As the week comes to a close, agencies far and wide mark advancements in company growth, strategy and operational management as a result of key hires and promotions. In today’s roster updates, see who was hired, who retired and who moved up the ranks at the world’s leading agencies.
180LA
Sarah Rubinstein is joining creative agency 180LA as the head of its strategic planning department. Rubinstein comes from Chiat/Day LA, where she founded the agency’s purpose-led consulting practice and led its social and environmental impact client roster.
Above+Beyond
Matt Steward is joining Above+Beyond as partner. Steward joins from a previous executive role at Wunderman Thompson—and will work alongside executive creative director Dominic Goldman to lead the agency.
Andbox
Mitchell Lawrence Smith is joining esports organization Andbox as its chief content officer, where he will oversee development and production of content and talent relationships. Lawrence has worked in the Hollywood film industry for over a decade and overseen 40+ film and television projects.
Barbarian
Barbarian hired Lawrence Edmondson as its new chief technology officer. Previously in leadership positions at Squarespace and VaynerMedia, Edmondson will work to enhance the brand’s technology capabilities, talents and processes.
Badger Agency
Badger Agency filled two leadership roles this week, with the promotion of managing director Natalie Troubh to president—and the hiring of industry veteran Michelle Kessler-Sanders as director of brand development and growth strategy. The two will work to drive innovation, cultural transformation and creativity at the agency.
BBH London
BBH London hired Neil Clarke and Jay Phillips as its creative directors, with the goal of bolstering its creative department. Clarke and Phillips, both migrating from AMV BBDO where they were also creative directors, will work to pitch new brands and grow the company’s business.
Blue Chip
Blue chip hired Valerie Williams-Sanchez, Ph.D. as its vice president of cultural intelligence and relevance, with the goal of helping the company engage more consumers for client brands and elevate the agency’s overall cultural fluency. Ann Yun also joined the team as group creative director after freelancing with the agency on several projects.
Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners
Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP) hired Crystal Perez as its new talent acquisition manager with the goal of doubling down on its diversity, equity and inclusion commitment. In this role, Perez will implement new DEI initiatives, source talent and manage culture programs.
Co:collective
Jamie Hall, who has led strategy, creative and innovation initiatives at co:collective for clients including Google, the ACLU and LinkedIn, has been promoted to managing director. In the position, Hall will lead its business and brand practice and drive growth by enabling clients to define strategy, audiences and development and distribution plans.
Code3
Shalanna Clark joined Code3 as its new head of marketing to lead the agency’s growth marketing team and enable it to hit new business goals. Clark migrated from her previous position as senior director of digital marketing at Six Month Smiles.
Croud
Global digital marketing agency Croud appointed Rachelle Hansen as its vice president of client leadership and Gabriela Carlos as its media measurement director, both new positions for the U.S. team. The roles were created in response to recent growth and will work to ensure customer engagement and user acquisition continue to scale.
Day One Agency
Day One Agency appointed Jamie Falkowski to the newly created position of chief creative officer and partner. Falkowski has been at the agency since 2015 and is being promoted from his previous role as managing director. In his new position, he’ll report to Josh Rosenberg—CEO and co-founder—and will work to connect creative storytelling for cross-platform distribution.
E-Cloth
E-Cloth hired Gavin Kennedy as its first chief marketing officer, with the goal of driving transparency and environmental sustainability in the household cleaning category. Kennedy immediately hired E-Cloth’s new agency of record, Rinck Advertising.
GDS&M
In response to recent growth, GDS&M promoted several employees to senior leadership positions, including Dave Kersey to chief media officer, Kiesha Townsend Taitt to chief inclusion officer and Marci Rogers to chief people officer.
Fitzco
Independent agency Fitzco hired Stephen Lintner and J.W. Affourtit to lead services for McCormick’s French’s business and Checkers & Rally’s account. Lintner comes from his previous writing role at GSD&M and Affourtit joins from his previous art direction role at Edelman.
Formation
Ty Lim has been appointed as chief growth officer at Formation, where he will lead all go-to-market teams and deliver cohesive experiences for clients. Previously Formation’s svp of marketing, Lim has worked in growth marketing for decades and will now oversee marketing, sales and customer success initiatives at the company.
King Ursa
On the heels of a number of new technical and creative leadership appointments, King Ursa promoted Cheryl Gosling to its president of agency. Gosling joined King Ursa in 2020 and earned her promotion with new business wins and diverse talent engagement.
