Stan Richards, the 87-year-old founder of Dallas’ influential Richards Group marketing agency, has officially announced his successor – Glenn Dady.

Dady is a 40-year veteran of the homegrown company that’s helped create campaigns for hundreds of brands over the decades, including Go RVing, Biltmore Estate, NatureSweet Tomatoes, Sub-Zero, Wolf, Jeep, Ram and Alfa Romeo. It’s famously known for its Chick-fil-A “Eat Mor Chikin” cow campaign and Motel 6′s “We’ll leave the light on for you” tagline.

Dady, 67, will take on the title of principal and creative director, effective Jan. 1.

Richards described the decision to hand over the reins at his eponymous agency as a “very personal” one.

“Glenn has been by my side for nearly four decades and has played a critical role in making The Richards Group what it is today," Richards said in a statement. "He has always been one of the most innovative, imaginative creative leaders of the agency — but maybe most importantly, no one has done more to identify and nurture the talent so critical to the work we do than Glenn.”

Richards, however, isn’t going away.

“I’m not going anywhere and will still come to work every day doing the thing I love most: making sure our creative product continues to get better,” the founder said.

Glenn Dady, who will succeed Stan Richards as Principal and Creative Director of the Richards Group at the start of 2020. (Courtesy of The Richards Group)

Richards has led the agency since 1976 with a “fiercely independent” mindset that Dady intends to continue.

“It’s such a luxury not to be concerned about shareholders, numbers, or politics," Dady said in a statement. "And continuing to have Stan in the office every day is the ideal situation for me — being able to bounce ideas off him and go to him for advice and counsel.”

Dady’s new role and Richards’ transition was announced to the company’s 752 employees during an annual year-end meeting, and clients were informed shortly after, according to the company.

Dady graduated at the top of his class from ArtCenter College of Design and joined the Richards Group in 1980. He’s been recognized in numerous industry lists including Advertising Age’s “100 Best and Brightest Young People in Advertising” as well as AdWeek’s Creative All-Star Team.

His art direction and design work has been honored by the likes of the Art Directors Club, One Show, Communication Arts, Lürzer’s Archive, the Clios and Cannes.

Despite his age, Richards naming a successor comes as a relative surprise, since he’s held the role well beyond the traditional retirement age and once said he’d keep doing the job "till I croak.”

Richards has been recognized countless times as an advertising giant. The American Advertising Federation inducted him into its Advertising Hall of Fame in 2017. In 2014, the University of Texas bestowed its advertising and public relations school with his name – Richards called it “the greatest honor that I’ve received in a long, working life.”

Richards moved to Dallas in the early 1950s after graduating from Pratt Institute in New York. He worked for an agency briefly, then freelanced graphic design work and eventually grew his business into a full-fledged marketing agency. The privately-held company is reported to have annual revenue of $190 million from billings that exceed $1 billion.

In 2016, when Chick-fil-A dropped his agency after a 22-year run, Richards described it as more of an emotional blow than financial toll. His team dreamed up the cow campaign in 1995 and it’s considered one of the most iconic in fast food history.