It’s that moment between Halloween and the mad rush of the holidays, and while the Christmas ads are already flooding the internet and Mariah Carey is waking from her pre-holiday slumber, the agency world keeps on spinning. Here are the latest personnel moves from around the globe.
AGI
Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), the association that unites the world’s leading creative talents in design, advertising, and illustration, has granted a distinguished membership to Ksenya Samarskaya, managing director at the Type Directors Club.
AKQA
AKQA has further strengthened its leadership team by appointing Jabari Hearn as managing partner, increasing capabilities and expertise across client and talent development. The appointment follows AKQA’s announcement in September of plans to double the number of people working at its studios in the U.S. over the next five years to 2,500 professionals.
BBDO
BBDO has hired Gustavo Sarkis as chief creative officer of BBDO San Francisco, leading all creative work for clients including WhatsApp, ServiceNow, Wells Fargo and the MegaMex portfolio of brands. Sarkis brings more than 20 years of experience to the position and most recently served as CCO for Conill/Saatchi&Saatchi across their Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami locations. He has also held leadership positions with TBWA/Chiat/Day, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, David&Goliath and MullenLowe.
Bohan
Bohan announced the official retirement of founder and agency namesake David Bohan, who started the agency in 1990 with a focus on innovative solutions and a client-first approach. Shari Day will continue to serve as president/CEO of bohan.
Click Media
Click Media, a global gaming media and marketing consultancy, has formally expanded into the U.S. market. Grace Watkins, the company’s co-founder and CEO, is anchoring the firm’s presence in America with a New York office, and Click has appointed Dentsu Creative alum Rhonda Walsh as vp of brand partnerships.
Contented Group
London-based creative content agency Contented has appointed its first rostered director, BAFTA-award nominated Lèmarl Freckleton, as part of its commitment to create a world-class content production offering.
Doe-Anderson
Doe-Anderson hired digital strategist and healthcare leader Elizabeth Scott as vp group account director. Scott will lead the Franciscan Health and Valley Health teams.
Edelman
Edelman has named Natalia Benincasa chief creative officer for Latin America. Selected by Edelman’s global CCO Judy John, Benincasa will be based in Buenos Aires and will be responsible for leading, developing and integrating a talented community of creatives across Edelman’s offices in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
Equator
Digital Transformation consultancy Equator has appointed David Buchanan as the company’s new performance media team lead. He will oversee multiple accounts working across the healthcare, travel, leisure, and financial services sectors.
EveryFriday
Creative agency EveryFriday has appointed Jason Elkins as new business director. Elkins was formerly the head of business development and client services at We Are Immersive.
Goodway Group
Goodway Group, a data-driven and technology enabled digital media and marketing services firm, has appointed industry veteran John Davis as svp of brand direct. He will collaborate closely with other key functional area leads, including business development, strategy, media solutions, analytics and technology.
Haberman
Haberman, a full-service marketing communications agency, has named veteran marketing leader Doug Moore as its chief commercial officer.
Hill Country Studios
Hill Country Studios, a film and television studio coming to San Marcos, Texas, appointed Kevin Bar as chief operations officer of the state’s largest and most ambitious studio project. He comes over from Netflix.
Infillion
Infillion, an advertising platform built for the connected future, today announced the appointment of Margaret Chu as chief financial officer. This announcement comes after her work as an executive advisor at Infillion.
Martin Williams Advertising
Martin Williams Advertising has hired Kara Murphy as senior vice president, director of account management. Murphy will have a seat on the Martin Williams executive team and will lead the agency’s newest business win—brand agency of record for Mobil 1’s North American Lubricants business.
Oliver
Oliver, a company that exclusively designs, build and run in-house agencies and marketing ecosystems for brands, has named Amina Folarin as its new U.K. group chief executive officer. Folarin steps over from her role as global chief inclusion and people officer.
Publicis Italy
Publicis Italy/Le Pub welcomes international creatives as creative directors, including Nick Bakshi, Rainor Marinho and Jack Christensen, who will join the team in January 2023.
R/GA
Robin Forbes will take on the role of global chief client officer at R/GA. Forbes will play a key role with the roll out of R/GA’s new distributed creativity model. He was previously managing director of the brand design and consulting practice.
Relo Metrics
Relo Metrics (formerly GumGum Sports), a sports sponsorship intelligence platform, has announced the appointment of former LiveRamp Chief Strategy Officer of TV, Jay Prasad, to spearhead the next phase of the company’s growth strategy.
Space & Time
Independent growth marketing agency Space & Time has strengthened its leadership with the promotion of Chris Jones to chief executive officer and Heather Connearn to managing director.
TBWA\London
TBWA\London has hired producer Melody Sylvester as chief production officer, working in partnership with CCO Andy Jex and forming part of the senior leadership team.
Team One
Team One, Publicis Groupe’s fully integrated media, digital and communications agency, announced today that it has hired TBWA\Chiat\Day’s Shannon Franqui as its new management director of growth. Franqui takes the reins of the agency’s growth and marketing teams for all five offices and will be shaping and leading new business and nurturing emerging client relationships. She also will handle Team One’s marketing and raise the agency’s profile in the industry.
Unconquered
Unconquered, a full-service creative agency, has added John Fischer as head of strategy.
VSA Partners
VSA Partners announced six moves within its executive suite. After serving for two years as president, Anne-Marie Rosser will ascend to the role of CEO. She will succeed Dana Arnett, who after four decades at VSA will take on the title of founder and chairman. Ariadna Navarro has served for four years as the agency’s chief strategy officer and will expand her role to take on the chief growth officer position. VSA Partners’ three new partners include Mike Walsh, head of client engagement; Kristin Lingren, general counsel and secretary; and Thom Wolfe, head of design.
Wunderman Thompson
Wunderman Thompson has appointed Lizzie Snell as managing director and Jim Dyer as head of client leadership as the agency expands its client leadership team.