Curt Detweiler Joins Grey San Francisco As Chief Creative Officer

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael Houston, CEO of Grey North America, today announced that Curt Detweiler, an internationally acclaimed talent, has joined Grey San Francisco as Chief Creative Officer.  This marks Houston's second major appointment in San Francisco since the arrival of Milan Martin as the President of the 75-person agency last May.

"Curt is going to be an outstanding partner to Milan as Grey San Francisco's resurgence and rapid growth continues under his leadership," said Michael Houston.  "Curt's creative track-record on big brands and big clients in every channel, across Europe, Asia and the United States at many of the finest agencies, underscores the aggressive plans we have for Grey on the West Coast."

Curt Detweiler: Global Talent

Most recently, Curt Detweiler has served as Executive Vice President, Managing Director and Executive Creative Director of Arnold Worldwide based in San Francisco.  Prior to joining Arnold, Detweiler was Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director of McCann North America.

Much of Detweiler's international career was spent at TBWA\Worldwide where he worked for the network in Singapore, Tokyo, and then Paris as Regional Creative Director of TBWA\G1, Europe before returning to the United States as Creative Director, TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles.

His work has been recognized by Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Communication Arts, French Art Director's Club, Clios and the Singapore Creative Circle Awards as well as countless other festivals and publications.

Tor Myhren, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer and President of Grey New York, said, "I have known Curt for years. He is a rare mix of incredibly brave and incredibly smart. As a creative leader, these are two critical traits - though very hard to find in one person."

Grey San Francisco: New Team, Big Wins

Milan Martin also announced the following new hires:

• Liz Franks has joined as Senior Vice President, Media.  She previously served as Managing Director of Horizon Media, Los Angeles and prior to that led pieces of Microsoft at Universal McCann.
• Tricia Clark has joined as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Account Director from DraftFCB, Chicago; and
• Will Egan has joined as Senior Vice President, Account Director to lead account management and the global Norton/Symantec business.  He has held similar posts at DraftFCB, Goodby in San Francisco and Sydney and Venables Bell.

"We've got big aspirations for the San Francisco office and attracting the industry's best talent is how we'll achieve them.  We're thrilled to have hired the likes of Curt, Liz, Tricia and Will to join an already wonderful team.  I'm more optimistic than ever that what we're putting together here will be seen as something special and different for clients and talent alike," Milan Martin said.

In the past two months, Grey San Francisco has won $65 million in new business billings from such high-profile clients as Symantec, which chose it to handle the global Norton account, and Ryder System, which awarded it the U.S. business this month.

About Grey

Grey San Francisco is the West Coast arm of Grey, the advertising network of Grey Group.  Grey Group ranks among the largest global communications companies.  Its parent company is WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY).  Under the banner of "Grey Famously Effective Since 1917," the agency serves a blue-chip roster of many of the world's best known companies: Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Diageo, Darden Restaurants, Pfizer, Canon, 3M, NFL, Boehringer Ingelheim, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, T.J. Maxx. Grey was named ADWEEK's "Global Agency of the Year" and AD AGE's "Agency of the Year" in 2014. (www.grey.com)

Contact: Owen Dougherty
212-546-2551
[email protected]

Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140224/NY71105

SOURCE Grey