MSL names Roya Partovi first chief creative officer

MSL has appointed Roya Partovi its first chief creative officer.

In the newly created role, Partovi is responsible for all of MSL’s creative work including strategy, design and editorial. Based in New York, she will report to MSL US CEO Diana Littman.

Partovi’s role was created to keep up with the growth of MSL’s client work over the past two years, and her broad leadership expertise was the right fit for the job, according to Littman.

“Clients are hungry for bigger, more multidisciplinary creative work, so we needed to build a high-performing team that spans all aspects of creative work,” Littman said. “[Partovi and I] spent some time exploring what we envision for our creative future for the agency, and we fell in love with the opportunity we see.” 

With Partovi’s appointment, executive creative director Marc Levy will lead MSL’s creative strategy team and report to Partovi.

Partovi was drawn to MSL’s body of work and Littman's multidimensional team, and she has a clear goal to make clients more influential, particularly in the digital space, by building culture and getting ahead of trends.

“It’s really about elevating the creative excellence within MSL to continuously deliver kickass work,” Partovi said. “We have an outstanding team, where everyone is super passionate with the work they’re doing and they continue to mentor and help get the most out of everyone continuously.”

Partovi comes to MSL from Merge, where she was chief creative officer and DE&I chair, leading a nearly 100-person creative team across four offices.

Before Merge, Partovi was chief creative officer at Aterian, a Google Ventures-backed brand launchpad that combined creative and branding with AI, data and digital channels.

A Publicis alumna, she has worked in creative roles at Fallon, Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis NY, as well as at Havas.