Clients:

– Ronald Marcoux is retiring from his post as president and ceo of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada at the end of the year. A 30-year veteran of the company, Marcoux joined the fast-food chain in 1968. He was appointed vice-president for Western Canada in 1973 and named executive vp in 1977.

– Ginger Martin has been appointed executive vp and general merchandise manager, women’s ready-to-wear and accessories at Holt Renfrew. She was most recently senior vp at Joan and David and has held senior merchandise positions with Federated Department Stores (owners of Bloomingdale’s) and Neiman Marcus.

Agencies:

– Maico Meier has been promoted to vp and creative director at Marketel McCann-Erickson from vp creation. His primary duties will be on the Air Canada business.

– Barrett Book, Martin Kingston, Duncan Mackinnon and Norm Melamed have each been appointed senior vps and group client directors at Young & Rubicam of Toronto. Most recently, Book was senior vp and marketing director, Kingston was senior vp and account managing director, while Mackinnon and Melamed were vp and group directors.

– Carol Swantek and Erik Thrane have moved to Young & Rubicam’s New Media Technologies division from the traditional advertising end of the business. Swantek has been appointed New Media account director while Thrane has been named a supervisor.

Direct Marketing:

– Kaksha Mehta has been promoted to senior account executive at Wunderman Cato Johnson on the Co-operators and DirectProtect business. Mehta was previously an account executive.

Media:

– Ronald Clark has been named senior vp of sales and marketing for Conrad Black’s still-to-be-named national daily. Most recently, Clark was vp of ad sales for Pacific Press, Southam’s Western division that publishes The Vancouver Sun and The Province. Clark concurrently held the vp sales title for ADitus, Southam’s national ad sales division for its 65 daily newspapers.

– Dana Francoz is the new associate publisher and director of advertising at Toronto Life magazine. She was previously sales director for Electric Library Canada at Rogers New Media.

– Christopher Cormier has joined Toronto Life Fashion magazine as associate sales director. Previously, he was an account supervisor for Chatelaine and Modern Woman magazines, responsible for Toronto and New York territories.

Public Relations:

– Forbes West has joined Hill and Knowlton Canada as senior vp for the firm’s financial services practice. West was previously president of Oxford Investor Relations.

– Tobi Swanwick has joined Toronto-based corporate communications firm Lexicomm Communications, with responsibilities for new business development and strategic consulting. Previously, she was pharmaceuticals director at Rapp Collins Communicaide.