Pretty exciting news around here: M+R has a new CEO — our first ever!

The decision to hire a CEO is part of an extensive leadership redesign process, led by staff across roles and backgrounds, with an explicit focus on anti-racism, equity, & inclusion (AEI). The search was led by our Senior VP of AEI, Adiyah Ali, and included members of various service areas, staff union, and leadership. Staff explicitly wanted a leader who is inclusive, experienced, decisive, emotionally intelligent, committed to AEI, and with strong business acumen and a clear and compelling vision for the firm’s growth. That’s exactly who we found!

His name is Tommy Thompson — not to be confused in any way at all with the right-wing former WI governor! — and he started in early May. He comes to M+R from a marketing background, having founded iNSPIRE!, one of the leading agencies serving the US Latino market, and then became president of Moroch, an integrated marketing agency with 450+ staff. After decades working with big corporate brands he decided to, as he said, “stop spending all his time trying to squeeze out another dollar for a huge corporation and start pursuing a more fulfilling path.” We’re very lucky that path led him to M+R.

Tommy has long been an outspoken presence around anti-racism, equity, and inclusion in marketing — from promoting an ethical approach to creative, to not treating the Hispanic population as a monolith. His arrival represents a major step forward in our ability to do more good for our clients. Having a CEO assume day-to-day firm management will allow M+R’s Partners to stay ever more focused on campaigning, fundraising, innovation, and research & development — and on building on the strengths of our staff and clients. 

Welcome Tommy. We’re so glad your journey led you to us! 

Want to say hello to Tommy? Find him at TThompson@mrss.com