• by Larissa Faw , May 2, 2016

Maxus is naming Kevin McCarthy as its newly created head of effectiveness to develop the agency's data and analytics capabilities. "The end goal is to use data as effectively and efficiently as possible to make more time for ideas and creativity," says the agency. McCarthy joins Maxus from MediaVest, where he served as the senior vice president, group client director of business intelligence. Previously, McCarthy spent time at PHD and GroupM's MEC. He will be based in New York and report to Maxus' chief planning officer David Gaines. "We've spent this past year developing a technology-based platform to better harness data, ultimately aimed at expediting our decision-making framework and allowing more time for creativity," says Gaines. "Kevin's hire is a pivotal next step in furthering this mission -- allowing us to bring even more groundbreaking and data-backed ideas to our clients."