We’ve been hearing about Dennis Ryan’s departure from Element 79 since the long weekend and now his next destination’s confirmed. Ryan, who had been with the the aforementioned Chicago-based shop for nearly a decade, is headed up to Minneapolis to take on the chief creative officer title at Olson. It’s a new position for Olson, which as we reported last week, promoted ECD Tom Fugleberg to chief brand officer.
Ryan, who spent the last several years as partner/CCO at Element 79, will relocate to to Minneapolis but will be spending one day a week “helping drive integration” at Olson’s Chicago office. Before Element 79, the 6’5″ Ryan spent a handful of years as an ECD at JWT, working on Dell, Blockbuster and Kraft business. Prior to that, he served as a creative for 13 years at DDB, moving up from copywriter to GCD during his tenure. In a statement, Olson CEO Kevin DiLorenzo says, “Dennis emerged quickly as a favorite in [the] CCO search. He has a sophisticated and polished creative sensibility, yet he embraces next-generation creativity.”