• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 1, 2010

David Kenny, managing partner of Publicis' VivaKi unit and de facto chief digital strategy officer, has decided to leave the company at the end of the month. Kenny has long been rumored to be heir apparent at Publicis, but his greatest handicap in that regard has apparently played a part in his resignation: He's not French.

Publicis on Monday said it accepted Kenny's resignation from all his functions, as well as from the Management Board.

"The possible future evolutions for David Kenny would have implied relocating to Paris, which was not possible for family reasons," the company said in a statement.

Going forward, Jack Klues will assume sole responsibility for VivaKi as CEO, while Jean-Michel Etienne is expected to take Kenny's place on the management board in July.

"The first months of 2010 were satisfactory and the current forecast for the full year is encouraging," said Publicis chief executive Maurice Levy.

In regard to Kenny -- whom he said "helped us enormously in implementing our digital strategy -- Levy said: "We did examine ... further steps for his career within our group."

Levy did say Publicis would be working with Kenny on "new forms of collaboration."

Kenny helmed Digitas as its CEO from 1997 until it was acquired by Publicis in late 2006 for $1.3 billion.

Publicis has recently responded to the rise of digital media with some major structural changes. Most notably, in the wake of its Razorfish acquisition, Publicis late last year named Colin Kinsella -- then chief innovation officer at Razorfish -- CEO of Digitas North America. The position had been empty since Laura Lang was promoted to her current global position as Digital CEO, which was triggered by Kenny taking over VivaKi.

Late last year, in an effort to streamline, VivaKi, Razorfish and Digitas agreed to rely on consolidated support functions and management across all non-U.S. markets. The move impacted numerous high-ranking executives throughout the Publicis division.

In the 20 markets outside of the U.S. where Razorfish and Digitas exist, the integration efforts were focused on achieving a common investment in real estate, technology, non-proprietary data feeds, and research and development. In these markets, Razorfish and Digitas employed a "2-door policy" to coordinate investments in an effort to maximize efficiencies.

Denuo, the innovations unit of VivaKi dedicated to new forms of creativity and ways of working, also aligned with Razorfish and Digitas. As such, Rishad Tobaccowala, the CEO of Denuo, then took on a broader VivaKi role, helping guide VivaKi and its clients into the future landscape. Tobaccowala also relinquished his day-to-day operational role of CEO of Denuo.

Last October, Publicis Groupe SA and Microsoft finalized the acquisition of Razorfish by Publicis in a deal valued at about $530 million. The deal brought Razorfish organizationally under VivaKi, the Publicis unit that also oversees Digitas, and has at its core a deepening of relationships between the company and media vendors.

In particular, VivaKi in late 2008 brought together top online video suppliers (AOL, Broadband Enterprises, CBS, Discovery, Hulu, Microsoft and Yahoo), along with a half dozen major marketers, to embark on the Pool initiative -- a highly collaborative effort to develop a more consumer-friendly replacement for the standard pre-roll ad unit.