Rethink’s newest partners, from top left to right: Marie Lunny, Maxime Sauté, Andrew Monaghan. Bottom left-right: Xavier Blais and Pascal Routhier.

Rethink has begun 2020 by making several senior staff partners in the independent agency.

The new partners include director of client service Marie Lunny in Toronto; creative directors Xavier Blais and Maxime Sauté, plus director of strategy Pascal Routhier, in Montreal; and director of finance Andrew Monaghan, who works across the agency’s three offices from his base in Vancouver.

This year’s additions to the agency’s partner group bring the total number to 22. They also come as Rethink’s three founding partners step into more “coaching and mentorship” roles and pass the reins to the “next generation” of leadership.

In addition to the new partners, Rethink has also promoted several staff across its departments.

In Vancouver, Sean O’Connor – who has been with Rethink since 2014 and was most recently associate creative director – has been promoted to creative director, while senior art director Jake Hope – who joined in 2018 and has been working as O’Connor’s creative partner – has been promoted to associate creative director. Clients the pair have worked on together include Playland, such as the award-winning “Too Much Fun” campaign. Also in Vancouver, designer Alex Bakker has been promoted to ACD on the design team.

Loretta Lau – who joined the agency’s Toronto creative department in 2018 – has also been promoted to associate creative director. Her recent work has include the “We Treat People Like People” campaign for WestJet.

In the strategy department, Gordon Zhang has been promoted to director of amplification, a role that works to incorporate earned media into the creative and planning processes. In client services, Amanda Dornan and Sarah Riedlinger have both been promoted to group account directors, while Daniel Riggi has been promoted to account director.

The new partners and promotions come after a year when it continued to expand its ranks across its offices, as well as add to its client roster. This week, it was announced that it would be handling creative and strategy for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.