People on the Move

Creative marketing agency Erwin Penland has promoted Karen Mawhinney and Kat Shafer to the newly created position of managing director. Additionally, Jeff Hoffman has been upped to director of business development.

Shafer, Hoffman and Mawhinney had been SVPs, group account directors.

Reporting to Allen Bosworth, co-president and COO, Shafer will handle half of Erwin Penland’s client portfolio, including Califia Farms, CIT Bank, hello products, L.L.Bean, TUMI, Verizon and others. This promotion comes on the heels of three new business wins in which Kat played an integral role.

Mawhinney will continue to lead Denny’s, The UPS Store, and Sears Auto Center, in addition to others. She is a trusted advisor to these teams and has generated significant organic growth opportunities, including leading the Denny’s team from a small, project-based account in 2009 to its current agency of record status attained in 2013.

Havas Worldwide has appointed Michael Keany to the newly created role of chief commercial officer, Americas, effective June 27.

Keany will be responsible for developing and expanding Havas Worldwide’s digital capabilities in North and South America, with a focus on developing strategic partnerships, identifying new lines of business for Havas and its clients, and scaling digital products and services.  
 
“Throughout his career, Michael has helped organizations use emerging technologies to develop disruptive products and services, enter new markets, and drive client impact,” said Andrew Benett, CEO of Havas Worldwide and Havas Creative Group. “As we aim to continuously transform for the future, Michael will help better position both Havas and our clients for success.”

Keany is a seasoned digital leader and business builder with over 25 years of experience. He joins the agency from McKinsey & Company, where he served as VP and co-founder of McKinsey Academy, a platform as a service (PaaS) start-up focused on digital professional development. Most recently, Keany led Digital Quotient (DQ) and Digital Capabilities (DC), two new ventures that focus on digital transformation. Previously, Keany worked at three iconic digital design innovation firms: Schematic, Method, and Code and Theory, where he was first EVP of strategy and marketing development and, later, CEO.

“I’m delighted to be joining Havas at this exciting time for the industry,” said Keany. “With its commitment to true multidisciplinary collaboration, Havas understands that real innovation requires outstanding teamwork. I look forward to finding better ways to evolve current capabilities and drive business impact.”

Keany will be based in New York and report to Benett.

Kyle Jones has come aboard Kansas City-based agency Barkley as group creative director in charge of the Applebee’s account.

Jones joins Barkley from Venables Bell & Partners in San Francisco, where he worked on Audi and Reebok. He’s perhaps best known as the group creative director at Dallas agency TracyLocke who helped create the Simpsons Kwik-e-Marts for 7-Eleven, when 7-Elevens became Kwik-e-Marts to promote The Simpsons Movie.
 
“Kyle has a lot of experience convincing big, seemingly traditional clients to do innovative, creative work,” said Jason Elm, executive creative director at Barkley. “Coming up with a great idea is the easy part these days. The real challenge is selling it in and flawlessly producing it. Kyle has a track record of doing just that.”
 
Prior to his time at Venables Bell, Jones worked on the Microsoft, Dominos, and Kraft accounts at CP+B. He has won multiple Cannes Lions and One Show Pencils.

VML has hired Sean Burns as executive creative director. He comes over from FCB Chicago where he worked as a sr. VP, creative director, on brands including Kmart, MillerCoors, Hillshire, Cox Cable and Janssen. Prior to FCB, Burns was a VP, creative director, at Grey New York. His work has been recognized with four Cannes Lions, Gold Addys, Gold New York Festival World medals and Effies. Well-known work Burns has helped craft includes Kmart’s “Ship Your Pants” and “Jingle Joes.” At VML, Burns will serve as a principal team lead alongside current managing director and executive creative director Jeremy Schutte.  

Additionally Erik Peterson has joined VML as North American director, optimization and acquisition. For more than 20 years, Peterson has consulted in the digital marketing industry with applied marketing communications and user experience (UX) expertise. Since 2009, he has blended behavioral science and data insights to optimize customer experiences to increase incremental revenues in ecommerce for leading Fortune 500 brands. Peterson has been a featured speaker at the Adobe Summit 2015, ClickZ Live, 2012 Conversion Conference and 2011 MIMA Summit. His work has been recognized by Chicago Association of Direct Marketing (CADM) and ZenithOptimedia for Best Performance Marketing program.
 
VML has also hired Rob McCutcheon as a strategic technology lead working across the agency’s Gatorade business. McCutcheon integrates business, digital and design, and has worked on channel strategy, platform strategy and communication strategy for a variety of Fortune 500 companies, including Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Victoria’s Secret, T. Rowe Price and Unilever. McCutcheon previously worked as director, customer experience strategy, for Team Detroit and as a senior strategy manager for Razorfish in New York.  
 
And Hilary Murdock has been promoted to group director and head of strategic planning for VML Chicago. She helps drive consumer insights and digital strategy across the Kimberly-Clark and Kellogg businesses. Murdock has been with VML since June 2014 as strategic planning director and previously worked on the KFC account at FCB Chicago.