New York-based DiMassimo Goldstein made changes to its leadership team, naming Tom Christmann its new chief creative officer. He took the reigns from Mark DiMassimo, who served as the agency’s CCO since its inception in 1996. DiMassimo will continue to serve as the agency’s creative leader and chief executive officer.
“We’ve grown each year for the last 10 years,” DiMassimo told Adweek. “We’ve doubled in size; we’ve gone from having a staff of 45 people to having 75.” DiMassimo cited this growth as the reason he handed the CCO responsibilities over to Christmann. “The CEO of the agency should sit on the client side of the table and that’s a full-time job.”
Tom Christmann
Prior to joining the agency, Christmann founded Mongo Industries, a collective of freelancers that worked for clients and other agencies. DiMassimo Goldstein acquired Mongo Industries as part of Christmann’s appointment, and he will continue to serve as Mongo’s managing director. Before founding Mongo, Christmann worked as an executive creative director for JWT.
“At DiMassimo Goldstein, what Mark has is what Mongo Industries is intended to be,” said Christmann. “Everyone is an entrepreneur and of that mind-set. There’s an energy and excitement. I found that [freelancing] was really hard, doing everything on my own, but I’m happy that I had that experience and [am] grateful to be working with Mark.”
Mark DiMassimo
The agency also added Lesley Bielby as its chief strategy officer on March 1. This is Bielby’s second time in the position for the firm as she previously worked as CSO in 2012. Bielby departed to join Digitas as the North American head of strategic planning. In mid-2013 Bielby founded Propolis, a brand consulting and research firm that has merged with DiMassimo Goldstein. Bielby will continue to serve as the managing director for Propolis.
“I was keen to start my own company,” said Bielby. “I did that and I’m still in charge of it, but I knew that Mark and Lee Goldstein would be open to starting a discussion about acquiring my company. They’re very embracing of entrepreneurs in the company.”
DiMassimo Goldstein serves as lead agency for FreshDirect, OnDeck, National Jewish Health, Reader’s Digest, CVS Caremark, Tradestation, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Exponation, Mediacom Cable and EverBank.