• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, December 31, 2018

Today is Scott Kauffman’s last day as CEO of MDC Partners, the beleaguered and in-play holding company for agencies such as Crispin Porter Bogusky, 72andSunny and Anomaly.

In SEC papers filed late last week, the company said it would be overseen by an executive committee of four, who will assume the role and responsibilities of CEO effective tomorrow, Jan. 1.

A search for a new company head is said to be ongoing, although the SEC filing offered no insight as to progress. The company indicated in September that Kauffman would be stepping down around the end of the year.

The executive committee members include CFO David Doft, general counsel Mitchell Gendel, Stephanie Nerlich, executive vice president/ partnership development and talent, and David Ross, executive vice president, strategy-corporate development.

The filing noted the company board’s strategic alternatives committee, which includes independent board members Irwin Simon, Larry Kramer and Anne Marie O’Donovan, will provide oversight for the executive committee.

So the company will now be run by one committee that is overseen by another committee.  Sounds a bit like management by clusterf**k. But it’s not like anything else there has worked of late, so why not give this a try!

That latter committee is doing double duty. In addition to overseeing the people running the company, it is evaluating offers from the outside to acquire the firm in whole or part. A number of offers are said to be on the table, including one from Accenture.

The company indicated in the filing that it does not intend to “disclose developments or comment further regarding its strategic review or CEO search until such time as its board of directors has determined the outcome of the process.”

Unless, of course, it decides otherwise.

In mid-morning trading during the last session of 2018, MDC Partners was down a little over 2%, even as the Dow was up a couple hundred points and trying to go out on a high note for a down year.

Lots of people will be glad to have 2018 behind them, including the folks at MDC.