Confirming tips we received in November, Seattle’s IPG-owned HackerAgency named Haydn Sweterlitsch its first global chief creative officer earlier this month.
HackerAgency is an FCB property: its predecessor Hacker Group was part of the global FCB network, and the shop’s current iteration is the product of a four-way summer merger involving that agency’s Munich, Prague, and Shanghai offices. The company now employs 300 and counts AT&T, Netflix, Volkswagen, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and Highmark BCBS (which recently launched a creative agency review) among its clients, with former Hacker Group/current HackerAgency CEO Spyro Kourtis reporting to FCB’s worldwide chief Carter Murray.
Sweterlitsch, who previously held the VP/ ECD position, brings two decades of agency experience to the new role. Before joining the Hacker organization in 2012, he spent several years as a copywriter within the Grey and Cossette organizations, served as a VP/CD in Wunderman’s D.C. office, and ran digital/broadcast creative operations at Portland-area agency Respond2.
This move is the latest in a string of hires and promotions following the June merger: last month, Hacker named Jay Levinger, formerly of WildTangent, as its director of strategic planning and Wunderman/FCB Seattle veteran Chris Bennett as account director, acquisition and retention. In addition to promoting Sweterlitsch, the shop also chose veteran Michael Goerz for the executive account director role and hired Paris native/former Razorfish HR Generalist Benjamin Dupont as VP of Talent.
HackerAgency most recently won new business directly after the merger when it signed with the recently relaunched ditech Mortgage Corp.
Sweterlitsch also recently joined the ranks of ad execs who’ve taken the ALS ice bucket challenge.