Spark Foundry promotes Chris Boothe to vacant global brand president role

Spark Foundry has promoted Chris Boothe to the role of global brand president a year after the previous incumbent Brian Terkelsen stepped down.

Boothe will continue to serve as chief executive of Spark Foundry USA in addition to taking on the new role of global brand president, which takes effect immediately.

He will report to Steve King, chief executive of Publicis Media, and Tim Jones, chief executive of Publicis Media Americas.

Terkelsen stepped down as the global brand president of Mediavest Spark in February 2017, which was later rebranded in July as Spark Foundry to foster a "start-up spirit".

The decision to keep Spark Foundry as a standalone, full-service media agency was seen as a vote of confidence in the importance of agency brands at a time when WPP-owned Group M was merging two of its global agencies, MEC and Maxus.

Boothe will focus on scaling Spark Foundry’s brand proposition across 60 global offices in 35 countries.

King said: "Chris fully embodies the Spark Foundry spirit. He has been central to Spark Foundry’s transformation and dynamic energy, resulting in exceptional new business momentum and client impact."

Under Boothe’s leadership, Spark Foundry USA won numerous new clients including Audible, KFC, USAA and Southwest Airlines.

Boothe has been at Publicis Groupe for 30-years and has held roles where he has been responsible for strategy, investment, international business, business development, global product and agency operations.

Boothe said: "I hold the Spark Foundry brand very close to my heart. When I first took the helm of Spark six years ago, we were a small agency of only 65 employees, but I believed we were embarking on something with immense potential.

"Today, Spark Foundry is a global agency of 3,500 people worldwide, built on the tenets of teamwork, innovation and grit."