SMY Media's Shirley Sells Shop To Top Execs

SMY Media’s Virginia Shirley has retired from the shop she co-founded 31 years ago and sold it to longtime employees Gerry Grant and Karen Sheridan.
Grant, who joined the Chicago agency in 1985, is responsible for new business development. Sheridan, hired in 1977, controls the media operation.
“We’ve retooled our company to be much more research-, strategy- and planning-focused,” Grant said.
Originally founded to deliver broadcast cost efficiencies, the shop also plans to become more involved with the Internet, Grant said.
“We’re very cognizant of the fact that the media marketplace is very fragmented,” he said.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.