Tatia Torrey named chief client officer at Havas Worldwide Chicago

Between October 2014 and April 2015, six agencies placed women in the role of creative chief. And now, with the rise of Tatia Torrey to chief client officer at Havas Worldwide in Chicago, half of that agency's leadership team is female.

In her newly created position, Torrey will work across the ad agency and subsidiaries Havas Helia (customer relationship management marketing), Havas Impact (events) and Havas Latino (Hispanic market advertising). Since May 2014, she'd been managing director.

Chicago CEO Paul Marobella said that while he's happy to have three women among his six top guns, Torrey's skills triggered her rise to the top. "For us, it's who's the right person for the job and hire those people," he said.

"Having women in the boardroom and in the executive committee has always been important to me as a leader," Marobella said. "My personal philosophy—and this might be a sweeping generalization—is that women generally have better intuition than men. And intuitive nature and instincts to me are a critical part of what it means to have emotional intelligence in the boardroom."

In Torrey's new role, she'll oversee about 75 staffers in account and project management and focus on existing clients, including Citi, Dish, R.J. Reynolds, Cracker Barrel and AutoZone. The total Havas head count in Chicago exceeds 400.

Torrey added she has seen first hand "how the door should be open for women and how women should be encouraged and mentored. I definitely want to do whatever I can to pave the way."