Chris Harris joins Cheil Worldwide as UK President & COO

Chris Harris will start in his new role from January 2011 and will be responsible for the overall UK operation of Cheil Worldwide, including One Agency which launched in March 2010 (as a BTL agency.)

The senior appointment is part of the South Korean advertising giant's plans to strengthen its overall UK operation. In its determination to better serve Samsung and increase its appeal to UK and European clients, Cheil is seeking to build creative, strategic and digital offerings across all channels.

Chris Harris formerly ran the BBH business in Asia and was President of International Operations for BBH based in London before joining Leagas Delaney, as Managing Director in 2009. Harris will report to Andrew Yi, Cheil's President and European CEO based in London, as well as Bruce Haines, President and Global COO in Seoul, Korea.

"I am very impressed and excited by Cheil's ambitious plans and their determination to back them. There are very clear goals to be a major multi-discipline communications group in a defined timescale. We have the opportunity to address the new communications landscape from a fresh perspective and therefore be more relevant to the real world our clients operate in. I have had a great time and loved working with some brilliant people at Leagas Delaney" says Chris Harris.

"This is a period of great change for Cheil Worldwide. We have a very active M&A programme with BMB now in New York and Mumbai, The Barbarian Group in the US, Herezie in France and One Agency in London and New York. We are now actively developing our Cheil offices in key markets, moving to new locations and bringing in top local talent as leaders. We are delighted that Chris has agreed to join us at this exciting time and we look forward to him using his great entrepreneurial skills to develop our business in the UK," says Bruce Haines, Cheil Worldwide's Global President and COO.