This week’s hires, promotions and appointments are focused on enabling expansion—both for agencies and their clients. With new creative leads, managing directors and chief department officers entering agencies at all stages of scale, the industry as a whole is preparing for a 2022 filled with growth and prosperity.
BBH
BBH promoted Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes to the position of deputy executive creative director. Guimaraes has been at the company since 2010 and was previously creative director. In the new position Guimaraes will deliver creativity, craft and ideas to fuel creative output for Burger King, Audi, Weetabix, Alpen and Jabra accounts.
BCW
BCW hired Deb Freeman as its chief strategy officer, North America. Freeman, a creative executive with over 20 years of experience with clients including Ulta Beauty, McDonald’s and Showtime, will lead the region’s growing research and strategy team.
Bounteous
Katy Allen is joining Bounteous, a digital innovation partner to brands, as its managing director, healthcare. Allen will work alongside the company’s executive leadership team to service the digital transformation needs for industries including healthcare, financial, consumer and restaurant industries.
Constellation
Stagwell’s Constellation group appointed Zakita Larry as global chief communications officer to facilitate the network’s expansion and bolster business offerings. Larry is the first woman, millennial and Black professional to join the group’s global leadership team.
Design B&B
Brand strategy and design agency Design B&B hired Valerie Aurilio, an industry veteran with 20 years of experience in creative leadership in the beauty, baby care, pharma, finance and food industries, as managing partner. Aurilio will work alongside Design B&B’s founder Amy Brusselback, who she previously worked with on a client basis, to lead the agency.
DNA
DNA named Mishy Cass as its new executive creative director. Cass, previously REI group creative director, was promoted in response to the agency’s unprecedented growth in 2021. She will join the senior leadership team to lead creative.
Fuseideas
Fuseideas made five new hires to expand its team of creatives. Christie Stropole will serve as associate media director, Anna McDonough as project manager, Doug Campbell as associate director, studio production, Cody Teijeira as event manager and Shannon Crane as business development director.
Goodway Group
Goodway Group hired Laurel Collins as its vp of media planning. Collins, a global digital marketing and ecommerce leader with experience at Publicis Media and Dentsu Australia, will oversee the media planning function for the company and establish best practices for optimizing media investments for client-centric goals.
Harbor
Harbor made two executive appointments to strengthen its content production leadership capabilities. Elizabeth Niles is joining the team as executive producer, picture post, New York. Kevin Vale was promoted to executive director, feature and episodic, East Coast.
Hey Wonderful
Working towards its long-standing advocacy for the queer community, Hey Wonderful signed renowned LGBTQ+ talents Emily McDonald (she/her) and River Gallo (they/them), known for their work to move culture. McDonald is experienced in creating brand documentaries with Nike, Vogue and Facebook. Gallo wrote, directed and starred in short film Ponyboi, the first film created by and starring an Intersex person, and is known for directing campaigns of gender identity self-discovery for Facebook.
Kantar
Michael Uzielli is joining data-driven analytics and brand consulting company Kantar as chief financial officer. Uzielli has more than 20 years of finance leadership experience, most recently as group chief financial officer at Cognita. He’ll work to deliver growth through focuses on business performance, capital management and operational excellence.
Nail
Nail Communications hired Rebecca Webber as its business growth director to lead new client initiatives. Webber brings experiences from past roles as the general manager of the Providence Cambridge Innovation Center, chief of staff to the president and CEO of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and chief of staff for the Rhode Island Executive Office of Commerce.
Publicis Health Media
Publicis Health Media appointed two new executive leaders. Beth Barron will serve as chief client and operations officer, delivering client operations with a focus on commercial structure, resources management and value creation. Elyse Rettig will serve as chief product officer, leading the brand’s product lab to reimagine media for health and wellness.
Red & Co.
Clare Pickens, previously Red & Co.’s global business director, was promoted to global managing director. Pickens will lead the company’s growth and business development in the U.S. and Europe and oversee existing client relationships, while attracting new, like-minded business partners.
Saatchi & Saatchi
Saatchi & Saatchi appointed Dustin Tomes to its newly-created position of evp, executive creative director. Coming from his previous role as group creative director at Droga5, Tomes will report to co-president and chief creative officer Daniel Lobatón and provide creative assistance across the entirety of the creative department.
Sibling Rivalry
Sibling Rivalry hired Mitch Monson as executive creative director and Burke Miles as creative director. Monson joins from Mirada Studios where he served as creative director and vice president of brand experience. Miles comes from his previous role as creative director at Mocean.
Sockeye Agency
Portland-based independent brand strategy and design firm Sockeye Agency hired Steve Cousins as creative director of design, a new position intended to expand efforts for all agency accounts. Cousins previously ran his own studio, ReallyBigCool, and worked in creative lead roles at lululemon and Cinco.
The Kite Factory
Independent media agency The Kite Factory hired Charley Day, previously supporter engagement lead at WaterAid, as its strategy director. Day will work alongside head of charity Caroline Dolan to build senior charity client relationships and enable the company to uncover creative media solutions that deliver results.
UTA
UTA hired three new agents across teams in its music division. Vatana Shaw will serve as a music brand partnerships agent based in Los Angeles, a newly created role that allows her to lead artist brand strategy and music brand partnerships in the metaverse. Aaron Arkin will serve as a music crossover agent based in Los Angeles and Mary Allen as a music agent based in Nashville.
Virtue Worldwide
Darius Hines is joining Virtue Worldwide, the agency powered by Vice, as its managing director. Hines, former Ogilvy managing director, will oversee North American operations and contribute to agency clients including Logitech, Vanguard and Coca-Cola.
Vivaldi Group
Vivaldi Group appointed Ben Kuenzle and Tracy Huser as firm partners. Kuenzle will work to drive client accounts and support brand transformation ambitions, and Huser will continue to work with B2B and B2C clients to develop actionable marketing strategies responsive to consumers’ evolving needs.
Wavemaker
Jessica Maley was hired as Wavemaker’s new chief people officer, North America. Maley brings decades of experience in human resources and talent management and will work as part of the agency’s U.S. executive committee to lead its people and culture team.
WHM Creative
Jonathan Byrne is joining WHM Creative as its first chief creative office, where he will work to grow the company’s creative team by 30% in 2022. Byrne comes from his previous role as creative lead at Deloitte Digital’s Heat, where he worked with clients like Halo Top, Levi’s, LG and Shutterfly.
Who Wot Why
Who Wot Why promoted Marissa Jennings and Charles Faircloth to joint managing directors. Jennings has served at the agency since 2016, most recently as operations partner. Faircloth joined in 2017 and is being promoted from client services partner.
Zerotrillion
Zerotrillion hired Chantelle Brinkley, previously vice president of strategy and partnerships at Unsplash, to open its New York office. Brinkley is joining the agency’s global leadership team, and will be responsible for growing the client base and building out the team at the agency’s newest location.
Zulu Alpha Kilo
After launching its Western Canadian office in Vancouver last month, Zulu Alpha Kilo hired Dean Lee and Michael Mayes, highly regarded creatives in the city, as its new executive creative directors. Lee comes from his previous role as ecd at DDB Vancouver, and Mayes comes from Taxi in Toronto, where he worked with clients including Williams Sonoma, Viagra and Nike.