AKQA: said that Jim Rossman has taken the post of president and chief operating officer at the independent digital marketing agency. Rossman, who has spent eight years at Digitas including five as COO, will be the first COO for the San Francisco-based AKQA. He will work from the agency’s New York office and report directly to AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarre. Rossman’s earlier career was spent at Young & Rubicam and Wunderman.
G2 WORLDWIDE: said that Pietro Leone, CEO, Grey Central Eastern Europe, will be joining G2’s global management team in a newly created position, chief operating officer, G2 EMEA. In the new role, Leone will report to Peter Thompson, CEO, G2 EMEA and work closely with Joe Celia, G2’s global chairman and CEO. For the last eight years, Leone has been responsible for Grey’s marketing communications efforts across 22 markets within the CEE region. He has worked extensively with global, regional and local marketers, including Vodafone, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Nokia, BP, SmithKline Beecham, Emirates, Wyeth and GM’s Chevy.
PROCTER & GAMBLE: has sold its Johnson Products Co. unit, a leader in African-American hair care products, to RCJP Acquisition, Inc., a newly formed independent entity comprised of Los Angeles-based private equity firms Rustic Canyon/Fontis Partners, LP and St. Cloud Capital LLC, along with an African-American management team of industry veterans. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The company will operate as Johnson Products Co. and will be managed by industry veterans and husband and wife team Eric Brown and Renee Cottrell-Brown.
GEORGE P. JOHNSON: the experiential marketing agency, has formed a partnership with InXpo, a provider for virtual events and experiences.
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