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Faith Carthy, the digital agency's head of buying, and Ed Ling, planning

director, are obvious candidates for the new job, which will also

involve managing "UK joint ventures" with other outfits in the digital

ad arena.

Charlie Dobres, chief executive officer of the independent agency, said:

"We've changed the nature of the job and it is now a much bigger group

MD role. Alan didn't want to do the travelling as it would have involved

spending a lot more time in Europe.

"We only have an office in Holland but do a lot of buying in France and

Germany, and that all needs to be managed by someone."

Dobres, who is hoping to reveal the name of the group MD this week, said

I-Level also has several joint ventures "bubbling under".

McCulloch joined the planning and buying company from Saatchi &

Saatchi's digital unit in April last year, along with John Bartle,

chairman of Bartle Bogle Hegarty.

In a statement, he said: "I-Level has developed incredibly over the past

year. The new role of group MD is a great opportunity but will clearly

involve a great deal of foreign travel. After much thought, I feel that

right now I would rather focus on my family commitments and look at

other ways to advance my career. It's a shame, but after all the hard

work I've done in helping to establish I-Level, I have taken the

decision to step down so that the guys can keep the momentum up and

continue to take the company forward. This was a very tough call

indeed."

Dobres and chief operating officer Andrew Walmsley oversee a staff of

around 35 at I-Level, whose biggest client is BT. Carthy has 18 years'

media experience, including an 11-year stint at Zenith and a short

period at IPC.