Publicis has hired Geoff Calabrese as its chief commercial officer. He most recently served as the CEO of North America Investment at Omnicom Media Group, a role he was appointed to last month.

Calabrese spent 15 years at OMG, holding several positions, including North America’s chief investment officer and president of OMent, Omnicom’s principal buying unit.

At OMG, Calabrese oversaw the investment and activation of more than $20 billion across all media channels. He also helped lead other business units within Omnicom, including sports marketing agency Optimum Sports and out-of-home media agency Outdoor Media Group.

Katie Klein was appointed OMG’s North America chief investment officer late last month. There are no plans to name a new CEO of North America investment, according to an OMG spokeswoman.

In his new role, Calabrese will be responsible for growing Publicis’ business and overseeing agency compensation, performance incentives, media value guarantees and the integration of tech and AI in operations, according to a Publicis statement. Calabrese will begin his role in the spring and report to Dave Penski, CEO of Connected Media at Publicis, and Lou Rossi, chief financial officer of Connected Media. Rossi previously served as chief commercial officer.  

Calabrese’s hiring comes nearly a month after Omnicom announced its plan to acquire Interpublic Group of Cos., which would make it the largest global agency company. Following the announcement, industry experts speculated that competitors would likely seek talent from both holding companies. It was unclear, though, whether Calabrese’s exit from OMG was related to the planned merger.