The search for a new leader for the global advertising agency DraftFCB Worldwide, owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies, ended on Wednesday afternoon with the selection of an outsider from a rival agency owned by WPP.
Carter Murray is joining DraftFCB as chief executive after serving as president and chief executive for North America at Y&R, part of the Young & Rubicam Group division of WPP, as well as chief executive at the flagship Y&R New York office.
Mr. Murray, who is 38, will succeed Laurence Boschetto, 58, who has been chief executive at DraftFCB since 2009. Mr. Boschetto will remain through a transition period, Interpublic said in a news release, and then serve as a senior adviser to Interpublic.
Interpublic executives said last summer that they had begun seeking a successor to Mr. Boschetto after setbacks at DraftFCB that included losses of large accounts from clients like S.C. Johnson & Son and MillerCoors.
Speculation on Madison Avenue was that a replacement for Mr. Boschetto would most likely come from outside DraftFCB. The search was described as lengthy, with some candidates declining to be considered.
Mr. Murray has worked at Y&R for a year. He previously worked at Leo Burnett Worldwide and Publicis Worldwide, two agencies owned by the Publicis Groupe that are also major competitors of DraftFCB.
Howard Draft, the “Draft†in DraftFCB, will continue as executive chairman of the agency, Interpublic said. DraftFCB was formed by Interpublic in 2006 through the merger of Draft Worldwide with an agency known by many names, most notably Foote, Cone & Belding.
