NEW YORK: Cohn & Wolfe has overhauled its US regional structure, resulting in the departure of three top executives.
NEW YORK: Cohn & Wolfe has overhauled its US regional structure,
resulting in the departure of three top executives.
New York vice chairman John Frew, Atlanta vice chairman Jim Overstreet
and LA CEO Chris Wildermuth all left the agency earlier in the month
when their positions were eliminated. While one C&W rival claimed
’there’s a lot of blood being spilled over there,’ the agency and
Wildermuth described the partings as mutual. Frew and Overstreet did not
return calls for comment.
’We were becoming too bureaucratic,’ said C&W president and New York CEO
Steve Aiello. ’We’re going to miss them, but this makes us leaner and
more nimble.’ He said several of C&W’s top pros in the New York office,
including Donna Imperato and Barbara Jo Howard, would help fill the
leadership void.
Wildermuth, who grew the LA office to a dollars 3 million business and
shepherded the firm’s recent purchase of Douglas Consulting Group
(PRWeek, Sept.1) agreed with Aiello’s assessment of the situation:
’There wasn’t any screaming or fighting, but tactically we saw things
differently.’
