Gretchen Walsh, who joined McKinney in 2004, was just named McKinney’s first female President in its 54-year history.

She will report to McKinney CEO Joe Maglio, who said the move was necessary to help manage the agency, which has grown 3x since he joined in 2018.

Part of McKinney’s growth is attributed to the launch of its new health and wellness practice and its influencer expertise, which was added after the acquisition of influencer agency August United in January along with performance media company Tailwind.

Maglio’s focus for McKinney is to position it as more than a core creative agency by integrating influencer marketing across the agency beyond content creation.

Another big win for the agency was being named creative agency of record for Popeyes at the beginning of 2023.

Jeff Klein, who joined Popeyes as its chief marketing officer in 2022 and helped the brand pick McKinney, was previously the CMO of Little Caesars when McKinney won that account.

And though winning Little Caesars helped open doors for the agency and debunk the perception of being a regional agency, Maglio said he is cognizant of not losing the agency’s Durham identity as it grows. “It’s still our biggest office, I would never want to lose that foundation.”

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