OCHWW looks to future with new North American chief creative officer, appoints US chief talent officer

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Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide in July brought on board industry-renowned creative lead Samantha Dolin as chief creative officer, North America, overseeing the agency’s New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Canadian-based offices. The WPP Health & Wellness company additionally promoted Paula Huntzinger to chief talent officer of Ogilvy CommonHealth, US.

Samantha Dolin

Executives characterize Dolin as a passionate leader aligned with OCHWW’s vision of doing the most impactful, innovative, and purpose-led work. Dolin comes to the agency with extensive pharmaceutical marketing experience acquired over the course of her award-winning career, which is rooted in the broader health and wellness and consumer arenas.

According to executives, in her new role as chief creative officer, Dolin will apply her collective expertise and work with the creative team in place to help set the standard for creative excellence and drive the strategic creative vision for client brands and the agency as a whole.

Andrew Schirmer, CEO of OCHWW, says, “As OCHWW looks to expand our capabilities in new forms of communication channels and interventions, we couldn’t be happier to have Sam joining us to lead the creative charge. She is a vibrant, versatile professional who believes that deep insight and strategic foundation are critical success factors to any creative endeavor. Sam’s a champion of creativity in all its forms – a true ‘digital native’ who understands that how a target audience is reached is just as important as what’s being said.

“Even more importantly, Sam recognizes the power of communications and inspiration to change people’s lives for the better. Sam represents the next generation of creative leadership in this industry; I can’t wait to work with her to see how she challenges and evolves our work moving forward.”

Dolin says she is “thrilled to join the extraordinary team at Ogilvy CommonHealth – an agency deep-rooted in the tradition of creative excellence, and one that I have long admired for its superior-quality work.

“I’m eager to unleash Ogilvy’s creative energy with a fresh perspective and in a way that intimately resonates with our customers.

“As technology and access to information continue to proliferate at an exponential rate, I see these customer connections as one of our greatest growth opportunities. We live in a world where we must finesse, flex and adapt our creative in unique ways – techniques that can quite literally change the course of people’s lives. Our health is one of the greatest assets we have as humans. The potential to impact those outcomes for individuals is what I envision will fuel our collective inspiration – what better job is there than that?”

Dolin comes to OCHWW after seven years at Evoke Health, where she most recently served as executive VP, executive creative director and oversaw a large book of business including agency of record accounts, digital agency of record accounts, and launch brands.

“Among her many industry accolades, Dolin was named by PM360 as part of the 2017 Brand Team of the Year and has been acknowledged multiple times by DTC National for her award-winning work in a variety of categories,” executives say. “Her brand experience spans a great many therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, infectious disease, diabetes, and vaccines, among many others.”

Paula Huntzinger

Huntzinger started her journey with OCHWW during 2014 when she joined the agency as director of HR and talent acquisition. Since that time, she has been responsible for overseeing a wide range of successful talent acquisition initiatives. Huntzinger has contributed to the organization’s new leadership development framework, OCHWW’s talent mobility policy that fosters career development of employees across WPP Health & Wellness, and has led the agency’s executive recruiting efforts. During the course of 2017, Huntzinger led change management and culture-based efforts in support of the agency’s ongoing business initiatives.

Schirmer states, “Paula has been able to bring to OCHWW a fresh perspective on talent management, and over the last four years she has become a critically important member of our executive leadership team. She will be the driving force behind our continuous evolution and leadership as a ‘people first’ enterprise and offering.”

As chief talent officer, Huntzinger is overseeing direction and implementation of all of OCHWW’s US-based talent initiatives, including talent attraction, retention, engagement and remuneration. She joined OCHWW from Mondelēz International, where – as strategic HR business lead – Huntzinger partnered with R&D, Marketing, and Supply Chain teams to coordinate talent management, succession planning and employee engagement. Her efforts there also included supporting business reorganization via design, communication, and change management strategies.

“I am excited about my expanded role in this dynamic client-centric business, where talent is the key to the ongoing success of OCHWW,” she says.