Daniel Shearer, president of Cossette’s Toronto and West regions, has left the creative agency.

His last day with Cossette was June 16.

The agency will not be filling Shearer’s position. Rather, Mélanie Dunn, president of Plus Company Canada, will be working closely with Kathy McGuire, SVP and general manager of Cossette Toronto, and Robyn Smith, VP and general manager of Cossette Vancouver, to lead the agency in the region. Louis Duchesne remains president of Cossette in the Quebec and East region.

According to an agency spokesperson, Shearer’s departure was a mutual decision.

“After creating Plus Company, evolving our portfolio, benefiting from new investments and onboarding new talent and building momentum, we started to have conversations with all the leaders to determine what the best path forward would be for each individual and the role they play within the organization.”

Shearer confirmed the nature of his departure in an email to strategy.

“After months of discussion with Mélanie [Dunn], we agreed it was the right time to close this chapter, and part ways,” he said. “I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved – from the massive growth, to the global accolades, to the amazing talent and client partners we attracted and collaborated with. There were countless career highlights for me, and many Cossette firsts achieved. Personally, this was the right thing for me, at the right time, and I’m ready to move on and plan for what’s next. I’m still very excited to cheer Cossette and Plus Company on.”

Plus Company was created in late 2021, comprised of Vision7 agencies and other international shops that previous owner BlueFocus had intended to spin-off into their own company, but ended those plans due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wider advertising industry. In addition to Cossette, the company’s holdings include Aperture1, Camp Jefferson, Citizen Relations, Cossette Media, Impact Research, Jungle Media, K-72, Level Eleven, Magic Circle Workshop, Magnet, Mekanism, Middle Child, Septième, The ShowRoom and We Are Social.

For the last year, the company’s investments have included international expansion and growing its technology offering.

Shearer joined Cossette in 2016 as EVP and general manager before being promoted to president of the agency’s Ontario and West region in late 2019. He previously spent more than 11 years at Taxi, where his roles included leading the teams working on Kraft and launching the Koodo mobile brand, as well as general manager of Taxi 2.

Earlier this week, Plus Company announced that it had hired Karine Courtemanche to lead its media group. In addition to overseeing agencies Cossette Media and Jungle Media, her mandate includes working with Dunn to “evolve” Plus Company’s entire portfolio of agencies. Cossette Media’s president Axel Dumont announced he had also left the agency last week.

In addition to Courtemanche’s hiring, Plus Company promoted Camp Jefferson’s EVP and managing director Peter Bolt to president, while Jungle Media’s managing partner Brooke Leland has also added president duties to her remit. The company said this was “in recognition of their contributions to the network.”