• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, April 9, 2014

Michael McLaren has been named CEO of MRM//McCann, the customer relationship management (CRM) agency that is part of Interpublic’s McCann World Group.

McLaren succeeds Bill Kolb, who was promoted head of McCann’s global General Motors account in May of 2013. In addition to his GM duties, Kolb continues as Chairman of MRM.

When Kolb shifted to GM, the agency did not name a replacement CEO at MRM and instead indicated that two senior executives at the unit would jointly run its day-to-day operations, including McLaren, MRM’s Worldwide President, and Hank Summy, the shop’s president of Commerce.

The agency said that Summy will continue to serve as President of MRM//McCann North America and the shop’s Global Commerce practice. 

McLaren is “an enormously talented leader with a very strong record of helping clients build their businesses,” said Harris Diamond, Chairman and CEO of McCann Worldgroup.

At McCann, McLaren first served as worldwide account director in San Francisco on Microsoft in 1999, and then moved to New York in 2004 as Worldgroup’s Director of Global Accounts. He was named President of McCann Erickson USA in 2007. In 2009 he moved to Japan in the dual role of CEO of McCann Worldgroup Japan and Regional President of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific, where he oversaw operations in 14 countries. In 2012 he returned to New York as President of MRM//McCann USA and was named worldwide President the following year.

MRM//McCann has offices in 22 countries with an offering that includes content, commerce, CRM, mobile, search, social media, loyalty programs and data analytics. The agency quietly rebranded from MRM Worldwide to MRM//McCann a few months ago.