CP+B Los Angeles executives Benny Thomas and Ivan Perez-Armendariz joined independent agency Barrie D’Rozario DiLorenzo as chief strategy officer/managing partner and managing partner, digital and social, respectively.
“We’re thrilled to have Benny and Ivan join the BD’D leadership team,” Barrie D’Rozario DiLorenzo CEO and chief creative officer Stuart D’Rozario said in a statement. “The more we got to know Benny and Ivan as individuals, the more we got excited about the cumulative impact their talents and experiences could bring to our clients and their businesses. They also happen to be two of the nicest and most optimistic people in the business.”
While they will be based out of the agency’s Los Angeles office, Thomas and Perez-Armendariz will work with clients across the agency’s offices in Minneapolis and Chicago as well.
“When clients hire BD’D, they work with our whole agency; not just an office of our agency,” D’Rozario explained in the statement. “We’ve built a model to cross-pollinate teams across our LA, Minneapolis and Chicago offices to deliver the best thinking and work for our clients.”
Thomas has led CP+B L.A.’s strategy team as global executive strategy director since December of 2014, working with brands such as , Jose Cuervo, Infiniti, Paypal, Charles Schwab and NBA2K, as well as on new business ventures. He re-joined joined CP+B as brand strategy leader following a ten month stint as president, brand for Ignition Creative. Thomas originally joined CP+B as vice president, executive planning director in July of 2011, following three years as senior vice president, global planning director for Y&R, working on the agency’s global LG Electronics, Bacardi and Chevron accounts.
Perez-Armendariz has served as executive vice president, managing director of CP+B L.A. since December of 2015. He originally joined CP+B as an executive producer in June of 2008 following its acquisition of texturemedia, where he served as president. Since then his roles at the agency have included group executive producer, director of integrated production and chief digital officer. While with CP+B he worked with brands including Volkswagen, American Express, Old Navy, Microsoft, Kraft Mac&Cheese, Best Buy, Vail EpicMix, Dominos, Vitamin Water, and MetLife.