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DDB Canada CEO Frank Palmer set to leave

DDB Canada chairman and CEO Frank Palmer plans to leave the advertising sector but is not yet set to retire, according to Strategy magazine.
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Frank Palmer started in the advertising business in April 1969 | DDB Canada

DDB Canada chairman and CEO Frank Palmer plans to leave the advertising sector but is not yet set to retire, according to Strategy magazine.

Palmer’s last day as the full-time CEO is set for December 31, although he plans to continue in a part-time capacity until April 1 – a date that will mark 50 years since Palmer launched Palmer Jarvis in Vancouver in 1969.

He helped expand the company across Western Canada by buying competing agencies, and by 1997, Palmer Jarvis had offices in Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg. That’s when holding company Omnicom Group Inc. bought the venture and merged it with DDB’s Canadian operations.

Palmer, who is in his late 70s, has been inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends.

He was one of the founders of the National Advertising Benevolent Society (NABS), and been involved in charities and non-profit organizations, such as Special Olympics B.C., Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Rick Hansen Foundation, through the years.

Palmer spoke with Business in Vancouver earlier this year to reflect on his life and his recently released biography Let’s Get Frank.

Staffing at DDB Canada is not expected to change significantly with the departure and the agency will continue to be led by national president and COO Lance Saunders.

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