Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics business, and a trusted partner to the most influential brands, today announced a series of strategic leadership appointments. These changes reflect Kantar’s bold ambition to position North America at a key focus of its growth strategy. The company is introducing a modernized leadership structure designed to unlock greater impact through Kantar's brand expertise in an AI-accelerated marketing environment strengthening Kantar’s commitment to innovation and B2B and B2C client success across all industries. The new structure elevates Chris Petranto, former Chief Growth Officer at Kantar, to Chief Client Officer North America, and Brian James, who previously held the title of Industry Executive, to Chief Solutions Officer North America. It completes Kantar’s integration of Media and Creative solutions into a single division led by Rachelle Minnis, who has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Head of Media and Creative, North America. This combined offering is unique to Kantar, creating a distinct competitive advantage.
“Our focus is on helping brands move from intelligence to impact more seamlessly. Whether through our people or our AI-native technology, we’re intentionally evolving how our clients experience Kantar,” said Jeff Greenspoon, CEO, Americas. “By bringing Chris, Brian and Rachelle into expanded leadership roles, we’re strengthening how brand, media, creativity and experience intelligence come together — enabling marketing teams to build Meaningful Difference, connect brand and demand, and act with greater speed, clarity and confidence.”
In the role of Chief Client Officer, North America, Chris Petranto unites Kantar’s client-facing teams including Industry Partners, Client Partners, Business Development, and Marketing into one connected growth and client success organization. Brian James, Chief Solutions Officer, North America, accelerates and streamlines solution capabilities and client service teams, delivering more connected opportunities for brand and business growth.
Creative and Media unite under the leadership of Rachelle Minnis to meet clients’ growing demand for integrated creative and media intelligence. This strategic move underscores Kantar’s commitment to delivering differentiated solutions and unlocking powerful synergies that help brands activate effectively across today’s fragmented media landscape.
“Our data shows that creative is responsible for about half of media’s effectiveness, so integrating Media and Creative isn’t just logical—it’s essential,” said Rachelle Minnis, EVP, Head of Media and Creative, North America, “By uniting our solutions, we help brands design ideas that travel across channels and deliver outsized impact in today’s fragmented landscape.”
The modernized leadership structure allows Kantar to elevate client impact in three key areas for North American brands:
- Focused, localized innovation powered by AI technology: Clients across all industries now benefit from access to streamlined consultative services and AI-powered solutions, delivering customized, specialized insights on how to embrace disruptive technologies with verticalized expertise.
- Stronger partnerships with C-Suite Marketing Leaders: Senior marketing teams will gain even greater, seamless collaboration, integrated martech solutions, and year-round support to drive measurable business impact and brand growth.
- Enhanced, proactive market intelligence and predictive analytics: Brands now have the ability to not only meet but shape the moments that matter, spot emerging consumer behaviors before they go viral, and drive outsized enterprise growth.
“Modern marketers want partners who understand their business deeply and can move at their pace. By focusing on impact, not just alignment, our clients now benefit from comprehensive, actionable insights and connected solutions that help brands grow in a fragmented, fast-moving market. It’s about turning data into decisions that drive measurable results,” stated Petranto.
James added, “Brands grow when insights, creativity, and technology come together seamlessly. By integrating our solution capabilities, CMOs now get access to the full power of Kantar: AI-enabled, connected, and designed to deliver impact across the entire marketing value chain.”
These leadership and business evolutions enable Kantar to deliver faster insights and deeper client partnerships, doubling down on its position as the #1 indispensable brand growth partner in North America.
To discover how Kantar’s new AI-driven leadership structure can accelerate your brand’s growth in North America, get in touch here.
About Kantar
Kantar is the world’s leading marketing data and analytics business. We deliver the intelligence needed to power brand growth.
We provide the signals that help organizations act quickly and confidently. We empower brands to make effective marketing decisions based on predictive evidence. And we help them craft powerful growth strategies rooted in the connection between consumers, brands and enterprise value.
All this is powered by our uniquely robust human and synthetic data, our unrivalled IP, our AI-native platform and the team of global brand experts that bring this all together.
For further information, interviews, or images, please contact:
Anna Wilgan, Vice President, Public Relations, Kantar
Anna.wilgan@kantar.com
201-421-5847