LONDON — Weber Shandwick has appointed advertising executive Ilan Schäfer as the new CEO of its German operations.

Schäfer joins from creative agency VCCP Berlin, where he has been managing director for the past two years. He has also been the MD of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising and Jung von Matt/Spree in Berlin.

Weber Shandwick Germany has offices in Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich and is one of the firm’s largest markets in EMEA. It was previously led by Christiane Schulz, who left the agency in April and has since moved to Edelman to head its German operation.

Schäfer will be responsible for growing the business, deepening the agency’s innovation, creative and digital offerings in Germany, and collaborating with other EMEA offices to serve international clients.

Palmqvist told the Holmes Report: “We’re always innovating our capabilities to solve the more complex business problems that our clients are facing, and Ilan brings 20 years of marketing experience across consumer, corporate, financial, and creative and digital development. He also has huge experience of driving transformation in large operations and will put creativity at the heart of our offer, which already has the best PR experts in Germany.”

Schäfer said: “I have joined Weber Shandwick for the brilliant opportunity to help drive the continued transformation of this innovative, strategic and creative communication agency. I see opportunity for Weber Shandwick to broaden its influence in marketing in Germany by further building and merging data, technology and storytelling to offer best-in-class, channel agnostic, data-inspired creativity that drives conversation and change.”