Co-Founder Jon Bond Exits KBS+P

Jon Bond, co-founder of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, has left the agency he helped create 23 years ago.

Many observers had expected Bond’s departure after corporate parent MDC Partners paid the remaining earn-outs to the agency co-chairman and his creative partner Richard Kirshenbaum as 2010 began. Kirshenbaum is staying at the shop, a KBS+P representative said.

Bond (pictured), in his early 50s, could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Jon Bond has left the management of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners to pursue other entrepreneurial goals. We will always consider Jon a great friend, and we wish him much success in all of his future endeavors,” said a statement released by the agency.

The amount of the payouts made to shop principals could not be determined.

As of June 30, MDC estimated it had early 2010 earn-out obligations of $47 million in cash and stock to principals at its two largest agencies, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and KBS+P. That figure was based on performance criteria and could be adjusted accordingly. In July, KBS+P lost its lead creative role on Wendy’s, which is thought to have accounted for 11 percent of the shop’s estimated $70 million in revenue. But in a second-quarter conference call with investors on July 31, MDC CEO Miles Nadal said the agency has “significant” unannounced wins that “almost” replaced the loss of revenue from the fast-food company but did not identify the sources of that additional new business.
 
“Jon is an entrepreneur who makes things happen and he definitely has the appetite for something else with wealth creation in mind,” said a source last summer, as word that Bond was likely seeking a new opportunity began to spread.

Last August, MDC brought in Lori Senecal, the former president of McCann Erickson in New York, as the agency’s president and CEO. She replaced chief executive Aaron Reitkopf, who had been with the firm for 12 years, and her name was added to the door at that time.

See also: “MDC Addresses the Next Generation”