McCann Canada has made the latest in a string of new leadership appointments, hiring Karen Pearce as president of McCann West.
Pearce will be based in Calgary but lead the agency’s offices in that city and Vancouver, with an eye towards helping McCann grow in those markets. Pearce takes over leadership of the offices from previous general managers Ric Fedyna in Calgary and Rick Sanderson in Vancouver, who have both left the agency. David Leonard, CEO of McCann Canada, said the agency felt the need for new leadership in Western Canada.
“We wanted to create greater synergy across the offices, and only felt the need for one leader,” Leonard said in an email to strategy. He added that while no other structural changes are expected in either office in the near future, there are plans to increase the investment in their creative and strategic products going forward.
Pearce is well-known in Western Canada’s agency environment for her tenure at Taxi, where she ran the agency’s Vancouver office as managing director and later as general manager of Taxi West, where she led the team in Calgary. She left the agency at the end of 2014 – shortly after the agency closed its Calgary office – and has been working as a freelance consultant since then. Over the course of her career, Pearce has worked with clients including Telus, British Columbia Lottery Corporation, BC Hydro, Alberta Motor Association and WestJet.
Pearce’s hiring is the latest in a number of recent additions and changes to McCann Canada’s leadership team, including a new president at MRM/McCann, a new managing director at Commonwealth\McCann and a new president (and a new name) for McCann Montreal.