After more than 18 years at Wieden + Kennedy, Tom Winner is calling it a day.
Winner, the longtime U.S. director of media buying for the full-service shop, is retiring and will be succeeded by a key lieutenant, group director of media buying Patrick Mauro. The handoff takes effect next month.
Mauro himself is a veteran of Wieden, having joined in 1996. Most recently, he worked on accounts such as Electronic Arts, Old Spice and Booking.com. As director, he’ll lead broadcast buying on more than a dozen brands, including Nike, ESPN, Facebook and ABC.
Winner, 67, was among the first staffers at Wieden’s New York office when it opened in 1995. He joined the independent agency after more than 20 years in the business, beginning in the research department at NBC and continuing at Advanswers, William Esty and Anheuser-Busch, where he was director of the Busch Media Group in New York.
“That’s a 42-year career in advertising. Think about that for a minute,” Wieden president Dave Luhr said. “That’s unheard of and a true testament to his substance.”
Before Wieden, the 43-year-old Mauro handled TV planning and sales at Paramount Television and Blair Television. In his new role, he'll oversee about 20 staffers. Wieden’s North American media boss--leading all media planning and buying--is director of media Lawrence Teherani-Ami, who is based in the shop’s Portland, Ore., headquarters.