Havas Group AUNZ has announced the appointment of Marco Villella in the newly-created role of head of talent.
Villella joined Havas last month after four years at GroupM, part of WPP, where he was talent acquisition lead, responsible for talent across GroupM’s agencies EssenceMediacom, Mindshare, Nexus, and Wavemaker.
Prior to this, Villella held positions at Mediabrands and Hart Resources Group.
Villella has already started in his new role, based in the Havas Village in Sydney, reporting to chief people officer Candice Veasey, who joined the agency in July last year.
See also: Havas Australia welcomes Candice Veasey as chief people officer
Villella’s remit will involve overseeing the talent product and strategy across the Havas Village and wider network, including Havas Media, Play, Host, Red, Blvd, New Zealand, as well One Green Bean, Organic Pacific, H/Advisors APA, Bastion Brands, and Frontier.
“He is a great addition to our People Team, and I look forward to a successful journey together seeing all of his valuable contribution across the Havas Village,” said Veasey.
Villella said he is excited to “create meaningful and impactful careers.”
“Havas continually invests in its people, and I feel honoured to be part of this investment which will allow us to attract, nurture and engage the best talent our industry has to offer,” he said.
Earlier this year, chief executive officer Virginia Hyland said the agency had been experiencing strong growth since investing in leading industry talent, particularly bolstering its e-commerce and pharmaceutical capabilities.
This came as the advertising and media communications agency announced it had been appointed media agency of record for global pharmaceutical company Viatris, as well as Uniting Property Services.
The remits for both brands cover media strategy, planning, buying, digital performance and search, with Viatris also including retail marketing.
See also: Havas Media wins Viatris and Uniting Property Services
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Top Image (L-R): Virginia Hyland, James Wright (group CEO Havas Creative), Marco Villella, and Candice Veasey.