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Wieden & Kennedy has appointed Neil Christie as chief executive of its London office as part of a shake-up of its global leadership team.

Christie will take on the newly created role as Wieden & Kennedy promotes Colleen DeCourcy and Tom Blessington to co-presidents of the global network, while Dave Luhr and Susan Hoffman are moving into chair roles alongside co-founder Dan Wieden.

Christie is relinquishing his global responsibilities as part of the reorganisation. He was promoted to the role of global chief operating officer in March 2017.

He said: "With the majority of our business located in North America, the reality is that the demands of the global job are heavily focused in the US.

"I was unable to move my home base to Portland to accommodate this, so I’m pleased to be returning to join the team in London."

Christie previously spent 13 years as managing director of Wieden & Kennedy London. Helen Andrews remains the London office’s managing director, alongside executive creative directors Iain Tait and Tony Davidson.

DeCourcy and Blessington will act as de facto chief creative officer and chief operating officer respectively alongside their co-president roles.

Blessington returns to Wieden & Kennedy after a year at YouTube, where he held the position of vice-president of brand, media and experiences. Before YouTube, he was managing director of Wieden & Kennedy Portland for 11 years.

DeCourcy joined the company in 2013 as global executive creative director from Socialistic.

Luhr said: "It is time to pass the torch to a new generation of visionary leaders to run the agency that I love so much. Colleen and Tom are two of the strongest creative and business minds I have ever met. They are inspiring and driven by the desire to make interesting work with great partners."

DeCourcy added: "To say I feel a huge responsibility would be an understatement. We’re just going to continue to follow Dan’s best advice: ‘Loosen up, don’t let the brand get too polished and predictable. It ain’t mathematics; it’s jazz.’"