NEW YORK: BCW has promoted Rebecca Grant to global chief brand officer.
Grant will continue to serve as CEO of BCW’s U.K. market and as a member of the agency’s global board. In her new role, reporting to BCW global CEO Donna Imperato, Grant will lead a team spearheading the proprietary research, thought leadership, tools and campaigns that comprise BCW’s Moving People platform, according to a company statement.
Grant has replaced Lauren Glazer, who held the position of global chief brand officer until May this year, a BCW spokesperson said. Glazer is now self-employed, practicing as a brand strategy consultant and results coach, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Before her stint with BCW, including time at Cohn & Wolfe before it merged with Burson-Marsteller, Grant worked for Weber Shandwick, Red Consultancy and MSL.
Catherine Sullivan, BCW’s EVP of global comms, has been elevated to global chief comms officer for BCW Group. Sullivan will work closely with Imperato to oversee comms and reputation management for all brands in the group, such as AxiCom, Direct Impact, GCI Health, Goodfuse, HZ and Prime Policy Group.
Sullivan will continue reporting to Imperato. Earlier in her career, Sullivan held senior roles at Porter Novelli, MSL and Publicis Dialog.
BCW also announced a new hire in Melanie Mitchem, who has been appointed as EVP of global marketing. Mitchem, reporting to BCW global president Brooke Hovey, will manage the firm’s regional marketing teams across the global network, as well as prioritize thought leadership and executive positioning.
Mitchem most recently worked at FCB Global as SVP and executive director of global comms and PR. She also spent several years leading her own firm, M2, counseling luxury, creative and philanthropic brands.
“As experts in brand, communications and marketing, [Grant, Sullivan and Mitchem] have exceptionally complementary strengths to showcase our Moving People brand platform, promote our solutions and thinking and elevate our offerings across the BCW Group,” said Imperato via email.
BCW, WPP’s largest PR agency, saw higher growth globally than in the U.S. in 2021, with the latter expanding low single digits while the former almost hit double digits, according to PRWeek’s Agency Business Report 2022.