Arun Sudhaman 15 Aug 2018 // 12:00PM GMT
NEW YORK — Rowan Benecke is departing Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW), the Holmes Report can reveal, relinquishing the global technology chair role he held at Burson-Marsteller since 2014.
Benecke, who exits at the end of this week, joins a number of senior B-M executives who have left the agency since its dramatic takeover by Cohn & Wolfe earlier this year. In recent months, that list has included worldwide president Kevin Bell (who retired), Asia-Pacific CEO Margaret Key, EMEA COO Katarina Wallin-Bureau, German CEO Alexander Fink, China CEO Ruby Fu and global media MD Gary Koops.
Benecke joined Burson-Marsteller from Text100 to help reinvigorate its global technology practice. Since the merger, BCW has reshaped its technology offering, merging US firms North of Nine and PPR into tech subsidiary Axicom as part of an effort to turn the latter into a global brand.
Those moves saw PPR's Emily Dunlop named president of Axicom US, reporting to BCW global CEO Donna Imperato.
"People depart agencies all the time and BCW is no different," Imperato said via email. "Some individuals desired certain roles that didn’t make sense for the new organization and others have chosen to pursue new opportunities. I wish them all the very best. And I’m really thrilled that the leaders I appointed to drive us to growth and success are in place, excited and passionate about BCW."
Benecke did not respond to request for comment. However, in an internal memo seen by the Holmes Report, he said was "exploring a different opportunity".
Benecke spent almost a decade at Text100, serving in a range of senior global roles and ultimately rising to regional director of North America. Prior to that, he worked at WE, Zeno and Edelman.