Taxi 2 has a new general manager in Haneen Davies.
The WPP-owned Taxi 2 has been without an executive leader since April, when Daniel Shearer joined Cossette as executive vice-president and GM.
Davies only arrived at Taxi in 2015, after a year at Edelman as a senior account director. Prior to that, Davies had spent about a decade client-side at Unilever and Pepsico, most recently serving as a senior brand manager overseeing the Tostitos and dips portfolio.
“She’s been at Taxi just under one year, but in that time she’s demonstrated great leadership qualities,” said Mike Leslie, himself only recently made president of Taxi’s English Canada operations. “She’s been a great mentor to the team, and has built great relationships with the client business she’s been leading.
“Her background and experience is a great fit for T2’s client mix as well. She has a lot of CPG experience, both client side and agency side.”
Taxi 2 is still onboarding Moosehead beer as a client, which it won late last year, and continues to work on large swaths of Kraft‘s business in Canada (specifically Mio and Kraft Peanut Butter) among other clients. Leslie said the shop is not currently in “aggressive” pitch mode.
As Taxi CEO Rob Guenette told Marketing earlier in June, 2016 has been about cementing the agency’s leadership ranks. Following the loss of the Telus business to The&Partnership and Vision 7 and the departure of Nancy Beattie as president in late 2014, Guenette chose to leave the president’s chair vacant. Leslie was only officially named as president earlier this month.
“We wanted to return to financial health,” he said. “A year and a half later, now we need some local leadership.”
