Havas Lynx UK CEO Claire Knapp adds Havas Lynx New York to remit in C-suite shakeup

Havas Lynx has shaken up the leadership of its New York team, expanding Claire Knapp’s role to cover the office and hiring Bruno Rebelo to head up its creative division.

The U.K.-based agency established the U.S. outpost in 2022. At that time, Knapp, CEO of Havas Lynx, was overseeing the new U.S. office and Ludmila Crowther was driving day-to-day operations. Havas unveiled a new U.S. leadership team in April 2025, appointing Joanna Ruiz and Megan Skelly as president and chief creative officer, respectively, of Havas Lynx New York. 

Sixteen months later, Havas Lynx has again unveiled a new U.S. leadership team. Knapp’s expanded role covers the New York office, which she will oversee while continuing to lead the agency’s U.K. offices in Manchester and London.

Knapp said she will split her time between the two countries as she manages client needs and embeds more deeply with the U.S. side of the operation. Knapp will be responsible for driving the growth of Havas Lynx as one of the leading medical marketing shops in the holding company’s portfolio. 

“I’ve been at Lynx for 15 years. I actually started my career at the agency as a graduate, and then worked my way to CEO,” she said. “So I’d like to think I know what Lynx lives, breathes and stands for more than probably most in this world.”

In addition to the expanded scope of Knapp’s role as an executive, Havas Lynx appointed Bruno Rebelo as its chief creative officer. Rebelo is an industry veteran who most recently served as chief creative officer at Grey Health New York.

In this position, Rebelo will report to Eric Weisberg, global chief creative officer of Havas Health. Rebelo said he has known Weisberg for many years and is eager to work alongside a healthcare creative powerhouse as he steps into this role.

Knapp noted that she is eager to maintain the positive momentum Havas Lynx has accrued in recent years and views AI as a differentiator for the agency. 

Havas Health rolled out a number of AI-powered offerings over the past year, including the patient adherence and persistence service BrightInsight, insights product Vurvey Labs and Adaptive Intelligence monitoring process.

The one that both Knapp and Rebelo cited as the offering that excites them the most is Ava, Havas’ global LLM portal that is being integrated with Lynx+AI.

Knapp asserted that Havas Lynx has been an early mover in the space and views AI as a way to amplify creative work rather than replace it. Rebelo shared the sentiment and said there is an opportunity to co-create alongside these innovations.

“Here is the first time that creatives not only use AI in favor of creativity, but also can create tools together with the AI team that will help the teams in their workflows,” he said. “Like the creativity goes beyond using it — to creating it from scratch.”