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This story has been corrected.
The generational shift in media companies has taken another leap with the retirement of David McNeil, 68, from McNeil Wilson Communications Inc. and its parent company Anthology Marketing Group, the integrated media services company that McNeil, co-founder David Wilson and partner Dennis Christianson built in recent years.
"Leaving will be hard," McNeil told TheBuzz. "My work here has offered me the most rewarding experiences of my 40-year business career, and I am incredibly thankful to have had this opportunity," he said.
That Wilson retired last year and McNeil now is retiring does not leave Anthology a rudderless ship.
Christianson remains CEO of Anthology, and Nathan Kam, 36, was named president of McNeil Wilson in February. Kam had been McNeil’s heir apparent at least since his promotion to executive vice president a year ago, McNeil said.
McNeil has lived in Hawaii since 1976, and joined Margo Wood Advertising the following year. He hired Wilson in 1980, and after the agency went bankrupt, they formed McNeil Wilson Communications in 1982.
McNeil and Wilson bear commonalities that belie their having met in Hawaii, so far away from England.
They are sons of British mothers married to Scottish men, their birthdays are within four months of each other and, to delve into the bloody obvious, they both have the same first name.
Meeting Wilson was "the luckiest part" of his business career in Hawaii, McNeil said. Without Wilson "none of it would have happened."
Their partnership laid the foundation for "the biggest (media) agency this state has ever seen," he said.
The smartest thing they ever did, he said, was to partner with Buck Laird and Christianson, of Laird Christianson Advertising, which then laid the foundation for the purchase of Starr Seigle Advertising and the establishment of Anthology Marketing Group in 2007.
Starr Seigle was the big dog of Honolulu advertising agencies for decades, and McNeil never would have imagined such an acquisition in their earlier years, he said. "Really, Dennis (Christianson) was the architect" of that deal, McNeil said. "He is the most talented of all of us, and fortunately is quite a bit younger," he said, laughing.
The best season of his time with the agency was, "I think, the period from about 2000 to 2007, which was just prior to the recession. Business was booming and we acquired Starr Seigle, and it was wonderful to have all these great new additions," including new partners David Koch, Mary Fastenau and Barbara Ankersmit, "very talented individuals," he said.
The recession that followed "was the most difficult season," he said, noting that the entire marketplace suffered. "I think we were tested and we came through it."
McNeil’s wife, Helen, resigned her position as associate publisher and editor of Honolulu Family magazine, they’ve sold their home and have change left over after purchasing a lakefront home on 2.6 acres of land in Minneapolis. They’ll soon move to the home with 11-year-old twin girls India and Skye.
"As much as we love Hawaii, we wanted (the girls) to have a chance to grow up on the mainland" for at least part of their lives, he said.
The family has visited Helen’s friends in Minnesota in all seasons of the year, so they know what to expect, and can come back to Hawaii frequently to visit Helen’s family, McNeil said.
"I feel very confident of the future of the agency" in Christianson’s "good hands" as well as with the "new, younger leadership, which is Nathan," McNeil said.
Anthology has roughly 100 employees, including 15 in its public relations practice.
"I’m completely humbled by the opportunity," Kam said.
He has been with the company 14 years, "and I consider myself fortunate to have learned from the best in the business."
New face on the news
New KITV meteorologist Pete Caggiano knows something about the muggy weather we’ve been enduring lately.
Caggiano is pronounced ca-JOHN-no, according to News Director Chuck Parker.
He worked for 24/7 cable operation Central Florida News, and has previously worked at stations in Gainesville, Fla., and Dothan, Ala. He earned his meteorology degree from Florida State University in 2002.
CORRECTION: David McNeil is retiring from the Anthology Marketing Group. An earlier version of this story and the story in the print edition said he was with the Anthology Media Group.
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