David Friedman is joining Sears Holdings as senior vice-president, marketing, effective Sept. 13. Friedman will be responsible for the oversight and leadership of Sears Holdings' marketing efforts, which include advertising for both Sears and Kmart. Friedman replaces Richard Gerstein.

Friedman most recently served as president, Americas, for Razorfish, an interactive marketing and technology company. "David is a great addition to our executive team," said Sears Holdings interim CEO and president Bruce Johnson. "He brings to our company a proven track record of assisting numerous retail and consumer organizations in building strong brands through focused digital, online and in-store customer experiences," added Johnson. Friedman earned a MBA from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree from Cornell University.

It takes a lot of time and effort to keep track of the comings and many goings of marketing honchos in Chicago -- an advertising market that has been in a state of considerable tumult for a while.

But lately we've been busy tracking Pat Dermody, who was for nearly a decade a big shot at DDB/Chicago. Dermody was president of integrated marketing when she exited DDB in early 2007. While at DDB, Dermody got a lot of credit for helping lure to the agency the huge Dell Computer account, which, of course, is long gone from the shop.

Post DDB, Dermody quickly showed up at Leo Burnett/Chicago, where she came on board as executive vice-president, director of retail, a new position at the time. She was supposedly charged with leading Burnett's retail-oriented new business efforts. But coincidentally or not, after Dermody signed on at Burnett in early 2007, the agency didn't manage to generate much new business. Which may -- or may not -- explain why Dermody very quietly exited Burnett recently.

But she appears to have landed on her feet again as a vice-president, media buying for digital and social networking at Sears Holdings Corp., which has proved a revolving door for a number of executives in marketing and other areas of expertise since the company was set up by hedge fund guru Eddie Lampert.