MediaLink and its owner, United Talent Agency, announced a new leadership team on Tuesday in its core business areas following the dramatic departure of its well-connected CEO Michael Kassan.
The media, advertising and marketing consulting firm announced the new leaders to reaffirm that, “a group of proven industry veterans are leading MediaLink, demonstrating the ongoing strength and scope of the company’s business,” the company and UTA said in an announcement to staff.
Donna Sharp, a 2022 Adweek 50 winner, will lead the marketing and consulting division, along with Andrea Kerr Redniss, who was named as one of AdWeek’s 12 smartest media agency execs in business today, and chief brand officer Lena Petersen, a top former Publicis Groupe exec. All three are managing directors at the firm.
Media and tech strategy consulting will be led by managing directors Devrie DeMarco, the former head of sales for BermanBraun and associate publisher at Condé Nast, Christopher Vollmer, former global leader of entertainment and media at PwC, plus Mark Wagman, the head of MediaLink’s data and technology solutions practice.
UTA bought MediaLink in 2021 for $125 million to bring the Madison Avenue powerhouse into the premium talent agency to win huge advertising and brand windfalls. But things soured quickly and CEO and star rainmaker Kassan quit on March 6, bringing the first of a round of dueling reputation-damaging lawsuits.
Kassan, who founded the firm in 2003, filed his legal action, a demand for arbitration, for breach of contract and fraud, saying he quit a day before UTA said it fired him on March 7 and that the agency had not kept its side of the deal terms when MediaLink was sold to UTA.
Kassan has denied the company’s claims of wasteful spending. A person close to him said “the allegations against him are insane.” He declined a $10 million severance offer from UTA in order to be able to compete with MediaLink, according to his lawsuit against UTA.
UTA then filed a civil suit against Kassan on March 13 alleging misappropriation of company funds.” The agency says Kassan “abused his title and authority” and had “run rampant with his business expense accounts — wasting millions of UTA’s dollars on his lavish personal lifestyle,” which included personal luxury travel for him and his family, a credit card for his wife to buy gifts for staff and clients, and payments for a driver’s apartment and a personal housekeeper.
UTA withdrew the civil suit and then refiled it as an arbitration claim, while doubling down on Kassan’s alleged financial misconduct.
The flurry of lawsuits has revealed much about Kassan’s broken working relationship with the usually-private UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer, who made the MediaLink announcement on Tuesday.
Zimmer said in a statement, “This group has been leading the work and delivering results for clients for many years now. Diving in with them over the last few weeks has given us tremendous confidence in their ability to lead MediaLink and drive the business forward.”
The UTA announcement comes after media insiders wondered about the future of the agency without Kassan leading it, especially if prominent MediaLink clients decide to desert the Hollywood agency to follow him to his next venture.
“MediaLink without Michael, my own opinion is I don’t think it will prosper,” Omincom CEO John Wren told TheWrap. “That’s how important he is to it. He’s unique.”
Wren compared Kassan to Lew Wasserman, the legendary studio head and talent agent. “What Lew Wasserman was to the talent business, Michael is to the media consultancy business,” he said. “The success that MediaLink had is attributable to the relationships that he has.”
The announcement also comes the day before Kassan is due to speak at the marketing event Possible in Miami Beach on Wednesday, April 17. He will take the stage with Forbes CMO Network managing director Seth Maitlins to present “What’s Possible? A conversation about the future of the industry, where he is also expected to address his own future and his plans for June media festival Cannes Lions, where he usually holds court with MediaLink.
Interestingly, Kassan will be directly followed on the same stage by MediaLink managing director Wagman for a discussion about “How retailers are changing the future of marketing.”
A spokesperson for Kassan was not immediately available for comment.
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