“All-encompassing global marketing company” Epsilon has parted ways with Mark Modesto, its president of retail/consumer packaged goods and client services.
Modesto’s departure comes amid a small round of downsizing moves focused in the company’s San Francisco and Chicago offices. Sources tell us that the total number of employees dismissed was in the low double digits (in the Bay Area, at least) and that the reduction had nothing to do with performance.
It may have stemmed, at least in part, from Epsilon’s 2014 acquisition of ad tech leader Conversant, formerly known as ValueClick. The parent company recently consolidated the two formerly independent San Francisco operations.
Epsilon declined to comment directly, but a representative did confirm that Modesto–who effectively managed the company’s relationships with agencies–is no longer an employee.
The departing president spent more than 30 years with the FCB organization, ascending to the level of president of its Chicago office and its larger North American operations before leaving in 2011 to serve as CEO of MARC USA. In May 2012 he left that position to lead Chicago’s digital/creative/shopper agency Ryan Partnership along with former MARC ECD John Immesoete, who became its CCO.
Ryan Partnership was later acquired by Epsilon, with both Modesto and Immesoete becoming Epsilon employees. (The latter is currently its chief creative officer.)
In other Epsilon news, the company recently launched The Pod Couple, a podcast hosted by Immesoete and MediaPost columnist/former Adweek editor Barbara Lippert. Here’s a video version of the first episode, titled “Advertising: Are We Our Own Worst Enemies?”