamer DAZN, Coca-Cola and Reebok.