CJRW has shuffled its personnel deck, dealing out three prominent employees, including Brian Clark, a widely known Little Rock marketing veteran who was a senior vice president and brand marketing strategist.
Clark’s departure and exits by Brian Rudisill, president of CJRW’s northwest Arkansas office in Springdale, and Elizabeth Michael, the director of content and social strategy, were confirmed by Mark Raines, the Little Rock marketing firm’s vice president and director of public relations.
The parting with Clark, who first worked at CJRW in 1991 and rejoined the firm in 2013, was fraught, several colleagues whispered. Clark spent 12 years as a partner with Mike Sells in the Sells/Clark Agency and was a veteran on CJRW’s Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism account. He didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
Raines told Arkansas Business that CJRW’s moves were normal in an evolving industry. “As with any growing company, we are reorganizing and restructuring our agency to better serve the changing needs of our clients, which increasingly includes more digital and interactive services,” Raines said in an email. “To that end, we will be announcing some exciting new team members in the coming days and weeks.”
By Thursday afternoon, employee biographical information for Michael and Rudisill were no longer on the CJRW website. Clark’s bio was still up on the site. Efforts to reach Michael and Rudisill for comment were unsuccessful.
Michael, a co-founder of Bark Bar, Arkansas’ first off-leash dog park and bar, joined CJRW in April 2014 after five years with the Paul Michael Co., her father Paul’s home decor business. Rudisill, who became northwest office president in 2014, previously was director of Inward Strategic Consulting in Bentonville.
