Publicis Media has appointed a number of execs to the Australian leadership team after the media network consolidated its six global media companies into four.

Matt James has been named CEO, Chris Nolan as chief operating officer and Pauly Grant as chief talent officer.

A month ago Publicis Media consolidated its six global media companies into three; Starcom, Zenith, Mediavest and Match|Blue 449.

At the time, it was unclear what was going to happen to the Publicis Australia team.

James and Nolan will now assume oversight of the Aussie arm of the agencies.

“Publicis Media was launched with the vision to get to the future first and in Matt and Chris we have two dynamic and incredibly talented leaders who will ensure we do just this,” said Gerry Boyle, regional CEO for APAC, Publicis Media.

“I’m excited to be working with both of them as we deliver on our promise to invent modern approaches to gain efficiency, create greater collaboration and effectiveness and drive new levels of scale and client value.”

James has worked in the global media business for more than 25 years. He became CEO of ZenithOptimedia last year after more than four years at Mi9 and Nine Entertainment Co.

He arrived in Australia from Starcom UK where he was managing director and has extensive global media agency experience.

Speaking on his appointment as Publicis Media CEO James said: “I am incredibly excited to be leading the transformation of the Publicis Groupe’s media capabilities. The launch of Publicis Media in Australia and New Zealand creates a contemporary business construct for our brands and practices.

I’m delighted to have Chris in partnership, he is a fantastic operator and highly respected leader. The opportunity for us to unite our assets and harness the considerable talent across our businesses under Publicis Media will ensure we continue to offer our clients a comprehensive, progressive and dynamic proposition.”

Nolan has worked at Starcom for more than ten years joining as managing director of Melbourne and rising to become national CEO, a role he has held for the past three years.

“The opportunity to grow our client business by bringing together all the capability across our four brands under Publicis Media is a great one,” Nolan added.

“Publicis has made a significant investment in the leadership team across Australia and New Zealand and I am proud to be part of that team.”