Minneapolis-based agency mono welcomed Vanessa Fortier as its first-ever executive creative director, tasked with leading the agency’s creative department.
Two of mono’s co-founders, Michael Hart and Chris Lange have led the creative department for the past 15 years as managing creative directors. Hart and Lange will now oversee the overall creative department as co-CCOs, while also focusing on the agency’s development.
“As we continue to grow and build our team, we recognized bringing in an executive creative director is important to ensure we have someone 100% focused on inspiring great work every day, while we help grow and evolve the agency,” Hart said in a statement. “It took us months to find the right person for this role, and know Vanessa will bring both her creative talents and her strong reputation for leadership to help us become even an stronger creative force.”
Fortier joins mono from McCann, where she spent the past year as senior vice president, executive creative director. Before joining McCann, she spent seven years at The Martin Agency, most recently serving as senior vice president, executive creative director. While with the agency she played an important role in growing the Benjamin Moore account and also led work on Walmart. Prior to joining The Martin Agency she spent over a decade with Saatchi & Saatchi New York, before leaving her role as senior vice president, creative director to join The Martin Agency in 2010.
“Vanessa’s passion for championing both traditional and non-traditional ideas and teams won us over,” Lange said in a statement. “She’s not afraid of the complex or difficult, and she has an impeccable eye for detail and love of production. Everyone we talked with who had worked with her and for her, raved about her as a leader, mentor, and partner.”
“Joining mono was a no brainer. The vibe I got from the super smart, super talented people there was truly inspiring,” Fortier added. “Michael and Chris have established a happy, enthusiastic culture that cares about its people and the quality of work they put out into the world. It kinda feels like I found my agency soul mate.”
Foriter’s arrival follows a year in which mono added new accounts including Sherwin Williams Consumer Brands Group, Redbox, Peroni and Leinenkugel’s.