Taxi has taken some decisive steps in firming up its North American leadership with the appointments of Jeremy Gayton as president of Taxi (English Canada), and Durk Barnhill as president of Taxi New York.

Gayton and Barnhill will report directly to the agency’s CEO Rob Guenette, who says the moves are a result of a succession plan that took him 12 months to develop. They were orchestrated to strategically align the senior group that leads Taxi North America and help Guenette increase his focus on Taxi’s international development and growth.

‘Durk and Jeremy represent the future leadership of the business for Taxi North America,’ said Guenette in a release. ‘Jeremy has clearly demonstrated that he has the leadership skills to continue his success in his new role as president. Durk has more than proven that he has the leadership capabilities to drive further growth in the American marketplace and establish [Taxi] New York as a key player in the industry.’

Gayton started at Taxi back in 2002 as group director on the Telus account, becoming client services director in 2004. He became GM of Taxi 2 in 2006, helping the agency to develop, attracting a client roster including Mini Canada, Yellow Pages Group, Burger King, Koodo and Dundee Wealth. In 2009 he was handed the reins for both Toronto offices as GM. Barnhill entered the Taxi fold in 2009 as GM of its New York office, seeing it through a year that brought on many new accounts including HBO, History Channel, New Holland and The Jewish Federations of North America. Their new appointments will be effective as of July 1.