It’s less “runway” and more “run away!”
After Page Six reported last year on agents and models catwalking out of top agency Wilhelmina under new leadership, we hear two more agents have sashayed away.
Melvin Vasquez and Kelsey Gabriel, who made up Wilhelmina’s men’s new face division, have joined former colleagues Matt Trust and Gene Kogan at NY Model Management.
“Agent after agent is leaving. No one feels the place has serious longevity left to it under the current New York leadership,” an insider told Page Six.
The rocky spell at Wilhelmina dates back to at least 2019 when there was a mass exodus of agents under controversial former CEO Bill Wackermann. A source likened the turnover at that time to the HBO series “Game of Thrones.”
Fast forward to 2026, and the company is still experiencing similar turmoil under the leadership of director Cory Bautista and the firm’s CFO/COO Guarav Pahwa, we’re told.
In 2025, we reported the company’s top execs Trust and Kogan fled for Bautista’s former modeling home, NY Model. Ex-Wilhelmina agent Jessica Rosenberg is also now at the competitor. Male models subsequently filed separate lawsuits, accusing the company of leaving them in the hands of junior staff, among other accusations. (They, too, eventually signed with NY Models).
“It’s like they’re back at square one. They’ve decimated their entire men’s team,” a fashion source told us at the time.
Trust appears to be gloating about the recent reshuffling. He shared a cryptic post about the new hires, writing, “I’ve always believed in loyalty, good snacks, and seeing things through. Anything less is amateur hour… The lights are up, the curtain is about to rise, the runway i slong and the show is about to begin #itsgoodtobeking.”
A rep for Wilhelmina did not get back to us by deadline.
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