San Francisco-based production house-turned creative agency Mekanism expanded its leadership team with the hires of a managing director in Seattle, a new head of planning, two creative directors and an executive producer. The independent agency also promoted Mike Zlatoper to serve as its first chief operating officer and made a series of additional internal promotions.
Mekanism attributed the leadership expansion to a series of recent account wins, including Talenti, Peloton, Blink Health and the Wine Group’s Cupcake and Chloe wines.
Zlatoper first joined the agency in 2010 and previously led the San Francisco headquarters as executive vice president, managing director. Before joining Mekanism he spent around three years serving as director of business development and group account director for 215 McCann, following nine years as an account director with TBWA and Cutwater.
“It’s exciting times at Mekanism. Because of the strong growth we’re experiencing, it’s more important than ever to have the processes and structures needed to ensure a great creative experience for our clients,” Mekanism president and CEO Jason Harris said in a statement. “Mike has always been an integral part of the Mekanism family and with him at the helm of operations—we’re setup for continued success and more importantly-excellent work.”
- Lisa Townsend Zakroff will serve as managing director of Mekanism Seattle. She arrives at the agency from Deutsch L.A., where she spent the past three years as senior vice president, account director, on Nintendo and Target. Zakroff originally joined Deutsch as an account supervisor in 2008, working with clients including Volkswagen, DirecTV and Saturn before leaving to join Pitch as account director on Burger King in September of 2010. She rejoined Deutsch at the beginning of 2013 to serve as vice president, experiential account director and was promoted to her most recent role around a year and a half later.
- Adama Sall joins the agency of head of planning for the eastern region. She previously worked with agencies including Ogilvy, BBDO and R/GA and brands including Samsung, Starbucks and UPS.
- Jillian Goger joins Mekanism New York as creative director. She arrives at the agency from Droga5, where she has served as a creative director for a year, following a decade with McCann New York, where she rose from associate creative director to group creative director. Over the course of her career she has worked with clients including the U.S. Army, Verizon, USPS, Dentyne and MasterCard and the New York Lottery.
- Matt Fischvogt joins Mekanism Chicago as a creative director on the agency’s MillerCoors account. He joins the agency following four years as a freelance creative director, following stints at CP+B, MullenLowe and McKinney. He has worked with brands including Coke Zero, Audi and Best Buy.’
- Sarah DiLeo arrives as executive producer for Mekanism’s Sister Studios, following stints as executive producer, integrated production at Tool and head of production at Wondros.
Mekanism also promoted Melissa Hill to head of brand management, East; Anna Boyarsky to head of brand management, West; David Horowitz to executive creative director at Mekanism New York; Rick Thornhill to managing director of Mekanism Chicago and Caroline Moncure to director of brand development at Mekanism Chicago.