• MediaPost, Friday, March 2, 2007 12 PM

Omnicom insiders are denying the rumor circling around the AAAA media conference here that Carat chief David Verklin may be stepping in to fill the shoes of departing OMD chief Joe Uva. "People think it's an interesting rumor, but they were almost chuckling about it," one Omnicom exec tells MediaPost Raw.

For the moment, Omnicom is sticking with its story that Omnicom Media Group chief Daryl Simm will assume some of Uva's duties when he leaves to become CEO of Univision. But the company ultimately is expected to begin a search for a replacement. It just hasn't done so yet. Who else might be in line for the job? Given Omnicom's past patterns, maybe they'll tap current Turner ad sales chief David Levy. (Before joining OMD, Uva was president of ad sales at Turner.) One person who's not in line for the job is Steve Grubbs, CEO of Omnicom's other media network, PHD. When we asked Grubbs if "that rumor was true," he also chuckled.

Read the whole story at MediaPost »