Stephanie Nerlich has been hired by Havas Creative Group to grow the agency’s business and build client relationships as its new global chief client officer.

Joining the shop’s global leadership team, Nerlich will be responsible for global client relationship development and best practices. More specifically, she will work with agency CEOs across markets to support Havas’ global clients, as well as larger clients in different regions. Melody Adhami, who was named CEO of the agency in Canada last year, is one of the local agency CEOs Nerlich will work with.

The goal for her role is to drive integration and ensure the group’s growth strategy is client-centric. That kind of approach is vital when dealing with global clients, and Nerlich says part of her work will be to ensure a “single vision” across all methods of client contact to ensure they receive the best services region to region.

Nerlich will work alongside Tracey Barber, global CMO of Havas Creative Group, reporting to global CEO Chris Hirst.

Havas’ global and large regional clients include IBM, Lacoste, Diageo, GSK, Pfizer and Nestle. Havas Creative Group contains the company’s agencies working on creativity, strategy, PR, performance marketing, design and UX. In Canada, that includes Havas and consultancy network AMO, and globally includes BETC, Arnold and Rosapark, and many others.

Nerlich is coming off nearly four years at MDC Partners, where she was CMO and managing director of the holding company in Canada, supporting business development across its Canadian agencies and providing added support to their leadership. Prior to joining MDC in 2016, Nerlich was president and CEO of Grey Canada.