Chrissie Hanson Named Carat North America CEO
The agency combined the CEO and brand president roles to lead its North American media practice.
Updated on Oct. 14, 2026 in Advertising
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Carat has appointed Chrissie Hanson as the CEO and brand president of its North America media practice. The agency also introduced a new positioning statement titled Difference Engineered.
Why it matters
This executive appointment marks a consolidation of leadership roles within the agency as it looks to refine its market strategy. The move coincides with a broader effort to differentiate its brand presence through new messaging.
Chrissie Hanson now leads the agency following her appointment to a combined role that serves the North American market. The organization is now operating under the new strategic positioning statement titled Difference Engineered.
The players
Chrissie Hanson
She serves as the CEO and brand president of Carat North America and previously led OMD USA.
Carat
This global media agency is a unit of Dentsu that specializes in media planning and buying services.
Dentsu
Dentsu is a multinational advertising and public relations company headquartered in Japan.
The details
Chrissie Hanson, who previously served as the CEO of OMD USA, joined the Dentsu unit to spearhead the regional practice. Her new role integrates the brand president and CEO titles to unify leadership oversight for the agency.
Timeline
August 2026: Chrissie Hanson joined the Dentsu unit.
October 14, 2026: Carat officially announced the executive appointment.
Market Landscape
The move reflects a wider industry trend toward consolidating senior executive titles to streamline decision-making across major media agencies. By unifying leadership, the company aims to better position itself against competitors in an increasingly crowded advertising sector.
For clients and partners, this leadership change signifies a shift in how the agency will manage and execute media campaigns across North America. The introduction of the new positioning strategy may also influence future service offerings and agency-client engagement models.
The takeaway
Consolidating executive roles can help agencies react more quickly to shifting client demands and media trends. Readers should monitor whether this new leadership structure results in noticeable changes to the agency's creative and media buying output.
Further reading
Learn more about industry changes in the Advertising section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by MediaPost.
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