She replaces Rebecca Moody, who left in 2012 to join Adam & Eve/DDB (and has since moved to Ogilvy & Mather London), and will report to Anthony Edwards, the director of strategy.
Gaufman joined Havas Worldwide London in 2010 as the group planning director overseeing Reckitt Benckiser and has worked on the "how in-sync are you?" campaign for Durex.
She was previously the planning lead at Havas’ New York office and has also worked at JWT.
Edwards said: "Yelena is a wonderful combination of creativity, analytical rigour and fun. She has proved herself to be a highly effective and inspiring thought-leader on some of the most demanding briefs in the business.
"Yelena is the perfect person to both lead the planning team and radically evolve the planning output of Havas Worldwide."
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