We first inquired about this two weeks ago when the tips came in and have yet to hear back, but there seem to have been some notable defections in recent times from West Studios. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, West is the San Francisco-based shop that was launched two years ago by former Apple global marketing communications head, Allison Johnson, and was initially co-funded by Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey (we’re being told that Dorsey has since distanced himself from the company). During its initial launch, West was headed up by Johnson, former Martin Agency GCD Keith Cartwright and Katalyst digital head, Sarah Ross.

Well, as tipsters have pointed out, the latter two are no longer at West and in fact Cartwright doesn’t even acknowledge his time at the operation on their LinkedIn profiles. Of course, these aren’t the only notable departures from the SF shop in recent months. Travis Britton, former Cutwater principal/ECD who joined West as chief experience officer last year, has parted ways as has COO, Amanda Kelso (former W+K ECD Todd Waterbury was also in the mix but is now of course serving in the same role at Target). And today, we’re hearing that a major client is on the outs with the shop. We’re putting in more inquiries to the rather secretive West Studios, and will try to clarify what the state of the union is as soon as we hear more.

We’ve been hearing from a few sources this morning that Keith Cartwright, formerly a GCD at Martin Agency who left the Richmond, VA-based agency after just 15 months, is heading to San Francisco to join up with the currently unnamed tech/marketing/communications firm that’s being started up by Allison Johnson and Brandee Barker. If you need a reminder of who they are, Johnson is Apple’s former global marketing communications VP who left the mega-brand at the end of March to join forces with Barker, a former Facebook PR exec. We’re doing some digging to get some official confirmation on Cartwright’s impending move and who knows, maybe a name will emerge from the ether.

Update: Hey, what do you know, Adage is now reporting that Cartwright indeed left for San Francisco to launch a new shop with Allison Johnson and former Katalyst head of digital Sarah Ross (Brandee Barker has launched her own consulting firm). Thanks again, tipsters!

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