When parent company Havas promoted Pam Hamlin about two years ago to be global president at Arnold Worldwide, she decided to take the “global’’ part of the title seriously.

Hamlin sought to better unify the Boston ad agency’s 10 offices, eight of them outside of the United States. (Arnold’s only other US office is in New York.) She also created a new position, global chief creative officer, someone who could oversee the creative work taking place at the various offices. She brought on board Jim Elliott for that role last year.

Now, Hamlin has added another new executive post, hiring Ed Castillo from ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York to be Arnold’s first global chief strategy officer. He was chief strategy officer for the New York office at his last firm. At Arnold, he’ll oversee strategy for the entire company.

“This will accelerate the momentum we’re building.’’ says Hamlin, whose firm recently landed Angie’s List and the National Association of Realtors as clients.

But Castillo won’t leave his Westport, Conn., home anytime soon. He’ll just take the train in a different direction, commuting to Boston weekly, at least for now.

Castillo says he received a warm reception at Arnold in his first week. And he says he already has an appreciation for Hamlin’s leadership: “She’s very approachable. . . . There’s definitely none of this snotty ‘I’m the head of the company’ kind of stuff.’’ ­­­— JON CHESTO

Lagasse buys big Provincetown wharf

He started in Newburyport, moved in to downtown Boston and Charlestown, and now Chuck Lagasse is buying one of the biggest piers in Provincetown.

Lagasse and his wife, Ann, closed Friday on a $3.5 million purchase of Fisherman’s Wharf — known locally as Cabral’s Wharf — in Provincetown. They aim to refurbish the underused pier, which runs parallel to MacMillan Pier, where ferries land from Boston. The upgrade, coming this spring, will add 50 slips. Long term, they said, they want to add 200 slips and make the wharf a “go-to destination for seasonal and transient yachts.’’

“We’re going to build a first-class marina, similar to what we have in Boston,’’ Lagasse said.

He’s a veteran of the marina business, having developed much of the waterfront in Newburyport. And in recent years he bought and refurbished The Boston Yacht Haven on Commercial Wharf downtown, along with the Shipyard Quarters Marina in Charlestown.

Lagasse has had an eye on the more-than-1,000-foot-long Fisherman’s Wharf for nearly a decade. In 2007, he and then-partner Steve Karp of retail giant New England Development had a deal in place to buy the Provincetown wharf, but it fell through amid the tough economy and cold feet from the family that has owned it for decades. This time around the Lagasses — without Karp — succeeded in closing the deal. Now they’ll get to work fixing it up.

“We’re really excited about it,’’ Chuck Lagasse said. “It’s going to be a fun project.’’ — ­TIM LOGAN

MACOM’s Croteau bets on high-tech fixer-uppers

With EMC poised to lose its independence as it gets gobbled up by Dell, it’s natural to wonder who will rise as the next big deal maker in Massachusetts’ tech scene.

One possible candidate: John Croteau, the chief executive of Lowell-based MACOM.

Croteau has engineered seven acquisitions since becoming chief executive at the semiconductor company in late 2012, in a series of deals totaling more than $600 million.

The firms, in general, offered MACOM a technology and client base that Croteau wanted. He says there’s another common theme: most were impaired or underperforming, selling at low valuations relative to their potential. In other words, he’s been buying the high-tech equivalent of fixer-uppers.

MACOM, he says, received extra cash to help pay for some of these deals by selling its automotive business to Autoliv for more than $100 million last year.

Croteau worked for about two decades at Analog Devices, the Norwood-based chip company, before a stint with NXP Semiconductors.

Shareholders and customers are important constituencies, he says, but so are employees. Paying attention to their needs becomes particularly important during acquisitions: ensuring new workers still face rewarding challenges post-acquisition, and treating people who lose their jobs as a result with dignity.

“My famous quote is, ‘Our primary asset walks out the door every night,’?’’ he says. — ­JON CHESTO

Herrman takes over at TJX

The board at TJX Companies Inc. officially transferred the reins of the company from outgoing chief executive Carol Meyrowitz to Ernie Herrman on Jan. 29.

A spokeswoman for the company declined comment; it publicly announced the succession plan last October.

“We are a fairly quiet company and our executives very rarely conduct interviews,’’ Doreen Thompson, vice president of global communications, said last week.

The 11-member board, which includes Bill Swanson, former chief executive at Raytheon, John F. O’Brien, former chief executive of Allmerica Insurance Corp. (now the Hanover Insurance Group Inc.), and Allan M. Bennett, former chief executive of H&R Block, elected Herrman. He has served as the company’s president since 2011.

Meyrowitz will continue as executive chairman of the TJX board of directors. She also sits on the board of Staples.

— MEGAN WOOLHOUSE

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