Vancouver creative shop Pound & Grain has promoted one of its longtime employees into a new role at the agency, naming Dana Kopman its managing director.

The position, created in response to growth at the agency and intended to further propel it, will see Kopman providing oversight of key client relationships while also managing day-to-day operations.

She brings 15 years of agency experience – seven of it with Pound & Grain – to the role, having led accounts for clients including BCLC, SAP, Nevro, WW (formerly Weight Watchers) and South by Southwest.

“Dana has a deep understanding of Pound & Grain’s DNA, including the decisions we’ve made that have enabled our successes with an implicit understanding of why those decisions have been made,” explains Sandy Fleischer, partner at the agency. “This appointment was a long time in the making. Soon after bringing Dana into the agency seven years ago, we believed that she would eventually be running Pound & Grain. It’s extremely satisfying to have reached this point.”

The past year has been one of significant evolution for the agency – it “has seen more growth than any other time in the agency’s 13-year history,” Fleischer tells strategy. Among the wins fuelling its growth are the Hormel brands (including Spam, Stagg Chili and Corn Nuts), the Toronto Film School, FXD Workwear, Providence Health Care, Medcan and Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS).

“We see the addition of this role as the next step in our evolution,” Fleischer says. The move is meant to help the agency’s “ability to deliver world-class creative at a larger scale than we’ve been able to in the past,” Fleischer goes on, while also allowing the partners to focus on longer term agency development and opportunities.

Pound & Grain has also promoted Karen Kenny into Kopman’s former role as director of client services. Kenny is equipped with a decade of agency experience in Ireland and the Vancouver market, working on brands including Heineken, Tourism Ireland, Allied Irish Banks, Unilever, Paramount and McDonald’s.