Havas Names CEO of Havas North America, Creative and Media

Havas has appointed W. Joe DeMiero as its new CEO of Havas North America, Creative and Media.

In this role, W. Joe will report jointly to Donna Murphy, the Global CEO of Havas Creative Network, and Peter Mears, Global CEO of Havas Media Network. 

According to the company, he will be providing leadership across both of these networks across North America, and working with leadership to strengthen collaboration to support Havas in helping clients access the breadth of its offerings. 

“The strength of Havas has always been our ability to unite great talent around our clients' ambitions,” says W. Joe. “This has led to exceptional growth in North America and strong business performance for Havas globally. 

“Our opportunity now is to make that even easier, helping clients access the full power of the Village to unlock growth, accelerate decision-making, and create measurable business value.”

Client and agency experience

W. Joe first joined Havas Creative Network in May 2026, in a role as the company’s Chief Client and Business Officer for North America – a role which focused on driving growth, strengthening client relationships and developing talent. 

Prior to that, he served as Interim Chief Marketing Officer and, later, Vice President of Marketing at Sam’s Club, where he aligned creative, media, data and technology investments around enterprise growth priorities. 

This involved reorganising teams and clarifying roles to improve internal culture, and launching a challenger brand platform, which drove double-digit increases in joins and featured-item sales growth. 

W. Joe also holds more than two decades of experience in senior agency leadership roles. He was previously the US CEO of UM Worldwide, where he drove 36% year-over-year new business revenue and billings growth, and delivered UM’s first year of positive revenue growth since 2018. 

He also previously served as the CEO of Publicis Groupe’s Hawkeye from 2019 to 2022, where he increased revenue by 225%, grew operating income by 160% and improved fixed personnel cost by 19%, as well as winning 42 clients in just two years. 

“Clients today are navigating an increasingly complex business environment and are looking for partners who can help them identify growth opportunities, accelerate transformation and create competitive advantage,” says Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO of Havas. 

“Joe's experience on both the client and agency sides of the industry gives him a unique perspective on our clients' needs and how we can best support their ambitions, making him the ideal leader to further strengthen our client-centric approach in North America.”

Improving client competitiveness 

In his role as CEO, W. Joe will be building on Havas’s established Village approach – bringing marketing, media, creative, PR, data and other disciplines together under one roof – and its AI operating model to address key challenges faced by clients to support their growth. 

This approach, Havas says, is particularly important as clients face increasing change driven by AI, evolving consumer expectations and interconnected business challenges – meaning that leaders are under more pressure to improve competitiveness and deliver measurable business performance. 

“Our clients are accountable for the business. Their agency partners should be too,” says W. Joe.

“That starts with understanding our clients’ ambitions and how their businesses grow. Our job is to bring ideas that help them get there, and share responsibility for the results.

“That’s the work ahead. And I’m honoured to help lead this next chapter at Havas, alongside an extraordinary team of leaders.” 

Who are Havas’s key partners? 

• Adobe: Adobe serves as one of Havas's key creative technology partners, embedding tools such as Adobe GenStudio and Firefly directly across the network's global production workflows. 
• Google: Havas maintains strategic partnerships with Google across data, cloud infrastructure, marketing technology and AI. 
• Sanofi: Global pharmaceutical giant Sanofi remains one of Havas's largest and most enduring health and marketing clients, spanning several specialised divisions. 
• Horizon Media: The Horizon Media Holdings and Havas partnership created a 50/50 joint venture named Horizon Global, a global media and agency network launched in September 2025.