Bill Cimino Named CCO Of Y&R Chicago

Carter Murray, President and CEO of Y&R North America, and Kary McIlwain, President of Y&R Chicago, announced today that Bill Cimino has been appointed Chief Creative Officer of the agency’s Chicago office. He succeeds Bob Winter, who is leaving to work in another market.

 

Cimino will oversee the office’s creative direction and all work for its clients, which include Craftsman, Kenmore, BMO Harris Bank, Famous Footwear, hotels.com, American Red Cross and Bonefish Grill.  

A highly awarded creative director, Cimino joins Y&R Chicago from DDB Chicago, where he spent the past eight years, most recently as the Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Director and Global Creative Director of McDonald’s.  He also led the Capital One business at DDB and worked on other key clients such as Anheuser Busch, Discover Card, General Mills, Frito Lay, State Farm Insurance and Sierra Mist.

 

“Bill has produced an exceptional body of work for some truly iconic brands. I am confident that he will move into this role with the talent and energy that has been behind all of his successes thus far. This is terrific news for our clients and I just know our people will love working with him,” said McIlwain. “And I want to thank Bob Winter for taking us to where we are today, and wish him the very best of luck.”

Carter Murray, President and CEO of Y&R North America said, “This is an exciting hire for us.  Bill is tremendously gifted, a true leader, and one who consistently creates award-winning work that has a real impact on culture and in the marketplace.  He is the right person to come in at this point and build on our progress.”

 

At Cannes last year, Bill and his global team celebrated 13 Lions for McDonald’s, most awards ever won for the client. Additionally, Cimino’s team won a Gold Effie for McDonald's Corporation’s “Rebuilding an Icon: A Love Story” in the Sustained Success category.  Cimino’s awards also include Cannes Grand Prix, Gold and Bronze, British D&AD, ANDY’s Grandy, Clio Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze, in addition to a Radio Mercury Awards, Grand Prix One Show Gold, Silver and Bronze awards.

“In one of life’s quirky twists and turns, Bob Winter was part of my team years ago. I think there’s great momentum at Y&R Chicago and am thrilled to have this chance to pick up the baton and run with it.  We start from a good place, and I’m looking forward to working with this passionate team, with Tony Granger, and some wonderful clients,” said Bill.

 

Prior to DDB Chicago, Cimino served as Senior Vice President and Executive Creative Director at Foote, Cone & Belding in Southern California.  Before his time with DDB and FCB, Cimino worked at Ogilvy & Mather as a copywriter.  He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Loyola University of Chicago, and attended John Marshall Law School.