• by Tanya Gazdik , June 10, 2008

Renetta McCann, global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group, is taking a one-year sabbatical from the company and the marketing communications industry. Her leave will begin Jan. 1, 2009 but she will vacate the global CEO role immediately and Laura Desmond, currently CEO of SMG/The Americas, will assume the global title.

"I have been given the opportunity to build an incredible organization during a decade of management responsibility, but I now recognize that some family matters and personal goals have unfortunately taken a back seat during this time," McCann said.

McCann assumed the role of global CEO for SMG in 2005, at which time she served as CEO of SMG/The Americas.

Desmond has been a part of the SMG organization for more than 20 years, and has served as CEO/The Americas since 2006. She has pushed for stronger digital capabilities across SMG, infusing talent, tools and skill sets into the organization.

Another of her focus areas is search marketing, and the company says that on her watch the network's search offering has grown to be a leading agency partner to the pure-play portals and a pioneer in search optimization tools and processes. Desmond also launched Pixel, a content and experience creation company in the digital space; and SMG Performance Marketing, a coalition of the agency's response-led units tasked with oversight and development of customer acquisition and retention expertise.