Diana Marszalek 18 May 2022 // 8:16PM GMT
NEW YORK — Confidant has boosted its senior leadership team with three new hires — Marie-Sophie Lantin, Andy Izquierdo, and Suzy Sammons.
Lantin joins Confidant as executive VP of consumer PR from BCW, where she was executive VP of brand solutions. Before BCW, Lantin (pictured) was the marketing director for the French bakery and café chain, Maison Kayser, overseeing marketing to fuel the brand’s expansion in the US.
Izquierdo brings public and private sector experience to his new role as executive VP of corporate reputation. He most recently served as chief communications officer of Seattle’s Sound Transit, where he led marketing, communications, and community engagement for the agency’s transit expansion. Before that, he served as CCO for Waste Management, VP of communications and social impact for Belk department stores and VP of corporate affairs for PetSmart.
“We continue to see established and challenger brands drawn to the way we staff our teams to complement theirs and blend creative, consumer PR and corporate communications,” said co-founder Garland Harwood. “Marie-Sophie and Andy bring such a range of great expertise to our team and clients. I couldn’t be happier to have them join us as we prepare for a new season of growth.”
Sammons, meantime, brings more than 25 years of experience, overseeing brand relationships at ad agencies including TBWA\Chiat\Day, BBDO and Saatchi & Saatchi. She began collaborating with Confidant’s creative studio in Nashville and was hired late last year as group account director to help expand Confidant’s creative client base and bring greater strategic integration to all areas of the business.
“As a growing young agency, we’re so lucky to find a kindred big agency defector like Suzy, who brings vast experience running agencies, growing core accounts, attracting new business and mentoring and building teams,” said Ken Byers, also a co-founder. “We learn time and time again that ideas and creative may be what we do, but Suzy is helping us redefine how we do it, which is ultimately the measure of how we build trust with the brands we serve.”