Candace Borland is joining Anomaly’s senior-most leadership team in Toronto after being promoted to the role of president and managing partner of the office.

Previously in the role of managing director, the promotion will see Borland work closer alongside partners and executive creative directors Pete Breton and Dave Douglass. She is expected to take on more of the day-to-day leadership and accountability in the office.

The agency has also identified a potential candidate to serve as the new head of strategy, who is expected to join the team early in the new year.

The move is a “recognition of Candace’s incredible performance, contribution and leadership in that office, a sort of natural progression for her,” says Franke Rodriguez, partner and CEO of Anomaly New York and Toronto, who helped open the office in 2012.

Borland was part of the initial six-person team, and was promoted to managing director in early 2017 when Rodriguez returned to the U.S. after taking on leadership duties of Anomaly’s New York office. Having since grown to include around 135 employees, the Toronto office was in need of another tier of leadership, according to Rodriguez.

“When you’re an entrepreneurial agency, sometimes the enemy is size and scale,” he says. “We have to make sure that some of the characteristics of the company don’t dilute, don’t get watered down.”

Borland has worked with clients that include ABInBev, Canadian Tire and Nike (including the brand’s recent “Kia’s Court” campaign). Originally from Quebec, she helped establish Anomaly Quebec, a team that supports Quebec clients from within the Toronto office and works across national and global clients. Her experience includes time with Downtown Partners (a DDB affiliate), Grip and Publicis. She is a co-founder of the Feet Forward charity, which partners with local NGO agencies to assist refugees and asylum seekers to South Africa, and established a partnership between Anomaly and Pencils of Promise, an education based charity.

In her new role, she will help carry the momentum of the Canadian office after having recently helped it win business with Sport Chek, BRP and Weight Watchers, as well as take on new duties with existing clients. Moreover, the shop will soon be announcing the name of another client it picked up earlier this week.

Dion Aralihalli, who with Borland was named managing director in Toronto in 2017, has moved to the New York office, where he serves as global managing director for Budweiser. That business crosses every one of Anomaly’s offices.