Robert Wherry, managing director of bicoastal HKM Productions and head of sales on the East Coast for HKM and its satellites The Directors Bureau and Public Works, is leaving the roost on March 31. Wherry said the parting is amicable. After nearly five years as part of the HKM family, Wherry explained that he simply felt the need to pursue new challenges and opportunities for growth, having accomplished much of what he set out to do at HKM in concert with company founders, directors Graham Henman and Michael Karbelnikoff, and executive producer Tom Mickel. Wherry was instrumental in setting up HKM’s New York office….Jennifer Iverson, Jacquie Jones and Debra Roberts Sher have joined forces to launch Necessary Evil, a bicoastal entity designed to manage and represent commercial directors and production services. The new venture’s roster includes Los Angeles-based effects/ graphics house Fugitive and bicoastal WildLife Management… Lisa Cleff has been named director of new business develoment at bicoastal/international design and producton house Attik. She formerly headed San Francisco-based representation firm Lcleffilm, handling such shops as Red Sky Films, San Francisco….Independent rep Barbara Tripoli of Mixed Breed Reps, Dallas, is repping Cuppa Joe Music, Dallas, in Texas….Bicoastal New York Office has signed DP Patrick Duroux and production designer Bruno Hajdaj for national representation….Smith Gosnell Nicholson, Pacific Palisades, Calif., has signed DPs Chris Conway and Sergio Arguello for exclusive representation in spots and music videos….Rhinoceros Editorial and Post and Rhinoceros Visual Effects and Design have hired Barbara Lamon to serve as an account executive. She previously served as an account exec. at MTI/The Image Group, most recently repping its visual effects and graphics division, Blink.fx, New York….Tom Greff has been appointed national sales manager at Audio Plus Video International which maintains facilities in Northvale, N.J. and Burbank, Calif…..
Forsman & Bodenfors Shifts Its Singapore Group Creative Director Ivan Guerra to Its NYC Hub
Forsman & Bodenfors (F&B) has expanded its creative leadership in New York by relocating longtime group creative director Ivan Guerra from the Singapore office to the Big Apple to support a quickly growing list of new client wins.
As a group creative director in Singapore, Guerra racked up numerous accolades and participated in a myriad of new business wins that fueled the agency’s growth year over year. He explained why now was the right time to come back to the states, adding more nuance in the process. ”Singapore is the business hub of Asia, New York is the business hub of the world,” he said. “Our office in Singapore was small when I arrived. Since then, we’ve more than tripled in size, and became the [number one] most creative agency in the country, and work with more and bigger clients than ever before. There’s always more to be done, but the agency I’m leaving behind is in fantastic shape and ready to take on the world, as I know they will.”
For Guerra, there’s an opportunity to replicate in New York the success he had in Singapore. During his career, he repositioned and promoted businesses and products across a wide variety of markets and industries including P&G, Coca-Cola and Booking.com. Some of his well-known work includes a campaign that increased Samsung’s sales in the Middle East by almost 200%, one of the most iconic films in the history of Converse, Verizon’s most successful sports partnership program “Data Dunk” with the NBA, and a “Proud Whopper” campaign in 2014 that reignited Burger King and garnered 13 Cannes Lions and a Grand Clio.
Coming back to New York after 15 years in the business, including a stint where he spent time at the likes of top-shelf agencies like R/GA,... Read More