Y&R’s global CEO Hamish McLennan announced that the WPP-owned agency has appointed Sandy Thompson (right) as global planning director. In the process, Thompson is taking over the responsibilities of global chief insights officer John Gerzema, who is now headed over to Y&R’s global brand strategy firm, BrandAsset Consulting, to serve as president.
A native of Canada, Thompson spent 15 years at Saatchi & Saatchi prior to joining Y&R. During her tenure at S&S, the exec moved up from VP, planning director at Saatchi Toronto to the agency’s regional planning director in Asia before finally being promoted to global planning director in 2007. As a result of taking on the new post, Thompson will reunite with former Saatchi cohort and current Y&R global CCO Tony Granger, who states that the new hire “is laser-focused on finding insights” and calls her “a fantastic asset for us and our clients.”
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