• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 13, 2010

As part of a broader management overhaul, Huge on Wednesday said David Skokna, one of the digital agency's founders and its ECD, was moving on to pursue other endeavors. Founding partner Sasha Kirovski is also leaving the Brooklyn-based agency.

Aaron Shapiro, currently responsible for strategic leadership, will become CEO, while Gene Liebel will assume the role of chief strategy officer and oversee the company's product design and analytics practices.

Also, Joe Stewart, until now Huge's lead creative for top accounts like Pepsi, Reuters, Target and JetBlue, has been named partner and ECD, and will continue to oversee the company's creative efforts.

For Shapiro, the changes signal a state of maturity for the agency, which is partly owned by Interpublic and has grown from 10 to about 300 employees since 2005. According to Shapiro, however, doing great work and continuing to expand globally remain at the core of the agency's mission.

"At a high level, I don't see any change," he said. "Our business is very simple: We do the best work on the Internet, and change how people use the Internet."

Regarding global expansion, Huge recently opened offices in London and Stockholm, and is planning to open "regional hubs" in Brazil, China, Singapore, and Japan over the next 12 months. The agency is also in the early stages of evaluating the Middle East and India, according to Shapiro.

"As the world becomes more global, we're becoming more global," Shapiro told Online Media Daily. "Our goal is to have regional hubs around the globe, which will allow for the cross-pollination of talent and ideas."

Also of note, Shirley Au, currently general manager, has been named managing partner; Michael Pasternak, who currently leads Huge's User Experience group, has been named partner, user experience; Patricia Korth-McDonnell, director of strategy, has been appointed partner, client services; and Felipe Memoria, design director, has been named partner, product design.

Au, Stewart, Pasternak and Korth-McDonnell have all been part of Huge's core management team for the last five years, and four of the agency's earliest employees.

"Establishing a new group of Partners from current leadership allows us to maintain our existing DNA, which has been such a key part of our success," said Shapiro.

Going forward, Shapiro said Huge would be announcing additional hires, and while it's already a well-rounded full-service agency, he expressed an interest in developing "niche tech areas."