Russell Wager
Russell Wager

Russell Wager, a six-year Mazda veteran, has joined Kia Motors America.

Confirming the appointment, media and marketing publication MediaPost cited sources claiming Wager had joined the automaker as director of marketing, “with the opportunity to move to vice president of marketing.”

The top U.S. marketing role at Kia was previously held by Chrysler alum Saad Chehabsince, who joined Kia in 2017 and announced his resignation in June.

Wager joins Kia from Mazda’s North American Operations, which he joined in 2012 and served as vice president of marketing, managing U.S. marketing communications. He was previously senior vice president and managing director at Omnicom’s DDB and, prior to that, president of Tokyo-based advertising agency TBWA Hakuhodo.

Earlier in his career, Wager was group client director at David&Goliath and an executive vice president and account director at Doner Advertising.

Based in Irvine, CA, KMA is the American sales, marketing and distribution arm of Seoul-headquartered Kia Motors Corporation.