Citizen brings in former Cohn & Wolfe exec Mark Cater to lead EMEA

Cater has led Cohn & Wolfe in Europe and in New York during his career, which most recently saw him spend three years at London-based multidisciplinary agency MHP.

It emerged in July that Cater was leaving the agency amid the merger of his corporate team with the public affairs team.

He starts work at Citizen today after the North America-based management hired him in the new role of EMEA MD with a brief to grow the agency from London into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where it does not yet have any offices.

The UK agency’s client list includes Bacardi, Sony and P&G. Like MHP, Citizen is part of a larger marketing services group – Engine in the former case and EDC in the latter.

Daryl McCullough, CEO of Citizen Relations, as the agency is known in North America, said: "Citizen already has a powerful network across North America with offices in New York, LA, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. The UK office is our gateway into EMEA and we’re confident in Mark growing the Citizen brand in this territory."

It is understood that amid Cater’s arrival, outgoing UK MD Misha Dhanak has been placed on gardening leave until January.

Dhanak resigned from the agency in August and is believed to be heading to an as-yet unannounced new role elsewhere.

Cater has been tasked with both standing in as UK MD and helping to recruit someone for the position.

Two other departures have thinned the agency’s senior ranks. There was a UK chief executive of Citizen until Frankie Cory left last October to join MHP sister agency Mischief in the same role.

In addition, it emerged earlier this month that Citizen’s UK creative director Joe Sinclair had resigned and is expected to leave the agency at the end of this year.

Cater said: "This is an agency on the cusp of something special. Citizen has excellent clients and is producing award-winning creative work. Backed by the team in North America, I look forward to taking the agency to the next phase."