Tony Chapman, founder and CEO of Captial C, has formalized his agency’s succession plan by announcing a number of promotions as he readies to step away from the business of running a creative shop.
Jason West, who joined the agency in 2010 as an account director, has been promoted to managing director, client services.
Rick Chiarelli, who joined the same year and became a group account director, is now managing director, growth and innovation. While West is set to oversee daily agency operations and client relationships, Chiarelli’s role is geared more towards business development.
Thirdly, executive creative director Gary Watson, who joined Capital C in February, has been made chief creative officer in charge of the shop’s creative output.
Chapman told Marketing his role now shifts away from the business of running the agency and towards a pure CEO role. “I am focusing almost all my time on our core clients’ strategy and innovation, which I love, helping the agency out with business development,” and working on pro-bono projects, he said.
Chapman said he began planning his exit from the day-to-day when his agency was acquired by MDC Partners in 2010. Chiarelli and West were hired with the intention of having them take the reins.
“They’ll have to wheel me out of here, but this is our big first step,” he said. “I’ve had the conductor’s baton for 32 years. Now I just want to play lead trumpet. I hope I have another 32 years here, but I never wanted to be the guy in a meeting that people put up with as opposed to adding a lot of value. I believe I can add value in this capacity for quite some time because this is what I’ll dedicate all my time to.”
