Leo Burnett Chicago has appointed a new co-president and chief operating officer: TBWA\Media Arts Lab's Liz Taylor.

Taylor will work alongside Britt Nolan, who rejoined Leo Burnett Chicago as president and chief creative officer in 2021 after a short stint at DDB. Both will report to Leo Burnett CEO Andrew Swinand. 

Splitting the president role was a way to relieve responsibilities from Nolan as the agency continued to see new business wins, said Swinand. The Publicis agency won 11 new clients last year, including Dunkin’, Cars.com, Rite Aid and Jim Beam, an account the Publicis Groupe agency won back from Adam&EveDDB in September. 

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“Britt felt having a partner who could be more actively involved in running the day-to-day business would be a huge benefit,” Swinand said. “This is acknowledging the left and right brain of Nolan running creative and Taylor running the business.” 

Taylor—not to be confused with Ogilvy's Global Chief Creative Officer of the same name—said she is on a “listening tour” as she settles into her Burnett role. She is focused on fine-tuning business operations, continuing to build momentum, leveraging Publicis’ AI capabilities across the agency and keeping turnover rates low by maintaining a strong workplace culture. 

It was Leo Burnett’s support for employees, particularly as part of Publicis’ Working With Cancer pledge, that drew Taylor to the agency. She was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in December, and the agency has been flexible and supportive during her hiring as she went through treatment.

“When I’ve been transparent about how I’m feeling on any given day or any side effects I might be having, I haven’t had to worry about the stigma or the shame that can sometimes be associated with that,” Taylor said. “It’s such a gift.” 

At TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Taylor was managing director of the London office and led campaigns for Apple’s product portfolio across Europe, Turkey, Russia and the Middle East. She was also executive managing director of the global iPhone business. 

Taylor also previously held leadership roles at Wieden+Kennedy, AKQA, The Martin Agency and GSD&M.