NEW YORK — Porter Novelli has bolstered its leadership with the addition of two new US executive creative directors — Rudy Fernandez and Justin Reed.

Fernandez, who spent the last 17 or so years running his own consultancy, Creative Outhouse, is based in Porter Novelli’s Atlanta office. New York-based Reed joins after eight years with GreyHealth group, serving most recently as senior VP and digital strategy director.

Hiring Fernandez and Reed is a new move for the agency, which previously didn’t have a US-based creative director — let alone two.

Historically, Porter Novelli’s North American president was responsible for overseeing the agency’s domestic creative work. That position, however, was eliminated last June, when North American president Jennifer Swint was promoted to global president and partner as part of a larger global leadership shakeup. A global creative director role was eliminated several years before that.

Kate Cusick, who oversees Porter Novelli's strategic services, said that having more, localized creative directors (the London office has one too) reflects the increased importance creative plays in campaigns across channels — and having the leadership in place to support it.

“Conceptually, creative has to be driven through everything we do. It makes sense having more than one person looking after all of that,” she said.

Other personnel moves include hiring Mark Durney, who was BCW’s New York digital market leader, as Porter Novelli’s senior VP of digital, which makes him the agency’s top digital executive. His role is also newly created, added Cusick.

“It’s all in service to a fully integrated approach from new business to client work,” she said.