The latest shakeout follows shareholder criticism of the performance of the Interpublic Group of Companies' CEO John Dooner and chief financial officer Sean Orr.
The criticism followed Interpublic's disastrous performance on the stock market and the recent warning on profits for the full year. Dooner took over as CEO two years ago, during which time Interpublic has seen the value of its shares cut by 70%.
Vice-chairman Bell is to give up his responsibilities for the Partnership division of Interpublic, the division that includes Lowe Worldwide, Deutsch and the PR agency Golin/Harris International. He is reported to be taking up a post at the Advanced Marketing Services Division, run by chairman and CEO Larry Webber and includes events firm Jack Morton Worldwide, market research outfit NFO Worldgroup and the world's biggest PR firm Weber Shandwick.
While Bell stays, LaGreca, vice-chairman and chief financial officer of McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, is to leave the company. It was McCann-Erickson's European operations that lead to the original extra charge of $68.5m, forcing Interpublic to restate the past five years' earnings. However, in reports, McCann-Erickson says LaGreca, 49, is "retiring".
Previously, it has been rumoured that Donny Deutsch, who runs the Deutsch advertising network, could be in line for a bigger job at Interpublic. He is seen as a rising star whose expertise could be harnessed to run one of Interpublic's international ad networks.
Last week, shares in Interpublic lost 30% of their value when the company warned that profits would not meet expectations. At the same time, it said that accounting problems at McCann-Erickson in Europe could lead to as much as $120m in charges -- nearly double the $68.5m it had originally uncovered in August.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .