Kari Shimmel has been promoted to CEO of Campbell Ewald, succeeding Kevin Wertz.

Shimmel, who was most recently chief strategy officer, will oversee operations of the IPG agency’s New York and Los Angeles offices. She will remain based in its Detroit headquarters.

After 15 years at Campbell Ewald, Wertz is stepping down but will remain in a consulting role through the first quarter of 2023, according to a statement by the company.   

Colin Padden was also promoted from director of account service to chief client officer and Jamil Buie from group account director, business development to group director, innovation & growth.

The first woman to lead Campbell Ewald in the agency’s 112-year history, Shimmel asserts it was the right moment in time. 

“When we look at who the consumer is, when we look at the role that women play in making decisions and moving things forward, I’m excited to play that role,” she said. “As an agency, we’ve been making sure that we reflect the diversity of America and our customers and making sure we can drive that with clients.”  

Her first goal as CEO is finding needs across the advertising spectrum that Campbell Ewald can fulfill, she said, including building out its consultancy and research to be a “true business partner” to clients, which include OnStar, Alliance for Lifetime Income, Empire State Development Corp (I Love NY), Shamrock Foods and The Port Authority of NY/NJ. 

“Too often brands are data rich and insight poor,” Shimmel said. “We want to lean into that ability to translate all of that amazing data into deep cultural insights that help them really create that competitive advantage in the marketplace.”  

This is the first CEO change under the new leadership of Alex Leikikh, who was promoted to executive vice president within IPG and now oversee a cadre of agencies including Campbell-Ewald in Detroit, Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, Deutsch New York, The Martin Agency in Richmond, Tierney in Philadelphia and the MullenLowe Group.

Shimmel has more than 18 years of experience in advertising, holding various leadership creative roles at Daniel Brian & Associates (later DBA Worldwide) before joining Campbell Ewald in 2014.

In her time at Campbell Ewald, she was the architect behind the agency’s CX discipline and launch of its experience consulting practice, CE/CX. She also helped lead an IPG team doing global work for Harley-Davidson.