Some of the most prominent people in Canadian media made career changes in 2020, and Media In Canada‘s readers were eager to follow them every step of the way. When looking at MiC’s most-read stories of the year, it’s clear that our profiles of leaders in job transitions are among our most popular. Here’s a look at the top five stories that focused on how media players hired new expertise into their operations.
1. Alex Panousis named CEO of Carat Canada
Formerly CEO of Havas Village and president of Havas Media Canada, Panousis (pictured above) told MiC she was going to Carat “as a coach.” She felt the media agency had strong long-term plans built on collaboration and “room for different voices.” Read more.
2. People Moves: Carat, Theo and more
More Carat news got a big reader reaction: Devyn Perry moved to the Dentsu Aegis-owned media agency after working with Omnicom’s Red Magnet shop serving the Rogers account. And speaking of Rogers, Manal Salgaonkar moved to WPP’s Theo (which, like Red Magnet, is a bespoke shop to serve Rogers.) Read more.
3. Kristine Lyrette and Publicis Media part ways
It was big news when Lyrette departed Publicis Media in February after five years with the company. Bettina Heimrath, SVP managing director of Spark Foundry, had taken on oversight by the time the announcement was made. Read more.
4. MKTG picks its new leaders
There was a lot of movement among the sponsorship agency’s executive leadership this year. This most recent story from November covered MKTG’s new leadership in Canada, Andrew Shulman and David Chong. The co-managing directors were handed the reins a week after former CEO Michael Beckerman departed. Chong’s background is in research while Shulman has CPG experience with Pepsi-QTG. Read more.
5. GroupM Canada ushers in new director of business development
Sarah Bobas joined GroupM after 15 years working in media, creative, communications and content, most recently with Action Heroes. As the WPP-owned company’s new head of business development, she’s in charge of growth, of course, but was also tasked with telling the agency’s story through marketing and communications outreach. Read more.
