• by Larissa Faw , April 8, 2019

Following the departure last month of CEO Robert Riccardi and cofounder/Chief Strategy Officer Max Heilbron, Argonaut has formed a new leadership team, sans CEO, that will chart the agency’s future.

The departures were reportedly driven primarily by friction between Riccardi and founder-Chief Creative Officer Hunter Hindman. 

In addition to Hindman, the new leadership team includes CFO Ana Dixon, CMO Katie Miller and JT Pierce, newly promoted to managing director to oversee a group of clients and internal departments.

"Between the four talented individuals on our leadership team, we are all contributing to owning the responsibilities that would be traditionally held by a CEO," says Hindman. He adds that all  four "are equally creative-and business-oriented."

In addition to the leadership reshuffle, the agency is hiring "boomerang employee" Jeremy Arth as executive producer ,following a stint at 215 McCann and as a freelance producer. During his original tenure, he worked on Cricket Wireless and spearheaded the inaugural, cause-oriented campaign, FitForFood, for Fitbit.

Also, Eric Cosper joins the agency as its newest group creative director to lead the Cricket Wireless business. Ali Esterly, most recently of 72andSunny, is hired as creative director to help manage the agency's Cricket Wireless work. 

“We are committed to being a standout creative agency, and I am deeply excited about the creative firepower we have just added to an already potent arsenal at Argo,” Hindman says. The agency "made the decision to streamline our leadership team and go back to a founder-led model." 

These four executives "have a shared vision and mission for where Argonaut is headed as we enter our seventh year."