Judge moves up from his current role of president of Lowe Lintas & Partners Worldwide, a post he was appointed to in October 1999.
The promotion of Judge comes as a precursor to a much wider reorganisation within Interpublic that will see the creation of a new global network called "The Partnership", which will house more than a dozen standalone agencies from within Interpublic.
According to US reports, the plan, which is the brainchild of Interpublic CEO John Dooner, will see various PR, media, advertising and marketing-services agencies grouped together, streamlining various standalone and non-network agencies. Official confirmation is expected later this week.
The Partnership will form the third strand of a newly reorganised Interpublic, alongside the McCann-Erickson WorldGroup and the soon-to-be-acquired True North-owned FCB network.
It is believed the Partnership will have Lowe Lintas & Partners at its centre, with other major agencies such as Deutsch and True North's Bozell playing a major part.
It will also affect Dailey & Associates, Mullen/LHC, The Martin Agency, Suissa Miller, Initiative Media, DraftWorldwide, Campbell-Mithun and Carmichael Lynch, as well as Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos and Golin/Harris.
What is not clear yet is what agencies will be grouped together or what the final reporting structures will be. What is clear, however, is that each group within the partnership will have its own CEO or partner who will report to a management team led by Lowe as chairman and True North's David Bell as CEO. Other executives are likely to be called in to support Lowe and Bell.
Lowe, himself, is to continue in his role as head of both The Lowe Group and global sports marketing agency Octagon, as well as retaining his place on the board of Interpublic.
Lowe said, "As chairman, I will continue to work closely with Jerry [Judge], but will hand over some of the responsibilities that are involved in the day-to-day running of a network that is at least twice the size it was a year and a half ago. This will enable me to spend more time with clients and, most importantly, help to ensure that our creative product is second to none."
Judge, who will relocate to New York for his new job, joined Lowe as chief executive of the then London agency Lowe Howard-Spink in 1994 from Young & Rubicam. He also had early career spells at Leo Burnett and TBWA and became founding partner and then chairman of UK agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty.