NEW YORK — Jim Joseph has left Burson Cohn & Wolfe to join McCann Health, filling the year-long vacancy for the role of North America president.

Joseph was at BCW for a total of nearly eight years, joining in 2012 to lead North America after being president and partner at Lippe Taylor for three years. He was promoted to worldwide president in 2015 and had a brief sojourn as global CEO of Citizen Relations from June 2017 to May 2018, before returning to BCW as global president of brand solutions.

His consumer and healthcare experience includes time at Publicis, where among other roles he was MD of Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness. He started his career client-side at Johnson & Johnson and Arm & Hammer, and has led campaigns in therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, upper respiratory, HIV, dermatology, women’s health, diabetes, immunization and oncology.

In his new role at the network – part of the McCann Worldgroup and IPG – Joseph will oversee all McCann Health’s advertising and promotion agencies in the US and Canada, including Consulting at McCann Health, McCann Health Managed Markets, McCann Health Echo, McCann Health New Jersey and McCann Health New York.

The network now has more than 1,900 employees in 60 offices across 20 countries and, according to an estimate by Medical Marketing & Media (MM&M), McCann Health generated revenue in 2019 of $227.5 million, up 10% on the previous year.

More than 50% of McCann Health North America’s clients are now global brands. Over the past year, it won new business from the likes of Sarepta and Bayer Consumer Health, while expanding its remit for AstraZeneca, RB, Janssen, Sanofi, Pfizer, Takeda, Novartis and Vertex businesses across the network.

The previous Americas head of McCann Health, Amar Urhekar, left the IPG agency last October, with global chief operating officer Linda Szyper stepping into the role on an interim basis.

BCW said Joseph's role as president of brand solutions would not be replaced, and it would soon be announcing a new leader for Latin America who will reside in the region.

John Cahill, global CEO of McCann Health said: “I look forward to seeing the results of Jim’s expert leadership at McCann Health North America. His decades-long industry experience, investment in innovation and talent will help continue the momentum we have been seeing in the region and push us even further towards raising the bar in delivering the best possible work for our clients.”

Joseph said: “It’s no secret that McCann Health is a leader in the global healthcare marketing space. Joining the network during a time of immense recognition and explosive growth in the North American region is incredibly exciting. I look forward to championing both the groundbreaking work that McCann Health produces for our clients, as well as the network’s greatest asset: our employees.”

Joseph was appointed as chair of the PR Council in January this year.