Fitch:Worldwide Taps CEO

Retail design veteran Kevin Roche will join Fitch:Worldwide (Columbus, Ohio) as ceo of its North American operations, effective Aug. 5, 2002. Roche will be in charge of Fitch:Columbus, Fitch:Ann Arbor, Mich., Fitch:Boston and Fitch:San Francisco, and will also work with Fitch:Worldwide's other North American offices, including AAD:Fitch in Phoenix, PrimoAngeli:Fitch in San Francisco and Leonhardt:Fitch in Seattle.

Roche was most recently senior vp, marketing and retail development, for the Travel Retail Group of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) in San Francisco, responsible for the marketing and design initiatives for management groups in six regions: North America, Mid Pacific, Hong Kong, Singapore, Oceana and Hawaii.

He also held a variety of positions, from creative director to ceo, at FRCH Design Worldwide (Cincinnati), which he co-founded in 1975. Roche also co-founded Waypoint Group, a joint venture of Lyons Marketing Communications and FRCH that offers integrated design and marketing communications.

“I joined Fitch:Worldwide because I want to be part of a firm that creates content and relevance for some of the best brands in the world,” says Roche. “I believe Fitch:Worldwide's rigorous integration of product, environmental, interaction and communications capabilities has and will continue to lead to creatively brilliant, consumer-intimate, trend-savvy solutions for its clients.”

For the past eight months, the ceo post at Fitch:Worldwide has been temporarily filled by coo Kathy Tierney. Tierney will work directly with Roche on strategic planning initiatives and key acquisition targets.

Fitch:Worldwide is a subsidiary of London-based Cordiant Communications Group. Its clients include Microsoft, Nissan, Allied Domecq, Lipton, Virgin, Timberland, Burger King, Harley-Davidson, Maytag, Nordstrom, Hewlett-Packard, Bausch & Lomb and DaimlerChrysler.