Leo Burnett
Ashley Geisheker, who joined Leo Burnett Chicago in 2018 as executive producer, has been promoted to executive vice president, head of production role. She will lead all production capabilities, pushing the boundaries of traditional creative and growing a diverse talent pipeline.
Mark Allen & Co.
Public relations firm Mark Allen & Co. promoted R. Kurt Osenlund from creative and media strategist to creative director and account supervisor. The promotion comes after a period of growth due to the firm becoming a lead advisor for brands launching NFTs and entering the metaverse.
M/Six&Partners
M/SIX has rebranded to mSix&Partners after announcing partnerships with WPP and The&Partnership. The rebrand symbolizes the company’s current focus on partnerships and positions the agency with a mindset of “Further, Faster.”
MullenLowe Boston
Arthur Daraujo, award-winning creative director and illustrator, joined MullenLowe Boston. Daraujo has experience working with clients like Nike, Coca-Cola, Mondolex, Bayer and Heineken and is skilled in logo design, branding and identity, typography, advertising and traditional illustration techniques.
Nahana Communications Group
Nahana Communications Group promoted Thabang Skwambane from group managing director of Nahana agencies, FCB Joburg and Hellocomputer to CEO of all Nahana agencies, including the additional responsibilities of HelloFCB+, McCann 1886, Fuelcontent, Meta Media, The Media Shop, Craft, Lucid and Weber Shandwick. The hire comes in response to his contribution to record business growth and partnerships on campaigns for Coca-Cola and Toyota.
Ogilvy
Ogilvy named Mick McCabe as its new global chief strategy officer, where he will oversee strategy product for 131 offices in 93 countries and deliver creative solutions for new and prospective clients.
Plus Company
Plus Company made two key executive hires to announce its new executive leadership team, with Beneita Meswania as chief product officer and Nathan Oliver as chief growth officer. The new hires aim to fuel the growth and success of Plus Company, an alliance of over 20 creative, media and PR agencies aiming to represent a new model of interagency teamwork.
Roth Ryan Hayes
Marketing agency search, selection and compensation consultancy Roth Ryan Hayes brought on Russel Wholwerth as partner. Wholwerth comes from his previous role as owner and founder of External View and will work to expand the firm into Los Angeles and build its presence worldwide.
Thinkingbox
Thinkingbox grew its development team capabilities with the promotion of Nicole Rego to technical operations manager from her previous role as senior full stack developer. Rego joined the team initially in 2016—and has worked on projects like FIGR Inc’s Budtender AR app and Kiehl’s CCDSS immersive website.
TRG
Michelle Gardner was announced as TRG’s new chief financial officer. Bringing with her 25 years of experience in finance, accounting and business, Gardner previously served in roles as finance director for Fujitsu America and CFO for Venturity Financial Partners.
TripleLift
Advertising technology company TripleLift made two hires for its European team, including Mallory Illido-Bertome as its regional vice president-demand, southern Europe, and Rob Ishag as regional vice president-demand, northern Europe. Illido-Bertome will be based in Paris and Ishag will be based in London.
Two by Four
Korie Brown has been promoted to group media director at independent agency Two by Four, as part of the agency’s goal to assemble a powerhouse leadership team in Chicago. Brown has been at the agency since 2018 and will now be responsible for leading the media department, as well as managing budgets, growth and client development.
VMLY&R
Adam Woullard is joining VMLY&R as its managing connections director, PR. Woullard will lead all of the agency’s public relations capabilities and work alongside creative team to build large-scale campaigns for clients.
Wavemaker
Wavemaker made two executive hires, with Seow Leng Porter joining as executive director, client solutions and Mathew Madampil joining as executive director, agency operations. Both roles aim to expedite operations and enable agency growth.
Wavemaker UK
Wavemaker UK appointed Rozzi Merrington as its head of innovation. She will be responsible for developing insight-driven strategies and bringing digital solutions to market to promote client growth. Rozzi brings with her experience working with brands like Diageo, Mondalez, Unilever and Land Rover.
Wunderman Thompson Health
Following the retirement of Wunderman Thompson Health CEO Becky Chidester, Patrick Wisnom has been appointed as her successor. Wisnom has worked with Deutsch New York and WPP-owned Grey, with healthcare clients like Pfizer, Novartis, GSK and J&J.
YML
Silicon Valley digital agency YML promoted Prashant Palsokar to vice president of engineering. In his previous role as senior director of engineering, Palsokar led several successful digital creations in healthcare, fintech and aviation.