McCann Canada Promotes Joshua Hansen to CSO, AJ Jones Named CSO McCann UK

McCann Canada has appointed a new chief strategy officer, promoting Joshua Hansen from SVP, strategy. A move which coincides with AJ Jones being named CSO of McCann UK and returning to her native market, effective October 1st, both agencies will enter a new era of strategic leadership and vision.

“As we celebrate this next chapter of AJ’s career, we’re excited to announce Josh as our new CSO,” says Ryan Timms, president, McCann Canada. “Josh is a brilliant strategist with a talent for fostering collaboration, creativity and growth. Promoting from within is something we’re extremely proud of, as it speaks to the depth and strength of our leadership team. We’re confident Josh will do incredible things and continue to elevate the agency.”

With over 15 years of experience building brand strategies and driving business results across the likes of Juniper Park\TBWA, Leo Burnett and Sid Lee, this new position represents the culmination of six years of strong work at the IPG agency. Having first joined in 2019 as VP, strategy, Joshua’s pivotal role in landing new business – including leading the strategy charge in McCann Toronto’s global AOR win for Bobcat Company – and significant contributions to the agency’s 2024 Effies Agency of the Year victory has very much prepared him for this moment.

“To have been able to grow with this team, under AJ’s guidance, and be a part of the culture of effectiveness she has built with McCann Canada has been a huge honour,” he says. “I am so excited to lead our amazing team of strategists to continue that tradition and work with Jordan Doucette (CCO) and the creative team to build brands that effectively and beautifully realise their potential.”

Adding that both personally and professionally, this opportunity has instilled a strong sense of “appreciation, responsibility and excitement”, Joshua emphasises his enthusiasm for taking a greater role in directing where the team will go next, and the chance to work more closely with the aforementioned CCO.

“[What am I most excited about as CSO]? Sharing an office with Jordan,” he laughs. “In seriousness, I enjoy strategy as an act of service, making things, and the pursuit of effectiveness and beauty. I see the mandate as an evolution, rather than a revolution. We have an amazing group of strategists across the country, and finding ways to bring their unique talents to our clients’ business will continue to be important to me.”

While McCann Canada’s new era is an exciting prospect – one worth keeping an eye on, there’s still a great deal of melancholy around AJ’s departure. The strategic veteran with over 15 years of experience across the North American and European markets has certainly left her mark since accepting the role in late 2020, delivering culturally-resonant, award-winning work, and leaving behind big shoes for Joshua to fill.

“AJ’s impact on our business cannot be overstated,” Ryan says. “She has made McCann Canada a stronger, more effective agency in every way – most notably by helping lead us to win the Effies Agency of the Year in 2024. She’s pushed our team to new heights, and we’re incredibly grateful for everything she’s brought to the agency over the past five years. But, while she’ll be dearly missed in Canada, we’re thrilled that she’ll remain within the family.”

For AJ, meanwhile, this new role gives her a great deal to look forward to, but in equal measure, much to miss. Speaking on the former, she promises her native UK market “a confused accent, a love for the products we make, a pride in the role that strategy can play in shaping both the work and our industry, and a real hunger to find interesting ways to get even more interesting truths”, before highlighting the underlying potential of her new mandate.

Specifically, in the past few months, McCann UK has built real momentum in the world of effectiveness, bringing home both an IPA Effectiveness accreditation and a Gold Creative Effectiveness Lion. An opportunity for its new CSO to build on this while taking the work beyond the clichéd ‘Britishisms’ – all while continuing to live up to the network’s ‘Truth Well Told’ philosophy – according to AJ, this moment feels less like a homecoming, and is more of a new adventure.

“As a strategist I’ve learnt so much from the different cultures I’ve experienced whilst away, and I’m really looking forward to applying those global perspectives to a market I’ve known well,” she continues. “Having been around the network a while now I’m lucky enough to know some of the team well, and I know we have a shared ambition that can form the foundations of great relationships, great work and great impact.”

As for that which AJ is sad to leave behind? Above all else, she admits, it’s the people. “I’ll miss the community we’ve built, but will take great reassurance in McCann Canada’s proof positive that a community can be built across time zones, languages, strategic styles and cultures,” she says. “Beyond that, I’d love to take some of Canada’s resourcefulness with me. Some of the work I’m most proud of from the past few years has been low-budget, high-passion. The resilience to keep pushing ideas, to try despite the odds sometimes being stacked against us, and to resist the temptation to take shortcuts, is the stamp McCann Canada has left on me.”

With all that said, AJ is certain McCann Canada’s future is in good hands, and that the coming days will be bright. Reflecting on the “huge privilege” it’s been to lead the agency and its strategy team over the past few years, the CSO underscores her excitement at seeing Joshua take the reins, and promises that she’ll be paying attention, even from across the pond.

“There is nobody more qualified to lead McCann's strategy efforts in Canada than Josh,” she concludes. “His enthusiasm is infectious, his knowledge boundless, and his humanity refreshing. I can't wait to see McCann Canada build on the existing momentum, make work that moves people and markets, and have a lot of fun in the process.”