Lyle Tick, Gotham's co-president, has resigned his post, and the agency has named Nick Johnson, who joined the agency last November, president.
Tick is said to be taking a job on the client side in Europe. His departure is the second exit of a top Gotham executive in the last four months. In July, the agency’s chief executive, Peter McGuinness, quit to take on the same role at DDB Chicago. At that time Tick, then managing director, and Johnson, chief marketing officer, were named co-presidents.
Tick came to Gotham in 2008 from McGarryBowen, where he ran Verizon and Reebok. At Gotham he was close to most of the agency’s key accounts, including Denny’s and Best Western. He is said to have been opposed to the compromise co-president succession plan put in place by Nick Brien, the CEO of McCann Worldgroup, which has oversight of Gotham.
The CEO’s job at Gotham is unfilled. Sheri Baron, the account lead on Maybelline, a Gotham client that was moved to a new Worldgroup dedicated unit, Beauty Village, has returned to Gotham, and is said to be pushing for the CEO job. Beauty Village is being dismantled at the client’s request.
Johnson joined the Interpublic agency from Red Scout, where he was briefly president of the brand strategy and design shop affiliated with MDC Partners. Previously, he spent eight years at Venables Bell & Partners, where he was one of four agency partners at the San Francisco independent.
