Stagwell Media Network Announces Executive Leadership to Spearhead Investments, Partnerships & Client Experience

Global network appoints Jon Schaaf, Shannon Pruitt, and Rick Acampora to deliver an evolved future-facing strategy that drives innovation, scale, efficiencies, and differentiation across clients and partners.

Stagwell Media Network, part of Stagwell Inc, announced expanded leadership to further evolve the agency’s investment profile, with a focus on partnerships, innovation, investment models, and accountability to help clients navigate changes in the media landscape and fuel market-leading growth.

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Noted appointments include:

• Jon Schaaf, Global Chief Investment Officer: With over 20+ years of experience at major holding companies (including Omnicom, Publicis, and GroupM), Jon has expertly led the development of omnichannel investment strategies for some of the world’s largest advertisers, as well as created cutting edge partnerships with the global publisher community. Jon will lead the creation and management of the investment group, overseeing strategy and activation across Stagwell Media Network clients globally.
• Shannon Pruitt, Global Chief Content Officer: Shannon is a 20+ year industry leader with deep agency, publisher, and brand-side experience. Having been in former roles at Dentsu’s The Story Lab, Carat, Warner Brothers, as well as CMO of The Honest Company, she has helped some of the world’s leading companies connect with consumers in ever-and-rapidly changing economic, cultural, and media environments. In this new role, Shannon is responsible for developing innovative content, media, and publisher relationships that deliver integrated experiences across the network for Stagwell Media Network clients to drive measurable value and business outcomes.
• Rick Acampora, Global Chief Client Officer: With experience across a plethora of agencies and brands, including GroupM, MEC/Wavemaker, UM, and Publicis, Rick has built, maintained, and applied the practice of client leadership for some of the world’s most recognizable brands. Rick led the product unification and transformation for the merger of MEC and Maxus to form Wavemaker and ensured expansion for both their clients and the agency resulting in the two most significant growth years in MEC/Wavemaker’s history. At Stagwell Media Network, Rick will collaborate across the client and agency teams to create indispensable partnerships that drive innovation and results while also enabling our people to continuously progress as leaders.

“This team has invaluable experience in creatively developing and activating forward-thinking strategies and partnerships that deliver meaningful growth for businesses,” said James Townsend, Global CEO of Stagwell Media Network. “Together, and with the expansive Stagwell community, they will collaborate with publishers and media partners to construct opportunities that our agencies can uniquely bring to our clients.”

Stagwell Media Network is home to more than 2,500 experts with an expansive global footprint across 40 offices in 20 countries, managing close to $5 billion in media. The network creates an exciting environment for a new era of marketing talent, bringing together world-class omnichannel media, analytics, technology, and consulting expertise.

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“The formation of the Stagwell Media Network was an intentional and proactive approach to ensuring we enable collaboration that helps deliver on our vision of being the challenger brand offering an alternative to the status quo,” said Stagwell’s president Jay Leveton. “Our continued investment in this team and community underscores the importance of how we intend to create new opportunities for our clients, partners, and the market.”

Additional leadership and organizational details will be announced in the coming weeks. These investments will drive increased collaboration across the entire media and creative portfolio in Stagwell.