Insight consultancy Nunwood has appointed James Walker, the former global president of Accenture Marketing Sciences, as chief strategy and development officer.

Walker, who also joins Nunwood's board, was a partner at Accenture for seven years. He ran the firm's International Marketing Sciences division, following the acquisition of his business, Edge Consulting, in 2002.

At Accenture, Walker led the acquisition of the consultancy Media Audits and worked with the management teams at brands including Vodafone, Staples, Dell and Nokia.

He had earlier held global leadership roles at MindShare and JWT and was chairman of Brand Science.

Clare Bruce, CEO of Nunwood, described Walker's appointment as a "major coup" for the Leeds-based consultancy.

"James is the kind of partner that most agencies only dream of being able to bring onboard," Bruce said.

"With first-rate consulting and global expansion experience, James will play a leading role in the ongoing transformation of Nunwood’s consultative approach, client services and international strategy," she added.

Nunwood has 110 staff across offices in Leeds, London and New York and Walker revealed he intends to help the business expand further.

He said: "It’s a thrilling place to be and a business with vast, untapped potential that I’m looking forward to helping release as the group rapidly expands into new territories.

"We have plans for immediate expansion, including Europe, West Coast US and Asia-Pacific.”