FCB has added more than a dozen employees in its Montreal office, including a new creative director to help add depth to the creative department.

Jean-François DaSylva-LaRue joins the agency as creative director, with experience from Tank Communications (where he held the same role) and Taxi. He support FCB Montreal’s work across accounts, including Air Canada, for which the office became the lead agency in late 2017.

The agency’s Montreal office was looking for someone with a “diverse background, able to support employees and customers to help achieve our goal of creating a unique, coherent and relevant creative product,” according to a statement from CCO Sylvain Dufresne.

DaSylva-LaRue is one of several hires on the creative team, which has also added art directors Melody Roux-Dufort, Jean-Simon Charland, Arnaud Deneux and Philippe Natewajko, as well as copywriters Elmer Tazartez, Emily Wilkinson and Olivier Laplante (the last of whom will be focusing on adaptations).

In other departments, Nathalie De Angelis has been hired as senior creative manager and Audraine Houël as a strategist. In client services, the shop has also added account directors Krystelle Ruest and Olivier Barreau and Paul-André House and Véronique Rompré as project leads, while promoting former account executive Laurie-Anne Côté to the same role.

With the new additions, the Montreal office now sits at around 40 employees, according to Dufresne, representing an increase of close to 55% over last 16 months. While some of the hires replace employees who have departed, Dufresne said in an email, most of those on the creative and client services side are new positions aimed at supporting wins with clients like Home Depot and Drug free Kids Canada, as well as organic growth with Air Canada and BMO.

The hires follow a number of significant changes elsewhere within the FCB network. In May, Tyler Turnbull was made CEO of FCB Canada and New York and tasked with tasked with expanding collaboration and capabilities across markets. The following month, former ECD Ian Mackenzie was named CCO of FCB/Six, following dozens of agency hires across departments earlier in the year.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that DaSylva-LaRue will be support work across all accounts.