Zimmerman announced changes to its creative leadership, following the promotion of David Nathanson to chief creative officer; with Jesse Potack joining as executive vice president, executive creative director; Andre Felix joining as senior vice president, digital creative director; and the promotion of agency veteran Lee Gonzalez to senior vice president, group creative director.
Potack joins the agency from McCann New York, where he served as senior vice president and group creative director. He spent over 11 years with the agency, following a four year stint as a senior copywriter with Publicis Kaplan Thaler. Potack began his career with RTO+P as a copywriter and one of the original members of the agency. Over the course of his career he has worked on accounts such as Verizon, P&G, Staples, MasterCard, Wendy’s General Mills and Continental Airlines.
Felix makes Zimmerman the latest agency to poach talent from Brazil (the new Sweden?), arriving from Mood/TBWA in São Paulo, where he has served as head of digital, interactive creative director for just over a year and a half. That followed a short stint at ID\TBWA as a planning director and at Facebook as Brazilian director of the company’s ADTZ Ad Manager. He also spent several years as an account manager and then general account director at Havas Digital. Over the course of his career, he has worked with clients such as Microsoft, Citroën, Walmart, Yahoo!, Pedigree and L’Oreal.
Gonzalez has served as a creative director at Zimmerman for the past six years, following stints as a freelance writer and creative director. She has also spent time with Cramer-Krasselt and Harris Drury Cohen as a senior copywriter, working with clients such as Kraft, White Castle, Corona, Heinz, Frito-Lay and Sears over the course of her career.
“While the agency’s commitment to growing retail business is the end, there renewed drive to continue to advance the means,” said Nathanson. “We are proud to find talented people who share our unwavering understanding of business, but couple it with new thinking and innovation. Responsibility must never be an excuse to forgo brilliance.”