Revolving Door

VaynerMedia #CFbrO Scott Heydt Leaves the Agency After 3-Plus Years

By Patrick Coffee 

Last week, VaynerMedia parted ways with chief financial officer Scott Heydt. He was the agency’s first financial lead and held the role for approximately three and an half years.

Heydt chooses to refer to himself as #CFbrO but is not the first to use that tag. He joined the Vayner team in 2013 after holding the same position at Digitas and Tribal Worldwide; he previously worked in the music industry.

As one employee notes, his influence on the agency was considerable.

An agency spokesperson has not responded to requests for comment on the news. But Heydt will not be leaving the Vayner family; on the contrary, it seems he’s been promoted.

In his goodbye note, Heydt writes that he will now “help pave the way for the next phase of this inspiring agency/family.”  He has quite a few options — as Gary Vaynerchuk himself put it in a recent video for employees, the man is “building an empire.” In addition to the agency itself, the Vayner organization also operates a venture capital firm called Vayner/RSE, an influencer marketing unit called Vaynersports, and Food Loves Tech, described as a “first-of-its-kind innovation expo” combining “immersive installations, technology tastings, leadership panels and dining experiences.”

Gary’s brother and co-founder AJ Vaynerchuk, who held the COO role at the shop, also left in May, citing his ongoing struggle with Crohn’s Disease in a Medium post announcement.

So far we have no word on who the new finance director will be or whether he/she will eventually go through an unorthodox performance review. Below is Heydt’s full note.

VaynerFam,

Before you all take off to enjoy this special time with your family and friends, I wanted to share some really big and exciting news.

After almost 4 incredible years working alongside Gary, AJ and the rest of the executive team, I’ll be leaving VaynerMedia at the end of November to help pave the way for the next phase of this inspiring agency/family. As I reflect back on all that has been accomplished in these last four years, I’m stunned and humbled by the evolution of this incredible agency. When I was introduced to Gary back in early 2013, VaynerMedia was a fairly small not very well known agency of about 200 amazing folks who helped generate about $14m of revenue in 2012. I was brought on to help create some additional structure in the agency that was literally exploding under Gary’s leadership. Most of the pieces I architected with Gary and AJ back in 2013, including a proper Finance, IT, Office Services and HR department are flourishing today with some of our most incredible leaders in the agency.

Gary and I had an ambitious financial plan when we met to have the agency hit a $100 million revenue clip by the end of 2017. I’m very proud to report that we reached that goal a year early, in 2016. This is an enormous accomplishment, and makes me so incredibly proud. With over 600% growth these last four years, it’s time for the next phase of the agency, which is to expand globally and continue our tremendous growth. With this larger focus on scaling around the world, we have hired a very gifted and experienced global CFO who Gary will introduce next week. It’s truly an exciting time for VaynerMedia.

I can’t thank you all enough for allowing me to be your CFO (#CFbrO) for the last 4 years. I’m beyond proud of what we accomplished together. And I’m so hopeful about the future of what I consider to be the most amazing agency with the biggest hearts on the planet. I consider so many of you friends, and know we’ll be in regular touch.

I wish you all a very happy and healthy holiday with your loved ones. A big #VaynerThanks

With love and gratefulness always,

Scott
forever your #CFbrO

My contact info below: @seheydt on all platforms where I regularly promote the #heydtkids 🙂

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