Ackerman McQueen executive vice president and former president Tom Millweard is leaving the Oklahoma City-based agency to become chief operating officer at Barkley Evergreen & Partners in Kansas City, Mo., next month.
Millweard, who also serves as managing director of the Ackerman McQueen (AM) location in Irving, Texas, is ending a 14-year association with the four-office operation.
Barkley president Scott Aylward is currently acting as chief operating officer. Aylward, who said he pursued Millweard for the post, will retain his presidential duties.
Millweard could not be reached for comment Friday. AM chairman Angus McQueen declined comment late last week.
Millweard was targeted as McQueen's successor when he was elected president of the agency two years ago. McQueen reassumed the title last month when he reconsidered his early retirement plans.
McQueen said in May he became president in order to be "fair and clear to everybody" on his new long-term commitment.
At AM, Millweard oversees regional Pizza Hut marketing. He recently became responsible for the shop's Brunswick business.
Millweard will be moving from a $140 million agency to a $151 million shop with six offices in six states.
Sources did not speculate on candidates for the Irving office's top post. The shop this year hired two new executives: senior vice president of strategic planning Henry Lewczyk Jr. and Frank McGinn, senior vice president of research.
Five other officials at AM are executive vice presidents Melanie Hill, Jeanette Elliott, Tim Oden, Deborah Johnson and Peggy Howard. Sources have said Hill, as group managing director of the agency's Tulsa and Colorado Springs, Colo., operations, shares the No. 2 role with Millweard. --with Scott Hume