What: Victor Garcia has been appointed SVP, Managing Director for SMG Latin America at Starcom Mediavest Group. In addition, ZenithOptimedia named Diego Fernandez, who formerly held Garcia’s new role, SVP, Client Services, Latin America.
Why it matters: Garcia will report to Monica Gadsby, CEO, US Multicultural & Latin America.Fernandez will report to Sergio Lorca, CEO, Iberia and Latin America, ZenithOptimedia.
Starcom MediaVest Group has appointed Victor Garcia to SVP, Managing Director, SMG Latin America. Diego Fernandez, who formerly held the role, has moved to ZenithOptimedia to take up the new role of SVP, Client Services, Latin America.
Garcia, formerly head of business development for SMG Latin America, will now lead operations for the division in Miami and across Latin America. Garcia will report to Monica Gadsby, CEO, US Multicultural & Latin America.Garcia has been with SMG since 2006, most recently serving as SVP, Americas Business Development, where he led business development and revenue growth for Latin America and SMG’s US Multicultural business. During his tenure as new business lead, Garcia led over 25 new business pitches, supporting and developing unique and innovative opportunities for SMG’s global clients and carving strategic media alliances that have been first of their kind. Garcia demonstrated a level of innovation that supported significant revenue growth across clients and delivered best in class results. Prior to his new business role, Garcia was VP, Media Director at SMG, working across several agency brands within the SMG network managing clients such as Kelloggs, Darden, H&R Block, and Walgreens. Garcia is fluent in English and Spanish and holds a B.A. from Florida International University.
Reporting to Sergio Lorca, CEO, Iberia and Latin America, ZenithOptimedia, Diego Fernandez will have responsibility for regional clients and will lead operations for Latin America. Based at ZenithOptimedia’s Miami office, Fernandez will join ZenithOptimedia’s Leadership Team for Latin America.In his leadership role at SMG Latin America, Fernandez had regional responsibility for clients including Mondelez, Kellogg’s, and Samsung. Prior to this, he worked for nine years at Burger King as Head of Media and Digital for North America. Fernandez has also managed international clients for JCDecaux Spain, and at AOL Time Warner in Argentina he led the licensing department that launched the Harry Potter franchise throughout the Southern Cone. Fernandez is a graduate in Business Administration from the Universidad de Buenos Aires
“It’s with great pleasure that we announce Victor’s new role, leading our Latin America operations,” said Gadsby. “His knowledge of the region and of our various clients based on his outstanding performance leading growth for us in the last two years will be a significant asset. Victor will bring a fresh perspective, with a goal to drive increased integration and continue to increase our focus on vertical leadership, forming experts who will help lead the region across all emerging and growing digital, data and content platforms.”
“We are absolutely delighted to have someone of Diego’s experience and reputation take up this key role at ZenithOptimedia. We have seen fantastic growth in the region over the past year or so and Diego will play a key role in developing our Live ROI solutions for clients and in working with our markets to drive business growth,” said Sergio Lorca, CEO, Iberia and Latin America, ZenithOptimedia.
