NEW YORK Rich O’Leary, who has been COO of Futurebrand since mid-2002, is leaving the company to rejoin its sibling McCann Erickson to run the $300 million MasterCard account, the agency said.
Both shops are part of Interpublic Group’s McCann Worldgroup.
McCann has handled MasterCard since 1996 and created the 8-year-old “Priceless” campaign.
O’Leary, 47, will become evp, worldwide account director on MasterCard, effective in mid-May, and will report to North America regional director Eric Keshin. He replaces Peter McGuinness, who is relocating to McCann London.
A McCann representative said O’Leary’s replacement at Futurebrand has not yet been determined.
Before moving to Futurebrand, a brand identity agency, O’Leary was director of account management at McCann New York. He joined the shop in 1995 from JWT.
In a statement, McCann WorldGroup director of global accounts Michael McLaren said, “Rich is a great addition to the team. His experience both inside and outside the advertising discipline gives him a perspective that will help ensure that we continue to deliver integrated business-building communications to MasterCard, one of our key global clients.”
McCann’s other clients are Kohl’s, Black & Decker, USA Today, Intel, Microsoft and Cendant.
O'Leary Returns to McCann
