Rodes is currently chief executive of MPG and his appointment to the top job at holding company Havas had been mooted in recent weeks.
He succeeds Wahl, who was a surprise appointment made by Vincent Bollore, Havas chairman and leading shareholder, in July. He was the former chief executive of the French bank Caisse d'Epargne. His appointment to the CEO role at Havas came after Bollore failed to tempt TBWA\Worldwide chairman Jean-Marie Dru to take over after Alain de Pouzilhac was ousted as chairman and chief executive.
The change at the top comes as Havas reported a fall in 2005 revenues to €1.46bn down from €1.49bn last time.
Despite the fall in revenues net income was up, rising 8% to €59m and Havas, which as well as MPG owns Euro RSCG Worldwide, reported organic growth up by 2.5%.
Havas said that net new-business wins in 2005 totalled €1.05bn with the main account wins being Jaguar, ESPN Mobile and Lukoil in the US and LG Electronics across Europe.
Other wins have included the pan-European account for Creative Labs, the De Agostini account and a portion of the recent £200m Orange account, which it shares with French rival Publicis Groupe.
In a statement, Havas said: "In order for Havas Group managers and employees to benefit from the group's growth, the board of directors has decided to propose to the annual shareholders' meeting the introduction of a new stock options plan, the creation of an allotment of free shares and the launch of an employee share-ownership programme."
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