Carat Melbourne has announced the appointment of Richard Lehocz to the newly-created role of head of client leadership and operations.

Lehocz (pictured above, right) joins Carat after four years with REA Group in the role of national sales director. Prior to REA, Lehocz spent 10 years at Fairfax Media playing an integral role in the publisher’s digital transformation.

Carat Melbourne managing director Joseph Pardillo (pictured above, left) praised Lehocz’s unique perspective as a perfect fit for the agency.

“Richard’s spent the bulk of his career on the cutting edge of digital, data, and analytics – his experience and fresh thinking will be invaluable in supporting Carat’s continued evolution,” Pardillo said.

“We’re committed to connecting our clients with the right talent to help them capitalise on the opportunities presented by the digital economy, and we believe we’ve found that in Richard.

“He has a proven track record of consistently delivering innovation and market-leading client service. We’re excited to be attracting his calibre of talent to the team.”

Commenting on his appointment, Lehocz said: “It’s an exciting time to be in media. Rapid transformative change is presenting all sides of our industry with new challenges, and after 15 years publisher-side, I’m looking forward to approaching them from a new angle.

“Carat is clearly committed to evolving their offering ahead of the market, and with such an exciting line up of clients, I can’t wait to get started.”

Lehocz is the agency’s second senior hire from a digital publisher in as many months, with Carat’s national CMO, Andrea Rule, joining from Yahoo7 earlier in the year.

He will commence his new role in October.