CLIENTS:

Dylex, the Toronto-based parent of BiWay, Braemar and Fairweather, has made some management changes. William Anderson, chairman, president and CEO, has relinquished his role as president to Louis-Phillipe Vanier. Vanier, who was instrumental in repositioning Fairweather into a profitable chain, also becomes COO of Dylex’s fashion retail divisions. Meanwhile, Graeme Eadie, executive VP, CFO and corporate secretary, has been replaced by Ian Young, formerly VP, business development.

Aliant Telecom has promoted Jack Travis to the post of senior VP of sales and marketing. The move follows the departure of Murray Souter as VP marketing for the Halifax-based telecommunications giant, which was established last May as a holding company for the four Atlantic Canada telcos. Travis was previously senior VP of sales.

Sprint Canada VP sales and marketing John Boynton is moving to Boston to become president of eYak, a company that integrates telephone and Web technology.

Heinz Canada has promoted Peter Luik to VP marketing. Luik came to the Toronto office of Heinz last year as general manager of the company’s pet food portfolio. Prior to that, he was director of marketing at Nabisco. He replaces Bruce Atherley, who moved to the U.S. to become president and CEO of Petlife Foods.

AGENCIES:

Veteran adman and former Strategy columnist Graham Watt has moved to Sackville, N.B. to become "creative in residence" at SCGI. His duties will include strategic and creative planning, writing, and mentoring the agency’s young creatives. The move accompanies the dissolution of his former partnership in Montreal, Watt Burt Advertising, but he and Jim Burt will continue working together on their Dairy Farmers of Ontario account.

Kathryn Nero and Michael Lake have joined the creative department of Due North Communications in Toronto, as art director and writer, respectively. Nero’s experience includes stints at Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis/BCP, Gee, Jeffery & Partners and Roche Macaulay & Partners. Lake began his career at Bristol Communications in St. John’s, Nfld., and from there moved on to positions with Bozell Worldwide and Padulo Integrated in Toronto.

Irvin Lebovits has resigned as president of Toronto-based DraftWorldwide Canada. Lebovits was a founder of The Gingko Group, which was acquired by Chicago-based DraftWorldwide in 1998. The company has not chosen a successor.

Bill Fitch is handling day-to-day operations at Genesis Media’s Vancouver and Calgary offices, as VP, Genesis Media West. He replaces David Stanger, who left the company in February.

MEDIA:

After five years, Grant Crosbie has left his position as VP and general manager with The Globe and Mail to become a partner in biotech startup International Health Sciences. Crosbie joined the Globe in 1989 as director of national advertising and was promoted to VP marketing and sales in 1992.

RESEARCH:

Totum Research, a Toronto-based market research consulting firm, has hired Lee Simpson and Jeffrey Shearer as senior consultant and director of the company’s media marketing division, respectively. Simpson comes to the company from Rogers Media where she was group VP and publisher of Chatelaine. Shearer was formerly VP marketing for The Toronto Star.

The Garden promotes two creative directors

ACDs Lindsay Eady and Francheska Galloway-Davis have taken over responsibility for day-to-day creative leadership at The Garden after being promoted to creative director roles.

The pair will also help develop the agency’s creative talent, formalizing mentorship and leadership activities they have been doing since joining the agency four and three years ago, respectively. In addition to creating the agency’s internship program, the pair have worked on campaigns for Coinsquare, FitTrack and “The Coke Challenge” campaign for DanceSafe.

Eady and Galloway-Davis will continue to report to The Garden’s co-founder and chief creative officer Shane Ogilvie, who is stepping back from daily creative duties to a more high-level strategic role, allowing him to focus on client relationships and business growth.

Naked Creative Consultancy names new creative and strategy leadership

Toronto’s Naked Creative Consultancy has hired Yasmin Sahni as its new creative director. She is taking over creative leadership from David Kenyon, who has been in the role for 10 years and is moving into a new role as director of strategy, leading the discipline at the agency.

Sahni is coming off of three years as VP and ECD at GTB’s Toronto office, where she managed all the retail, social and service creative for Ford Canada. She previously managed both Vice Media and Vice’s in-house ad agency Virtue.

Peter Shier, president of Naked, says Sahni’s hiring adds to its creative bench and capabilities, as well as a track record of mentorship, a priority for the company. Meanwhile, Kenyon’s move to the strategy side, he says, makes sense because of his deep knowledge of its clients, which have included Ancestry and The Globe and Mail.

Digital Ethos opens a Toronto office

U.K. digital agency Digital Ethos is pursuing new growth opportunities in North America by opening a new office in Toronto.

Though it didn’t disclose them, the agency has begun serving a number of North American clients, and CEO/founder Luke Tobin says the “time was right to invest in a more formal and actual presence in the area.” whose services include design, SEO, pay-per-click, social media, influencer and PR,

This year, the agency’s growth has also allowed it to open an office in Hamburg, Germany, though it also has remote staff working in countries around the world.

Moray Hickes was the company’s first North American hire as VP of sales, tasked with business development in the region.