Felix Richter, co-chief creative officer at Droga5 New York, will be departing the agency to become global creative partner at Mother and chief creative officer of the agency's London headquarters, while Droga5 Executive Creative Director Scott Bell will step up to take his place.

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Richter will join Mother later this year. His appointment comes after an eight month-long search following the departure of the agency's partners and co-chief creative officers—husband-and-wife creative team Hermeti and Ana Balarin—to Wieden+Kennedy Portland in June 2021. Richter will join the two remaining Mother London partners, Katie Mackay-Sinclair and Chris Gallery, in running the shop, which was named Ad Age International Agency of the Year in 2019 and 2021. 

Richter, originally from Germany, departs Drog5 after 11 years. He had joined Droga5 in 2011 as a copywriter, steadily moving up the ranks to his current post as co-creative chief alongside Co-Chief Creative Officer Tim Gordon, helping to lead the agency’s numerous accolades and business wins over the years. Prior to being elevated to his current position in 2019, Richter's work as executive creative director and creative director has been recognized at international awards shows, including the Cannes Lions Grand Prix-winning campaigns for Under Armour “I Will What I Want” campaign featuring Gisele Bündchen and “Rule Yourself - Michael Phelps”. His other work has included “The Piccards” for Hennessy and the launch campaign for Google’s Pixel phone.

In 2017, Richter was named Creative Director of the Year at Ad Age’s Creativity Awards alongside then creative partner Alexander Nowak. Prior to joining Droga5, Richter was a copywriter at Y&R in New York. He was educated at Miami Ad School Europe in Hamburg.

“In addition to being an exceptional creative leader, Felix is a truly special human being," said Robert Saville, founder of Mother. "We couldn’t be more excited about him joining Katie and Chris and the whole Mother family. He will challenge us to reach even higher creative standards, but I also know he will bring his humility and integrity to bear on everything we do.”

“This was a long and important search; it wasn’t just about finding the best creative leader in the world; it was also about finding our partner," said Gallery and Mackay-Sinclair in a joint statement. “Felix brings a passion for our work, our culture and our values—but vitally, also the ambition and outside experience to challenge us about what Mother can be. The place we love just got a whole lot more exciting.”

“Felix joins a team fully focused on growing Mother’s global creative reputation even further," said Michael Wall, Global CEO of Mother. "His incredible success in helping create a great agency in the U.S. means he’s a phenomenal addition to our family, not only in London and Europe, but also in North America and beyond.”

“I am especially grateful for Felix’s partnership and contributions to the agency,” said Droga5's Gordon in a statement. “He is someone I deeply respect and wish all the best to in his new chapter in London." 

Bell will assume Droga5's top creative post alongside Gordon. He started at the agency in 2009 as associate creative director and has been involved in creating some of the agency’s most-talked about work, including Newcastle’s beer’s 2015 Super Bowl stunt asking other brands to pitch in for a Big Game ad, as well as more recent efforts such as IHOP’s “IHOB” campaign, Red Wing’s “#LaborDayOn,” Petco’s brand overhaul as a “health and wellness” company for pets and Mattress Firm’s “Junk Sleep” campaign starring Liev Schreiber.

“Throughout his time at Droga5, Scott Bell has proven to be a true thinker and instigator—having created breakthrough work that has hacked into popular culture and driven results for our clients,” Gordon added. “I am looking forward to being co-conspirators together as we continue to make this the most creative and influential agency out there.”

Both agencies have seen major leadership shifts in the past year. While Mother parted ways with the Balarins, Droga5, which was acquired by Accenture Interactive in 2019, has seen a number of its top execs step up to the parent company. Founder and Creative Chairman David Droga moved into the role of CEO and creative chairman last August, while in January of this year, the agency’s CEO Sarah Thompson became Accenture Interactive's global lead for communications and content. Former Droga5 Global Chief Creative Officer Neil Heymann departed his longtime agency in February 2021 only to rejoin his former boss David Droga by year’s end as Accenture Interactive’s first global creative chief. In April of last year, Global Chief Strategy Officer Jonny Bauer left to join Blackstone, after which Head of Strategy Harry Román-Torres moved up to become chief brand strategy officer. In November, Global Chief Operating Officer Susie Nam was promoted to CEO of the Americas, Managing Director Dan Gonda became president of Droga5 New York, and Sean Lackey added global duties to his chief marketing officer role.