Pictured, back row, left to right: Rasna Jaswal, Laurent Abesdris, David Federico and Josh Budd. Front row, left to right: Denise Cole, Ryan Spelliscy and Lisa McCoy.

J. Walter Thompson Canada has promoted Ryan Spelliscy to chief creative officer in Toronto.

Spelliscy was most recently SVP, executive creative director at the agency. Brent Choi, CCO for Canada and New York at JWT, said in a press release that the agency is essentially where it is today because of Spelliscy’s leadership on its most successful campaigns, such as “Better Tomorrows” for SickKids and Tim Hortons’ “Dark Experiment.”

The agency has also made several hires to its creative team in the past several months. David Federico and Josh Budd have joined as SVP, creative directors, leading work on the Air Canada business, among other accounts. The pair was most recently at Leo Burnett, where they led the TD business.

Laurent Abesdris, most recently at OneMethod, also joined as associate creative director last fall, and Lisa McCoy came on as design director earlier this year. Meanwhile, Rasna Jaswal has been promoted to design director and Denise Cole has been made associate creative director.