McCann London Names New Creative Leadership Team

​McCann London has appointed a new creative leadership team with exceptional pedigree and an award-winning portfolio of work.

​James Millers, previously of Leo’s, has been appointed as executive creative director, starting later this Spring. Joining him are New Commercial Arts’ former creative duo Charlotte Prince and Loriley Sessions who have been appointed as deputy executive creative directors effective immediately. These appointments follow the hiring of Liam Thomas as Executive Design Director from BBH last month, and complete McCann London’s exciting new creative leadership line-up.

The award-winning team will lead McCann London’s creative output across all brands and specialisms, including social and influencer, and help drive the agency’s creative ambitions for the future.

James Miller joins from Leo’s UK where - as executive creative director - he led a multi-disciplinary team, drove new business and mentored emerging talent - contributing to the agency being named Campaign’s Creative Agency of the Year in 2023 and 2024, and the most awarded agency overall in 2025. Over the past five years he has led McDonalds’ fame-building creative output in the UK and globally, blending populist creativity with strategic rigour. And his work has been recognised across Cannes Lions, Effies, D&AD and more.

Charlote and Loriley join from New Commercial Arts where they were part of the starting line-up of the agency back in 2020. They helped build the creative department before moving in NCA’s sister agency, Ogilvy, after it was bought by WPP in 2024. There they led the creative work for Madri Lager (Molson Coors) and CLIF (Mondelēz).

​Mel Arrow, McCann London CEO, said, “It took me about seven seconds to know for sure that James, Charlotte and Loriley were the team I wanted to partner with. James is wildly talented, determined and totally grounded. He knows what it takes to make great work and has done it again and again across his career. Charlotte and Loriley bring a totally unique and exciting perspective to the mix. They’re outrageously fun and completely unforgettable. I can’t wait to get going.”

On his appointment, James said, “I’m genuinely excited to be joining McCann. It’s one of those agencies whose work has been part of British culture for years, from the Nescafé Couple when I was growing up, to more recent work on Xbox. But it was the sense of opportunity right now, and the people behind it, that really pulled me in. From my first conversation with Mel, I felt the energy, ambition and drive for creativity, and that made joining feel like an easy decision.”

Charlotte and Loriley added, “To say goodbye to NCA, something we’ve helped build from the ground up, it had to be a truly special opportunity. But from our very first meeting with Mel & the McCann team, we turned to each other (with that ‘one look’ telepathy teams often have!) and just knew we were onto something very exciting.

On top of that, getting the chance to work with James again - someone we’ve spent many an hour with during our time at Leo’s - made it feel like we could really hit the ground running together.

2026 is such an exciting time for McCann. Iconic British brands and ambitious global work already in the building, the decision became a no-brainer. One thing we’ve noticed throughout our careers is when the senior team works well together, it lifts not just the work, but the spirit of the entire agency. So, we’re hoping for boundless energy, a whole lot of fun, fearless passion for creativity, and doing things just a little differently.”