Andrew Deitchman, co-founder and CEO of Mother New York, is leaving the agency.
Mr. Deitchman is leaving to pursue another opportunity, but he declined to provide details, saying only that it is a hybrid media and retail concept.
Mother New York was founded a dozen years ago with Mr. Deitchman, and partners and co-founders Paul Malmstrom, Linus Karlsson and Rob DeFlorio.
Mr. Malmstrom noted that Mr. Deitchman's departure had been in the works for some time. "We really believe it's important that we create a culture of exploration," said Mr. Malmstrom. "It's a place where you find things both personally and professionally and if we can have a hand in that as Mother and if you can find your true calling, then that's true happiness for everyone."
The agency will be replacing Mr. Deitchman, though it isn't quite ready to make any announcements. "We've been working with Andrew trying to kind of figure out what's next for us," said Michael Ian Kaye, exec creative director and partner at Mother New York. "He played a valuable role determining what our next move is."
"This is not something that is sudden or taken lightly," Mr. Deitchman said. "I started having conversations with my partners two years ago. I didn't want to run an ad agency for the rest of my life, I knew I wanted to do something else and figure out what that was. You can choose your partners in life, and I've chosen really well because they are incredibly supportive."
Mr. Deitchman's departure comes just a few months after some other senior changes at Mother. The shop, which was founded in London 18 years ago, in May named a global CEO: Michael Wall, former global CEO of Interpublic's Lowe & Partners until it merged with Mullen.
"Our new global CEO focusing on how the three agencies work together, especially on global pieces of business, is something we're excited about," said Mr. Kaye. "We're finally honing our clarity of purpose and exercising that within each office and with our current clients, then later with the ambition of new clients, new business and global opportunities."
Mother in New York, which was named Creativity Agency of the Year in 2009, has about 150 employees and clients that include Stella Artois, Target, Calvin Klein and Diageo. Mother has offices in Buenos Aires, opened in 2005, though there's it's known as Madre.
