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| Landsburg Thomas |
Dick Thomas will leave Arc Worldwide as CEO-North America in mid-May.
Thomas resigned the post to take an open-ended sabbatical and spend more time with his family.
Thomas had been CEO of Frankel before Arc absorbed that agency last year. Parent Publicis Groupe merged Frankel with interactive shop iLeo North America, direct-marketer Semaphore Partners and promo shop Arc (formerly Clarion) to form Arc Worldwide, under CEO Nick Brien.
The merger made Arc an estimated $98 million business, with 42 offices (six in the U.S.). An account-staffing reorg made some senior-level Frankel staffers “client solutions providers,” the primary contact for clients, setting strategy and tapping promotion, interactive, direct and shopper-marketing expertise across the network.
Arc Worldwide President Marc Landsburg, a Leo Burnett veteran, will take on Thomas’ tasks until a new CEO-North America is hired.
Arc won’t replace Thomas until 2006 at the earliest. “It’s still early days at Arc; it doesn’t seem appropriate to bring in an outsider now,” said Arc Worldwide CEO Nick Brien. Landsburg has been working closely with Thomas and can help oversee all North America work, added Brien, who credits Thomas with doing “lots of heavy lifting” in building Frankel and helping facilitate the merge to form Arc.
Thomas leaves Arc less than five months after Frankel moved from its longtime Chicago headquarters into the Leo Burnett building. “Arc will do well, but it’s just not the home for me,” Thomas said.
