• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 13, 2013

Karen Kaplan, president of Interpublic Group’s Boston-based Hill Holliday, has been promoted to CEO, the agency confirmed Monday morning.  

Kaplan succeeds Mike Sheehan, who has been in the role for a decade, having succeeded agency co-founder Jack Connors.  Sheehan will assume the role of chairman of the agency, a post he is expected to hold for two years before exiting the agency.

Kaplan has been the heir apparent since 2007, when Sheehan promoted her to president.

"Karen and I have worked closely together for the better part of two decades,” stated Sheehan. “There is no one who has worked harder or who is better positioned to lead Hill Holliday to new levels of growth and success."

Kaplan has spent her entire professional career at HH. She joined the agency in 1982 as a receptionist, billed as “something to do before law school,” according to Kaplan’s bio on the HH site.

But once at the agency, law school plans were put on hold and she never left. During her tenure, she worked in nearly every department at the agency, rising in the ranks of account management. In January 2001, Kaplan was promoted to managing director of the Boston office and named president at the end of the year.

The agency has annual billings of more than $2 billion, the second billion coming in the last decade with Sheehan and Kaplan teaming to expand the client roster.

The firm created the well-known “America Runs on Dunkin’” campaign for client Dunkin’ Donuts. Other clients include Liberty Mutual, John Hancock and Verizon Wireless.

“We have never had higher caliber talent than we have today,” stated Kaplan."I am incredibly energized about our future and looking forward to leading Hill Holliday to the next level.”

A formal announcement on the management transition will made tonight at a gala in Boston celebrating the agency’s 45th anniversary.

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