Hank Summy, formerly with SapientNitro, is joining McCann Erickson next month as president, North America. He will be based in New York and report to Nick Brien, chairman/CEO, McCann Worldgroup. Summy’s initial focus will be McCann’s flagship New York office working closely with chairman/chief creative officer, Linus Karlsson.
Summy also will assume management responsibility for regional McCann agencies across the U.S. and Canada. Along with the established leadership team, his responsibility will be to drive change and deliver the highest standards of creative excellence, strategic innovation, digital velocity and performance measurement. He will work with Patrick Lafferty who has been promoted to COO of McCann North America.
At SapientNitro, Summy was the managing director of its Eastern region and a member of the agency’s leadership team. When Sapient acquired Nitro two years ago, Summy led the successful integration of the two companies, including defining the value proposition and operating model for the combined entity globally. SapientNitro is a top 10 ranked U.S. agency.
Lafferty joined McCann Worldgroup just over a year ago as managing director of global brands, and established the Global Brands Community (GBC), a successful collaborative entity comprised of the heads of McCann Worldgroup’s key global businesses.
Previously, Lafferty’s posts included CMO of Travel Channel Media, where he drove double-digit business growth, technological innovation, and helped transform the company from a linear TV network to an integrated travel media business. Earlier he held senior account director posts at Leo Burnett, including key leadership of two of the agency’s highest profile businesses, McDonald’s and Kellogg’s, as well as that agency’s U.S. Army business.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More