• by David Kaplan , February 16, 2005

Ray Simko, president of strategic planning at WPP Group's MindShare, has opted for an early retirement, MediaDailyNews has learned.

No replacement has been named, co-works said. Representatives for MindShare did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Simko, whose name recently surfaced in reported testimony from the current trial of Shona Seifert and Thomas Early, the former Ogilvy & Mather--a sister WPP agency--executives accused of falsifying time sheets on the White House's anti-drug media campaign run by the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy. The two are accused of padding bills and defrauding the government of roughly $3 million.

Simko previously worked with Early at O&M in 1999, when Simko was the senior partner in charge of media on the ONDCP account.

Simko could not be reached for comment.