NEW YORK—Sloane & Company managing directors Darren Brandt and Whit Clay have been named co-chief executive officers of the corporate and financial communications specialist. Brandt and Clay succeed founder Elliot Sloane who will continue to advise the firm and a number of clients going forward.

The announcement comes five years after the firm was acquired by holding company MDC Partners.

Sloane founded the firm in 1998 and established it as a challenger to established corporate and financial PR leaders, particularly in areas such as shareholder activism and corporate restructuring. Sloane had previously served as executive vice president and general manager of Edelman Financial and held positions at Ruder Finn, Morgen-Walke Associates, and at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Companies.

Brandt has been with Sloane & Company since 1998 and advises clients on corporate positioning and media relations, issues management and mergers and acquisitions, managing clients including athenahealth and Walgreens. Prior to joining Sloane & Company, Brandt worked at Morgen-Walke and Edelman Financial.

Clay has been with the firm for more than 16 years and has experience in financial communications and public affairs, including ginancial transactions, restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, working with clients such as Liberty Media and AMC Networks. He earlier spent three years with Edelman Financial and four years in Washington, DC, for Capitoline/MS&L.

According to Sloane, “As a leadership team, we have been working toward this for some time, and with the momentum of a series of record years and even stronger performance through the first quarter of 2016, there could be no better time for my talented colleagues to take the helm.”

Other members of Sloane & Company’s senior management team include managing directors John Hartz, Josh Hochberg, Nevin Reilly and Dan Zacchei and senior vice presidents Erica Bartsch and Emma Post.