Heather Thrash and Stefanie Kraupa
MacLaren McCann Canada is strengthening its leadership team in Vancouver with two new hires, and plans to add a few more people to its overall roster in the near future.
The agency recently brought on board Heather Thrash as its creative director and Stefanie Kraupa in the role of media director. They join senior vice-president and general manager Rick Sanderson to build out the agency’s office on the West Coast.
“Vancouver is an important market and a very creative one,” David Leonard, CEO of MacLaren McCann, said in a release. “Rick, Heather, and Stefanie will not only compete locally but will integrate with all of our offices to serve our growing list of national clients.”
Thrash came most recently from Station X in Vancouver and has held agency creative positions in Arkansas, Hawaii and the Northwest Territories. She has worked on a wide-range of accounts in her career to date including Hawaii Tourism, Mercedes-Benz, Stanley Park Brewery, Universal MMA, Telus and NWT Tourism.
Kraupa came from Think Mint Media and will oversee strategic planning across multiple campaigns and media channels. She has more than a decade of experience in the industry and is known for “quality planning, tough negotiating, and vendor accountability for her clients,” according to Sanderson, who joined the agency in March 2014.
Sanderson said the company planned to hire a couple more people for the Vancouver office in the weeks ahead, which would bring its head count to 25 employees in the city.
“We take the Vancouver market very seriously,” Sanderson told Marketing. “This reaffirms our commitment to that and positions us in a way that we can better focus on creative solutions.”
He said the agency is also looking for opportunities in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, areas such as Seattle and Portland, and is collaborating more with its Calgary office.
“We’re ready to make things happen here in a way that we haven’t in years,” Sanderson said.
The Vancouver office, which is the agency’s third largest after Toronto and Calgary, works with clients such as General Motors, Cathay Pacific, Simon Fraser University, ResourceWorks and the B.C. government.
