San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) today announced that it has named Adland maven Sarah Thompson as its first CEO.  

The announcement follows last week's news that longtime Goodby president Leslie Barrett had joined Innocean USA as president. 

Thompson spent 15 years at Droga5—including 5 years as Global CEO. She’s credited as a key architect of the agency’s growth and expansion into one of the industry’s most highly regarded independent creative agencies. 

She also helped shepherd the sale of the agency to Accenture in 2019 for a reported $475 million. It became part of Accenture Interactive, now known as Accenture Song.  

After the sale, Thompson was promoted to global head of advertising and content at Accenture Song, where she oversaw more than 5,000 people across the company’s creative, media, and content agencies. 

After leaving in 2023 she founded a brand consultancy among other pursuits. 

Prior to Droga5 she held account roles at BBH, KBS, MullenLowe and Goodby, where she started her career. 

“Sarah has a rare ability to rally people around a shared ambition – growing client businesses through creativity,” said agency co-founder Jeff Goodby.    

Co-founder Rich Silverstein added, “Sarah shares our DNA and our belief that creativity can solve any problem."  

Thompson will be based in the agency’s New York office, which is helping to serve major clients such as BMW, MINI, Frito-Lay, and Comcast. Over the past year, GS&P New York partnered with the San Francisco office to compete for wins including Zaxbys, General Mills, Brown-Forman, Lay’s U.S., Xfinity, and Comcast’s corporate business. These wins have led to a 300% increase in net new business revenue for GS&P since July 2024, according to the agency.  

Thompson joins a leadership team that has been expanded over the last couple of years and includes (in addition to the founders) chief creative officer Margaret Johnson; chief strategy officer Christine Chen; managing partner Brian McPherson; chief growth officer Cory Berger; head of inclusion and impact Dr. Jennifer Gomes; head of people Jill Sammons; and a recently established leadership team in New York: executive creative directors Eamonn Dixon and Stefan Copiz; managing director Tom Powers; and deputy director of brand strategy Katie Coane.