The changes keep coming for Publicis Groupe, which picked Arthur Sadoun over Sapient CEO Allan Herrick as its future leader this week.
SapientRazorfish, the largest part of the digital/consulting “solution hub” known as Publicis.Sapient, is the first unit to make a leadership change in the wake of that announcement by parting with Eastern president Patrick Frend.
Sources tell us that Frend will transition away from the organization formerly known as Razorfish after more than 17 years. His profile has already been removed from its home page.
Frend moved all the way up through the organization, joining its Boston office as a project manager back in 1999 after working in management consulting. He later became managing director of Razorfish New York and, in 2013, president of its Eastern region. In that position, he oversaw a team of more than 600 managing a $150 million client portfolio across the New York, Atlanta and Toronto offices.
As you all know, Razorfish confirmed the rumors we’d been hearing for months last October by merging with Sapient. The larger organization has also gone through some rounds of layoffs over the past year-plus in keeping with Publicis Groupe’s recovery by consolidation strategy.
Frend is not the only Publicis leader to leave in recent weeks. Tammy Soares, former CEO of Rosetta, recently went to Accenture, though the official word on that agency is that it will continue operating as a dedicated Samsung unit.
There will be no statement, either internal or external, from Publicis on Frend’s departure.