Her departure comes just weeks after she led a challenge to the agency's redundancy process. Grey first announced in mid January that it planned to cut up to 50 jobs.
The restructure was initiated by new chief executive Lace, who joined Grey from TBWA\London late last year. He is to announce details of the shake-up on February 28, as he puts his plans to make the agency more profitable in place.
In today's issue of ±±¾©Èü³µpk10, Lace said: "Jo has decided she wants to do something different with her life. We are currently agreeing a leaving date with her."
Smith has previously raised concerns about the four-week consultation period, which ended on February 7. She claimed that the nine employee representatives who were appointed to act as a conduit between management and the workforce were not an accurate reflection of the staff. However, staff overwhelmingly wanted the arrangement left unchanged.
Grey has already lost planning director Claire Rossi, although Rossi denied her decision to go was related to Lace's appointment. Rossi subsequently joined the direct marketing agency WWAV Rapp Collins as a partner.
The arrival and restructure follows concerns from Grey's global headquarters in New York that the London agency is ineffective in competing for local business. Issues have also been raised relating to its servicing of multinational clients Mars, Procter & Gamble and GlaxoSmithKline.
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