CPB has expanded its sr. leadership following last week’s announcement that Marianne Malina was hired as global CEO. Abbie Baehr will join the agency as chief strategy officer and Danielle Tarris has been named head of production. Additionally, the agency has established a unique role, head of creative diversity, to be filled by longtime CPB creative director Jason Pierce. They come aboard a lead team that also includes: recently hired chief creative officer Jorge Calleja; managing director and 18-year CPB veteran Ryan Skubic; and Jacqueline Redmond who was recently promoted to director of account management.

Baehr, joining as CSO, most recently served as Momentum Worldwide’s SVP director of strategy where she oversaw strategic development across North America and co-led the Esports/gaming practice. Working with clients like Walmart, Verizon, American Express, SAP, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, United Airlines and Patron, Baehr guided brands to create meaningful experiences across every touchpoint. Over the years, she has worked with and led strategy for brands across every sector, including Google Fiber, Capital One, Munich Re, Audible, Mercedes Benz, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Microsoft, Levi’s and Dr Martens Global.

Tarris, who joins as head of production, is best known for her work on Samsung’s famous “Fanboys” campaign at 72andSunny, which included the brand’s first-ever Super Bowl spot. After beginning her career at TBWA/Chiat/Day/LA, Tarris worked as group executive producer at 72andSunny in Los Angeles on K-Swiss, Activision, Nike, Target, Totino’s, LA24, Tillamook and Starbucks. She went on to serve as head of production at 72andSunny Amsterdam where she started the agency’s in-house editorial and film studio and oversaw production projects for Google, O’Neil and Smirnoff. Most recently, she was head of production at Battery in Los Angeles where she worked on Netflix, Activision, Royal Bank of Canada and the NBA’s L.A. Clippers.

Pierce has been a creative director at CPB for the last five years leading a variety of brands, including Vrbo, INFINITI, 1800 Tequila and Goose Island Beer Co. As head of creative diversity, a position he will hold in addition to his duties as creative director, Pierce will work to instill diverse thought and voices into recruiting, agency culture, creative output and the production process.

These new appointments together with the arrival of Malina represent a reinvention of CPB’s leadership. At the same time, the agency continues to strengthen its creative and strategic ranks. Since joining CPB from Activision Blizzard at the beginning of the year, Calleja has worked side-by-side with Skubic to aggressively recruit a wide range of fresh and innovative voices and perspectives that will amplify the agency’s vigorous reinvention. These include:

• Strategy director Vicente Cortina, who joins CPB from Mexico City, where he was most recently CMO of Fitzer Agua Mineral Brava, the first hard seltzer in LATAM. Prior to that, he was a partner at agency Faro, where he led marketing and strategy consultancy projects for a wide array of industries across LATAM and Europe; partner at agency Nomades; global marketing manager at Heineken; and a group marketing manager at Danone.
• Creative director Dana Angelo, who comes to CPB from Sid Lee where she worked on multiple brands and entertainment titles, including The North Face, Kiehl’s and Netflix’s El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Before advertising, Angelo earned a BA in writing from The New School and spent nearly a decade studying and performing sketch comedy, improv, and humor writing at Upright Citizen’s Brigade and The Second City. She then got her start in the industry through 72andSunny’s creative residency program, 72U, later becoming a copywriter at the agency.
• Associate creative directors Jorge González and Agustín Acosta, a Uruguayan team who spent most of their 14 year career working together, first in Uruguay before moving to Brazil to work at Leo Burnett, Grey, Ogilvy and MullenLowe for clients including Unilever, P&G, Ab-InBev, Renault, Fiat, Philips, HSBC and Subway. Their work has been recognized across the globe, with Gold at Cannes, Clios, IAB MIXX, New York Festivals, Gramado Festival and El Ojo De Iberoamérica, and Grand Prix at FIAP, Wave Festival and Descachate.
• Associate creative director Yashas Mitta, who comes to CPB via New York City by way of Singapore after getting his start in India. He has worked with a wide range of creative outfits across South and Southeast Asia, including graphic novel publishers, startups and agencies like Mediamonks, IRIS and Tribal Worldwide.
• Associate creative director Meghan Puhr, comes to CPB from R&R Partners in Los Angeles and has created work for Audi, TikTok, Nike, Target, the Raiders, Las Vegas and Disney, while working at R&R as well as ELA Creative, Optimist, TBWA and McCann. Her creative journey started in performing arts and she graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.M. in voice performance and a B.S. in journalism before going on to study creative writing at NYU.