Updated Oct. 16 @ 12:30PM
Cossette is looking for a new boss to run its English operations with the departure of Dave Lafond.
A release from Cossette Friday morning said Lafond left the company to “pursue a new career challenge.” Lafond had been president of Cossette in English Canada, reporting to Melanie Dunn since her promotion from president of Cossette Quebec to CEO for all of Cossette in June.
Dunn will oversee Cossette’s English Canadian operations on an interim basis.
“It is his decision and I think it is a good decision,” said Dunn.
Clients and staff were notified of Lafond’s departure Thursday and Dunn confirmed he had already left the agency. She said while she’s happy with the parameters of the English president position and the organizational structure—“I think the structure is perfect”—she will take some time to consider and define the right skill set for the post before beginning the search for his replacement in earnest.
“I am not in a rush,” she said. “Most important for me is to find the exact right leader for us.”
Lafond’s hiring, along with Glenn Hunt in September 2013, marked the beginning of a period of significant change at the iconic Canadian agency. Part of that reinvention came from a concerted effort to renovate the brand for a much more digital marketing age.
“It’s every agency’s goal, but he has been pretty efficient in doing that the last two years,” said Dunn.
Lafond made a concerted effort to upgrade the agency’s digital bench strength and added a number of executives to leadership positions across the agency.
“He brought some really, really talented people into Toronto,” said Dunn. In February, for example, Lafond hired the creative leadership team of Peter Ignazi and Carlos Moreno away from BBDO.
But, aside from those efforts to reinvent Cossette, the company also underwent an ownership change with the acquisition of parent company Vision7 by Blue Focus late last year.
Prior to joining Cossette, Lafond had been president of Proximity Canada since 2011 and before that spent 11 years at Publicis, moving up through the ranks and helping to launch the digital arm Modem in 2007.
