Horizon Media Canada has hired former McDonald’s Canada media manager Carmen Hunt as senior vice-president of business solutions, working out of its Toronto office. Her appointment is effective immediately.

Reporting into executive vice-president, general manager Kevin Kivi, Hunt will oversee key accounts at the independent network, which also has offices in New York and Los Angeles. She is also charged with driving creativity and new business opportunities.

“[Hunt] brings strong communications skills and different perspectives from both the agency and client side,” said Kivi in a statement. “Carmen has seen how partnerships work from both sides of the fence and can truly attest to the value that an agency partner can bring for a client.”

Hunt has spent her entire career in media, working on both the client and agency side of the business. She spent the previous two years at McDonald’s, leading the QSR’s efforts across mass, digital, social and SEM.

Her work with McDonald’s including leading the company’s first foray into voice AI on Google Home, and developing the “Snapplications” event, which invited people to apply for jobs via Snapchat.

Prior to joining McDonald’s, she was senior marketing communications manager at Telus and media director at TBWA\Vancouver. She also worked as a part-time instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, teaching media planning and buying.

Hunt said she was drawn to Horizon by its “agile operating model and the entrepreneurial spirit” that runs through the agency. “I’ve seen all that Kevin and his team have achieved since launching in 2017, and firmly believe that Kevin and Horizon Media will fundamentally change the landscape of the Canadian market,” she said.

Hunt was virtually on-boarded as a result of the ongoing COVID crisis, with the company noting that it has brought aboard more than 20 people at its offices in New York and Los Angeles in this manner over the past two weeks. “It’s very much a normal part of our talent management process now,” said a spokesperson.