R/GA confirmed the promotion of Barry Wacksman to the role of global chief strategy officer and the departure of New York managing director of insights and planning Graham Phillips, Adweek reports.
Wacksman is a sixteen year veteran of the agency, having most recently served as global chief growth officer prior to the promotion. He first joined the agency in 1999, following two years as a vice president, management supervisor at Ammirati Puris Lintas, when it was run out of a single office with under 50 employees. Wacksman is credited as one of the chief architects of the agency’s “The Connected Age” digital-first strategy and is also a widely-published writer. He co-wrote Connected by Design, a book detailing key principles of functional integration which was published last year, with Chris Stutzman.
Phillips joined R/GA around one year ago following a stint as partner and chief strategy officer at Silver+Partners, which shut down in February after losing the CarMax account. He has also held executive planning positions at agencies including Ogilvy & Mather, BBDO, BBH New York and JWT.
The news comes following a busy summer for R/GA in terms of arrivals and departures. Just last week the agency named Sean Lyons as its U.S. president after parting ways with former president Seth Solomons last month. July also saw the departure of SVP of Planning Andrea Ring for Big Spaceship and the arrival of George Nguyen from McKinney.
Wacksman will report directly to founder and CEO Bob Greenberg.