ICM Partners has promoted veteran agents Sloan Harris and Kevin Crotty to the newly created post of co-president. Three other insiders have been elevated to senior management roles on the heels of the departures of COO Justin Dearborn and HR chief Cindy Ballard last month after less than a year in their respective posts.
Adam Schweitzer, ICM’s New York-based head of talent, has been upped to managing director of talent and branding, giving him oversight of the department he previously headed with Lorrie Bartlett and Dar Rollins. He also takes on oversight of branding activities, led by Carol Goll.
Jennifer Joel has been promoted to co-head of ICM’s publishing unit alongside the literary legend Esther Newberg. Newberg is riding high at present on the success of Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger’s top-selling business book “The Ride of a Lifetime.” She previously headed ICM’s publishing department with Harris.
Rick Levy, ICM’s general counsel and founding partner, is resuming the COO role that he held more than a decade ago.
ICM’s shuffle comes after the agency found that Dearborn, who was formerly part of the turbulent management regime at Tribune Publishing and Tronc, and Ballard, an HR executive alum of Tronc and 20th Century Fox, proved to be a difficult fit for the agency. Dearborn signed on in February while Ballard followed him the next month. With the duo’s departure, ICM managing director Chris Silbermann and co-managing director Ted Chervin turned to insiders to help with the day-to-day management of agency operations. ICM has expanded through the purchase of a number of boutique specialty agencies in recent years, as well as its acquisition last year of a stake in the Montreal-based Just for Laughs comedy festival franchise.
Crotty, who heads ICM’s TV and film lit departments, and publishing veteran Harris will oversee all agent-related operations, encompassing talent, publishing and literary operations as well as music, theater, international film finance and sales, alternative TV, branding and lectures. The two report to Chris Silbermann.
“Kevin and Sloan have demonstrated over the course of many years that they are excellent agents and tremendous leaders, with the respect of their peers, as well as the wisdom and experience needed to help guide us into the next phase of our successful growth strategy,” Silbermann and Chervin said in a statement.
Schweitzer’s promotion recognizes the natural connection between talent and branding activities for clients.
“Adam has been a rising star at this agency since he got here 20 years ago and that continues to this day. This move allows us to seamlessly combine two critically important departments, which we believe will generate even more opportunities for our clients,” said Silbermann and Chervin.
Levy will continue as general counsel in addition to serving as COO. He reports to Silbermann as general counsel and to Crotty and Harris in his role as COO. He previously served as COO in 2005 and 2006 prior to ICM’s merger with Broder Chervin Webb Silbermann.
“Rick is a long-time, trusted confidant, who knows the inner workings of the agency better than anyone and is universally respected and admired by his peers,” Silbermann and Chervin said.
Joel, also a founding partner and board member, was the natural choice to rise in publishing alongside Newberg.
“This is a natural move, as Jennifer has evolved into one of the agency’s leading voices,” Silbermann and Chervin said. “We couldn’t be luckier to be able to entrust our industry-leading Publishing department to her along with the legendary Esther Newberg.”