Following the departure of chief planning and investment officer Anush Prabhu for MediaCom, Deutsch New York CEO Val DiFebo announced a reorganization of the New York office’s media, communications planning and data teams, which were overseen by Prabhu. The move also follows the recent hiring of Rachel Mercer as vice president, digital strategy director and the arrival of New York chief strategy officer Andrew Dawson in March.
Post-Prabhu, the agency has realigned its data, tech, communications planning and creative teams.
“There has been a natural gravitation and a growing collaboration occurring between our tech and data departments, as well as our creative and comms planning teams,” DiFebo said in a statement. “We have an incredibly strong leadership team already in place who will serve as the key pillars ensuring our continued success. This will optimize our creative and media output.”
Going forward, communications planning will unite with creative. Director of communications planning Matthew George will align more closely with the agency’s creative department, reporting to CCO Dan Kelleher, who arrived at the agency in April. There will also be closer ties between data and tech, as director of data analytics Rich VanSteenburgh will now report to chief technology officer Trevor O’Brien. On the media side, director of integrated media Karen Benson and director of local buying Maureen Burzynski will now report to chief operating officer Erica Grau.
“By bridging the gap between science and art, copy and code, and insight intelligence and emotion intelligence we’ll continue to change the way brands go to market and result in improved bottom lines for our clients,” added DiFebo.