• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 6, 2013

Covario has shuffled senior executives, announcing Wednesday the appointment of Russ Mann to chairman of the board. Mike Gullaksen, Jeff Johnson, and Claire Long will lead daily operations for the global search and content marketing firm.

Gullaksen and Johnson -- who served as co-managing directors of the firm’s search and content marketing agency -- will lead Covario as co-chief executive officers, along with Claire Long, who joined Covario in 2012, as chief financial and operating officer.

The leadership team will become responsible for overall revenue growth, operations and client satisfaction.

Since Gullaksen and Johnson joined Covario five years ago, much of its growth has come about as a global search marketing agency. Covario was ranked earlier this year by Advertising Age as one of the 10 largest U.S. search agencies fastest-growing search firms, among those with annual revenue of $20 million and above. MediaPost also named the company the Search Marketing Agency of the Year in 2012 and 2011.

Mann will take "a greater governance role," as well as expand "his entrepreneurial interests and pursue new endeavors," according to a company spokesperson. No word on whether the company will go public in 2014, but as a fast-growing, privately-held search and content marketing firm, the company has been approached by various suitors.

Among the recent changes supporting the move, Covario's international client base continues to grow its staff in Tokyo, London, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Beijing and Toronto. In September, Jeffrey Hayzlett, former CMO of Eastman Kodak, joined Covario's Advisory Board.