Zimmerman of Fort Lauderdale made industry headlines back in the summer of 2013 by poaching the chief marketer of now-former client Papa John’s (which went to Grey in February) to serve as its new president.
Now we hear, from multiple sources, that Andrew Varga no longer holds that position.
This latest executive shift should not come as a surprise: the agency’s CFO, VP and CEO all departed in recent months, and in September former Deutsch partner/CMO Michael Goldberg filled the chief executive position vacated by Pat Patregnani (who assumed the role at the same time Zimmerman hired Varga).
We’ve been unable to contact Varga and the agency has not offered a comment, but we do have what we consider to be definitive proof: he does not currently appear on the agency’s “people” page.
A source close to the shop tell us that Varga recently went on a “medical leave” and never came back. Based on multiple conversations with such sources in the past, we can surmise that this sort of unannounced departure is standard practice within the organization.
UPDATE: Varga’s departure was part of Golberg’s internal reshuffling; he promoted several staffers but didn’t make any new hires. EVP/MD David Kissell replaces Varga.