Mona Goldstein is leaving Wunderman Cato Johnson on June 1 – after 22 years with the Toronto-based direct marketing agency.

Trish Wheaton, currently executive vice-president, director of client services, will move up to take the helm as managing director.

Goldstein says it was time for change and this was the right time to make it.

‘I’ve had a wonderful 22 years, but I have some other things I’d like to look at. It couldn’t be a better time to leave in terms of having a very strong team in place,’ she says.

‘I just want to try something new. It’s really as simple as that.’

Goldstein says she’ll be taking a few months off to consider alternatives, which she says range from a marketing or general management position on the client side, to a position in the cause-related or not-for-profit area, to consulting.

Goldstein began her career with the Montreal office of Wunderman International right out of university. She moved up the ranks to become managing director in 1982 and was named president of WCJ Canada in 1996.

A past chair of the Canadian Direct Marketing Association, as well as its Privacy and Ethics Committee, Goldstein was named CDMA Direct Marketer of the Year in 1991 and was made an Honorary Life Member of the association in 1993.