Krawitz takes helm at Firstborn; McCann NY appoints two deputy CCOs

Firstborn is promoting SVP, Managing Director Alex Krawitz to president, beginning May 10. After 15 years with the agency, current CEO Dan LaCivita is leaving to pursue a tech venture and will be succeeded by Krawitz, whose new position subsumes the duties of CEO. Krawitz joined Firstborn in 2011 as an executive producer for the agency’s content studio. “They really gave me carte blanche to grow the studio in the way I wanted to, to make investments.” Krawitz says. “I’ve always felt like I’ve had a lot of freedom and that any good idea here can get done.” Promoted to MD last year, he helped land clients including Royal Caribbean, Foot Locker and Facebook. Prior to joining Firstborn, he was founder and executive producer at BigStar. Krawitz will lead the agency along with Chief Creative Officer Dave Snyder, who assumed the role in 2018 after JoonYong Park left agency life. McCann New York promoted Executive Creative Directors Dan Donovan and Wayne Best to deputy chief creative officers. Andrea Gustafson joins as design director and Gabrielle Shirdan joins as creative director. Donovan, Best and Gustafson will jointly oversee the agency’s dedicated Verizon unit. Best previously ran his own shop, Cog NYC. Donovan has worked with Lockheed Martin and The New York Lottery. Gustafson has held positions at JWT Metro, R/GA, Havas, Co:Collective, Johannes Leonardo and Anomaly, working on clients including the Canadian Olympic team and Diesel. Shirdan joins from 72andSunny, where she worked on New Era, Nature Valley, Adobe and Smirnoff. Refinery29 promoted Amy Emmerich to president, North America, in addition to her current role as chief content officer. She joined the company in 2015 as EVP, programming. Kate Ward was promoted to president, Refinery29 International, from EVP for Refinery29’s international business. George Rodgers, formerly chief revenue officer at WPP, joins as chief development officer. Space150 promoted Chris Cobb from creative director to executive creative director in its New York office. Previously, he held roles at Second Story Interactive Studios and SapientNitro. ACD Tanya Karpitsky joins the agency from Arnold Worldwide, where she worked on the Barclays account. Senior Designer Alex Friend joins from CA Creative, and Senior Designer Josh Wollbert was previously a freelance art director. Senior Copywriter Patrick Carr joins from Havas, and Copywriter Chloe Konnor joins from AKQA. Consumer engagement agency Match Marketing Group expands to Portland, Oregon. The office is led by Creative Director Nicholas Ross, who has worked on brands including Adidas, Apple, Jordan, Versace, Google, Red Bull, Target, Audi and Hermes. During Design Week Portland, the new office will hold an open house April 10 featuring a live art battle.

Krawitz takes helm at Firstborn; McCann NY appoints two deputy CCOs

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