André Louis has been tapped to fill the role of president for The&Partnership in Canada.

Head of strategy for the shop in Canada since 2016, Louis led high-profile client wins including Manulife and also managed operations for the agency throughout the pandemic.

According to a release from the agency, as president, Louis will oversee the agency’s ongoing expansion in Canada, while also leveraging its scale to support overall growth across North America. He will report to Andrew Bailey, CEO for The&Partnership in North America.

Louis fills a role previously held by Christopher Andrews, who decamped to join BBDO Canada as its president and CEO during the pandemic.

Bailey tells strategy that the biggest consideration in finding the agency’s new president was “that we got it very right” amid challenges like meeting people in person during the pandemic and really getting to know leadership candidates.

But according to Bailey, Louis was handling the president’s duties on a de facto basis already over the course of last year, so making the appointment official felt intuitive. Plus, being one of the longest-tenured staff at the agency, he also understood the agency’s culture and business, and has deftly navigated the needs of team, clients and partners, even before the pandemic.

“[He’s] had a hand in absolutely everything significant that we’ve achieved,” Bailey adds, and that Louis was instrumental on recent Toyota and Canada Post client wins.

Recently, the shop had touted its “standalone autonomous team” structure when handling clients during a pandemic, but it also says it’s tapping its global network in the U.S., U.K and Europe in a more distributed workforce model.

Louis takes on the president role following a busy year for The&Partnership; in addition to local wins mentioned above, global highlights include award-winning campaigns for The Wall Street Journal and EA Sports.