Fuse names new managing director

Fuse has made a new addition to its senior team as it bolsters its integrated offering, hiring Bridget Westerholz as managing director.

Stephen Brown, president of Fuse, describes the role as an amalgamation of duties that were previously handled by a number of different people at the agency, including himself and previous managing director Adam Bleau, who left the agency earlier this year. In addition to helping oversee day-to-day operations, the agency’s strategy, client services and media teams ultimately report to Westerholz, a broad mandate Brown says is meant to help “team up” those departments with creative.

In March, Fuse hired Steve Miller as its first ECD, part of a “creative evolution” meant to further develop its integrated offering. But beyond hiring creative talent and ensuring it has a voice on the senior leadership team, Fuse also worked with a management consultant to recraft the structure of the business to ensure it supports the creative process as well.

“We could just start calling ourselves a more creative shop, but it’s not that simple,” Brown says. “So we’ve been making sure that creative is at the senior table and making sure it has strong partnerships with the rest of that team. So much of what we are doing is about elevating our product and making it much more integrated, so I need to bring in people elsewhere in the business who also have a strong integrated experience.”

Westerholz joins from DDB Vancouver, where she spent nearly six years on the client service team, most recently as VP and director of client services. She has previously worked with clients including PepsiCo, Emerald Health, Destination Canada and Rocky Mountaineer.

Brown says that while the agency will be looking to build scale as needed to support business growth, he doesn’t anticipate any additions to the senior team, saying he has “a very solid team in place right now.”