• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 14, 2006

Rich Hamilton has officially resigned as CEO of ZenithOptimedia Americas, the Publicis agency said in a memo issued to its staff on Monday. The announcement makes official what many had assumed when Hamilton took a leave of absence for personal reasons last August, and ZenithOptimedia subsequently promoted Tim Jones to CEO of its U.S. operations from chief strategy officer.

In its staff memo, ZenithOptimedia said Hamilton officially resigned to "pursue other opportunities." The move marks the end of a nearly ten-year run for Hamilton, who oversaw Zenith's U.S. operations through a tumultuous period of successive owners, and its consolidation with Optimedia.

Prior to joining Zenith U.S. as CEO in 1997, Hamilton was head of North American media operations of DMB&B's media department, which ultimately got spun off into MediaVest, and is now part of ZenithOptimedia's sister Publicis media network, Starcom MediaVest Group.

Hamilton got his start as a media planner, joining Benton & Bowles' media department in 1975, and worked their during a period that groomed some of Madison Avenue's best known media leaders, including Phil Guarascio, Mike Moore, Irwin Gotlieb, Marc Goldstein, Mike Lotito, Charlie Rutman, Steve Farella and Dennis Donlon.

""It's time for me to move on to the next project," Hamilton said in the ZenithOptimedia memo. "The best thing about the past 8 years has been working with all of you. We did great stuff together. Thank you for who you are and all you do. Onward!"