NEW YORK: Omnicom PR Group has appointed Jillian Janaczek as CEO of Porter Novelli, effective immediately.
Janaczek is succeeding David Bentley, who left the agency in June. Reporting to OPRG CEO Chris Foster, Janaczek will also be a part of the holding company’s global leadership team.
“I refer to her as a triple threat. She’s an exceptional leader, a great client counselor and operationally very sound,” Foster said. “That’s what we need at Omnicom, and I think she’s going to deliver that for Porter Novelli brilliantly.”
Janaczek described Porter as a “sweet spot,” given her background in healthcare and work with third parties and government entities. Overseeing roughly 1,000 staffers, she is prioritizing spending time listening to and learning from her new colleagues at Porter. The agency’s healthcare clients have included Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Bayer, according to its website.
“I believe that if you have great people doing great work, you achieve great outcomes. I don’t mean to make it as simple as that, but it really is,” she said. “The people are the cornerstone of what’s going to make us [excel].”
Janaczek most recently served as president of BCW New York, spearheading the firm’s largest market and managing healthcare, consumer and corporate practices for Fortune 500 clients. After she left the WPP agency in May, North America chief client officer Beth Marrano assumed oversight of her responsibilities.
Earlier in her career, Janaczek spent more than two decades at Cohn & Wolfe, which was merged with Burson-Marsteller into BCW in 2018, culminating in a stint as MD of healthcare. A BCW spokesperson said via email that the agency “wishes Janaczek all the best in her new role.”
Porter posted a 20% increase in revenue to $198 million in 2022, rising 25% to $150 million in the U.S., according to PRWeek’s Agency Business Report 2023. OPRG reported flat organic revenue growth in Q2, up just 0.1% to $393.6 million in the period.