Euro RSCG Life Worldwide reshuffled its top management, with Jim Metropoulos signing on as CEO of the Havas healthcare network from WPP’s Sudler & Hennessey, where he was co-president. He reports to David Jones, global CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide. Metropoulos succeeds Ron Pantello, who becomes chairman of the network, a new position. Pantello will stay on full-time until the end of the year, managing the transition, and will then drop down to part-time, working as a strategic consultant and mentor to the new management team. The network also named Doug Burcin and Ed Stapor, the heads of its two largest US units, co-CEOs for North America, new posts reporting to Metropoulos. Burcin is president of Euro RSCG Life Metamax, which handles key Sanofi-Aventis accounts, and Stapor heads Euro RSCG Life Chelsea. They join Michel Nakache, CEO for Euro RSCG Life Europe/Asia, who also reports to Metropoulos. “It puts into place a nice management team for the future,” said Pantello. “These are all guys in their 40s. It’s a nice succession plan to continue driving this business forward.” Pantello, an LM&P co-founder who has been with the company for 26 years, has served as CEO of the group since 2002. He presided over a consolidation of the sprawling agency network and engineered its realignment under the “Power of One” model, featuring a single profit-and-loss statement and centralized, media-neutral offering. He is also chairman emeritus of the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame.