Ingalls Integrates

Ousts President, Jiggers Operating StructureBOSTON--Ingalls chairman Bink Garrison last week dismissed president Steve Connelly after deciding that a new management model would need only one leader.Connelly, who played an integral role in the planning of the new structure, said he was devastated by Garrison's decision and likened the situation to "building a house and not being allowed to move in.""I love the people over here," said Connelly, who is now thinking about opening his own agency. "Bink came to the conclusion that there could be one leader and that leader had to be Bink."Connelly, who joined Ingalls in 1993 as creative director and was promoted to president of its advertising division two years ago, leaves behind "a ton of positives" that are only slightly tainted by last year's flat financial performance, he said. The Boston shop saw revenues inch up by 1 percent in 1998, following two years of double-digit growth."Ingalls never gets the credit it deserves . . . In the last three years, we have won more awards than any other agency in New England. The depth of talent here is unparalleled. This place is hugely undervalued and I think I've built a great culture," Connelly said. Neither Garrison nor Connelly would discuss the terms of a severance contract, although it is believed that, like Tom Block, the chief operating officer who left just weeks ago, Connelly's stake in the $141 million shop would be bought out.Connelly was responsible for helping to recruit many of the people that comprise an 11-member brand team now "empowered" to run client business, Garrison said. This team represents the shop's advertising, design, direct, public relations, interactive and media disciplines. Those departments, which had been accountable for their own financial performance, will now operate under one profit-and-loss statement, Garrison said. It is a model used by other agencies, including Mullen in Wenham, Mass. "You have to understand the cost structure of each unit even if you control the agency's profit and loss as a single unit," noted Mullen president Joe Grimaldi."What was once six is now one," said Garrison, who believes the new structure will allow the shop to develop multidisciplined solutions for clients. The restructuring will not result in the loss of any jobs. In fact, Randy Browning, director of account management, said, "We are looking to hire people in every discipline in the agency." Nor is Ingalls, currently the largest independent agency in New England, trying to gussy itself up in the hopes of finding a buyer, Garrison insisted.

Brand Marketing

Ingalls Integrates

Judy Warner

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Judy Warner