New Co-Presidents at the helm of Drake Cooper

Drake Cooper recently announced an update to their agency leadership with the appointment of Co-Presidents John Drake and Mindy Stomp.

From the post on their Reverb site:

John Drake will add the title of Co-President to his current role as Chief Strategy Officer, which he assumed in 2019. Since his teenage years, John has been around the agency, with his first role being the somewhat less-prestigious “Runner.” His official career began in Los Angeles at Deutsch, then moving to senior positions with WongDoody and leading his own agency, FourStories, in Portland before joining Drake Cooper fifteen years ago. That journey involved working on brands that included Disney, Carl’s Jr., Tillamook, DIRECTV, Nestlé, Baskin-Robbins, UCLA, and more. John’s role will be to oversee the agency’s work product. His teams will include planning & strategy, creative, media, and analytics.

The other Co-President is a new addition to Drake Cooper. After an extensive search process inside the industry, the agency is excited to welcome Mindy Stomp as Co-President, General Manager. Mindy will oversee the agency’s business operations, client success, and business development teams. She most recently held leadership positions with VMLY&R and brings to Drake Cooper a deep background built at agencies large and small. Her significant digital experience ranges from complex website build projects to leading digital AOR relationships. Her teams have led efforts for clients such as Facebook/Meta, SKYY Vodka, Carnival Cruise Lines, Crystal Cruises, Driscoll’s, Haas Automation, and Mazda.

Jamie Cooper will remain in the CEO role through 2022, and will continue after as chair of Drake Cooper’s ESOP Board of Directors.

Additional coverage at Adweek and Mediapost.

Drake Cooper has new owners. Lots of them.

Earlier today, Boise Dev broke the news that Drake Cooper has been sold.

To its employees.

As noted in the Boise Dev story, the company converted to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) structure, according to former majority owner and CEO Jamie Cooper. That means about 50 of the company’s current employees now make up the ownership of the company.

There are 42 privately-held ESOP companies in Idaho, and only a handful that are 100% employee owned. Perhaps the most well known locally and regionally is the nation’s third-largest — WinCo Foods — with 20,000 employee-owners. Drake Cooper now joins approximately 3% of marketing and advertising firms nationwide that are employee owned.

In becoming an ESOP, Drake Cooper preserves local ownership and its independent advertising agency status. The agency’s management team and Cooper’s role as CEO will remain the same through 2022. During that time, they will focus on building a stronger board of directors with advertising industry expertise, and creating a new role for a GM/President to help guide Drake Cooper and its employee-owners into the future.

Read more about the announcement at Boise Dev, or see the full release, swag box contents, and more at Drake Cooper’s reverb on Medium.