Ammirati Puris Lintas is in hiring mode.

The Toronto agency is attempting to beef up its creative department and attract a replacement for agency president Dennis Stief, who leaves in May to head Ogilvy & Mather Canada.

Stief takes over as president and ceo of o&m, replacing Brian Fetherstonhaugh, who has been president for three years.

A replacement for Stief is being sought within Canada as well as within the agency’s network.

Some restructuring at Ammirati has already taken place in the agency’s creative department, which recently lost co-creative director Brad Riddoch to Cossette Communication-Marketing and senior creative team Andrew Manson and Robert Goulart to Roche Macaulay & Partners Advertising.

Doug Robinson, former co-creative director with Riddoch and one of the founders of the Toronto office with Stief and Tom Nelson in 1993, has been promoted to creative director.

Robinson says he will take more of a management role than in the past. He says he is not looking for a writer to partner with him at this time. Instead, he says he’ll hire one or two new teams and work with various agency writers.

Other promotions include Bob Shropshire, former vice-president, group account director, who moves to senior vice-president, and Arthur Fleischmann, previously vice-president, group account director, who becomes senior vice-president, director of strategic planning.

Ammirati clients include Compaq Canada, Johnson & Johnson, Labatt Breweries of Canada, Lever Ponds, Thomas J. Lipton, and UPS Canada.