Y&R president and CEO Chris Jordan has left the agency. Jordan’s last day was Monday.
The WPP-owned agency confirmed the news on Wednesday, but released no details about the reason behind the change. It said it is not looking to fill Jordan’s role at Y&R Canada.
Instead, the shop’s leadership falls on a group of execs that includes CCO Israel Diaz; SVP, chief financial officer Carl McMurray; EVP, chief marketing officer Susan Murray; VP, strategy and cultural insights Kasi Bruno and SVP, global client leader Gavin Bayley, who joined the shop recently to lead its BMO account.
“We’re in the process of reinventing how we work so we’ve opted for a flatter, collaborative team model in order to be more agile,” said Diaz, though he added that he will captain the team locally.
“This talented group comprises the senior leadership team of Y&R Canada, reporting into Y&R North America CEO Matt Anthony and Y&R North America COO Sean Howard,” the agency said in an official statement that also thanked Jordan for his contribution to the shop.
“We are thankful to Chris Jordan for his 12 years of leadership at Y&R Canada and wish him the very best moving forward.”
Jordan joined the agency in 2002 after a stint at the CBC as its chief marketing and sales officer. His future plans are not known.
The news comes about a month after the announcement that the Ford Canada account, which had been handled by Y&R Canada, will be served by a new agency called Blue Hive, composed of WPP shops Y&R, Mindshare and Wunderman. That followed similar joint efforts in Europe and Australia, where Blue Hive agencies also opened.
Jordan is also the latest in a string of high-level executives to depart agencies. FCB CCO Robin Heisey departed that agency earlier this month and has been replaced by Jon Flannery, while Tony Chapman walked away last month from Capital C, the agency he founded, as the shop was folded into fellow MDC Partners shop KBS+.
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