R/GA London Appoint Patrick Van Kann as New Head of Technology
London, UK, April 4, 2012—R/GA London is pleased to announce it has further strengthened its technology department with the addition of Patrick Van Kann, as executive technical director. Reporting into Jim Moffatt, VP Managing Director R/GA London, Patrick will be responsible for driving and shaping the office’s technological vision, while also working closely with clients to help develop their strategic technical requirements. Prior to joining R/GA London, Patrick held the role of Director of Engineering at the Walt Disney Company
As the office continues to grow, in both staff and client numbers, R/GA London has invested significantly in technology, hiring some of the brightest technological minds in the industry. Patrick will be in charge of managing and expanding this pool of talent, while also driving the adoption of new and innovative technologies by the agency, and its clients.
“Technology underpins all of the work that we produce, so it was vital we got the right person for this role.” said Jim Moffatt, VP Managing Director R/GA London. “Patrick ticked all the boxes for us. His rich experience coupled with R/GA’s technology-led creative process, will provide extraordinary value to our client.”
Patrick’s technical vision and experience will play a key role in R/GA London leading the UK digital industry, by building exceptional, rich user experiences that can work across all devices and platforms - such as the web, mobile, social and connected TV. In his new role Patrick will be responsible for driving R/GA London forward as the market leaders in the new HTML5 standard, JavaScript engineering, social media integration and search. He will also help R/GA London’s clients make use of both public and private cloud technologies, to ensure that the applications the agency builds are able to scale elastically.
"When I left the digital agency world to go 'client-side' in 2010, I knew it would take something very special to bring me back again. After meeting the team at R/GA London and seeing examples of their work, any doubts I had quickly dissipated.” said Patrick “This is a place that genuinely innovates when it comes to using and developing technology, and I can’t wait to get started in delivering exciting and creative projects on an enterprise scale."
A technology director with over 15 years’ experience of building complex and engaging websites and applications for some of the world’s most recognised brands, Patrick joins R/GA London from Disney Internet Media Group. During his time at Disney Patrick was responsible for developing and delivering the technology strategy for the company, while managing a team of over 30 software engineers, web developers’ managers and technical writers based in the UK and Budapest. Before joining Disney, Patrick was one of the founding members of London-based full service marketing and technology agency Fortune Cookie. During his eleven years with Fortune Cookie he worked his way up to Director of Technology, where he was instrumental in developing and implementing the overall technology strategy for the agency, while also leading client projects for brands such as the Lawn Tennis Association, Legal & General and National Express.
About R/GA
R/GA is a full-service agency that transforms the way people interact with brands. Founded in 1977, R/GA has been heavily awarded for its work in film, television, and digital advertising, including online and offline, across mobile, retail, social, technology, and creative. The agency has more than 1,000 employees globally, with offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, and Singapore. R/GA is part of The Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world’s largest advertising and marketing services organizations. For more information on R/GA, please visit us on Facebook and Twitter
Karen Spiegel
SVP, Managing Director, Communications/Marketing
212.946.4055
karen.spiegel@rga.com