Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide announced today that he had accepted Gerry Graf’s resignation as its New York Chief Creative Officer, effective July 13, 2010.

“Gerry’s success at creating deep consumer involvement across many campaigns had been well recognized by clients and award shows,” said Kevin Roberts. “He started his career with Saatchi & Saatchi New York and came back to lead a large team of writers, art directors, film-makers and digital artists. He is a brilliant ideas man and a good friend (despite being an Arsenal supporter). We’ll miss him at 375 Hudson St and we are sure he will make a huge impact in the broader creative space he wants to work in,” Kevin Roberts said.

Gerry Graf said: “I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked at Saatchi & Saatchi with Mary Baglivo and Kevin Roberts. I have insanely talented people in my department. But it’s time to move on. I am going to start a creatively-led company. One part of course will be advertising. I’ve had great success creating long running campaign ideas that people seem to really like and that sell a lot of stuff. The M&M’s campaign and FedEx campaign that I created 15 and 7 years ago are still running and have expanded into all forms of media. While at Saatchi & Saatchi and at TBWA before, I started creating web content, digital platforms, even television shows. There is a huge market for creative ideas. Advertising is just part of that market. I believe nowadays, the most creative idea will bring the most success. Luckily, I know a lot of people who can help me create and sell those ideas.”

Kevin Roberts added that the appointment of a new Chief Creative Officer is expected by the end of April.