Today, TBWA\Chiat\Day announced it has hired Erin Riley to serve as president of its Los Angeles office.
Riley joins the Omnicom network after serving as vp of marketing and brand engagement at San Francisco-based retailer Old Navy. She begins her new role in June and will report directly to TBWA\Worldwide president and CEO Troy Ruhanen.
"I've been hoping to recruit Erin for the last five years, as she was one of the standout brand thinkers in the New York market," Ruhanen said. "I'm even more pleased to have her join now with her additional years of client experience. Erin's appointment is another example of how we have assembled diverse skill sets to serve 21st-century brands. And, in a time where many in the agency world are focused on efficiency, we are continuing to build the deepest senior bench, ensuring that we always provide a different perspective at the top and remain focused on critical, creative thinking."
Ruhanen added, "More to come on our expanded Los Angeles leadership team in the next few weeks."
Prior to joining Old Navy in 2015, Riley spent more than three years as vp of global marketing at footwear giant Cole Haan, where she led all marketing communications and spearheaded new social campaigns, brand partnerships and e-commerce strategies.
Riley started her career on the agency side, working on the L'Oréal account at McCann and D'Arcy, and later spent nearly a decade at BBH, joining the Publicis shop as an account manager and working her way up to lead the department while managing such brands as Johnnie Walker, Axe and Ally Bank. During her tenure at BBH, Riley also served as brand and communications director for in-house consultancy ZAG and held a seat on the agency's executive board.
Riley cited TBWA chairman Jean-Marie Dru as one of her key influences.
"Early in my career, I came upon Disruption Stories, and it profoundly shaped how I thought about brand building," she said. "It is an unbelievable privilege to be joining the agency that birthed that philosophy and a part of the team that is applying it in a distinctly 21st-century way. My true passion, whether client or agency side, is building brands that become part of the cultural conversation and reap the resulting commercial rewards. That's why I instantly connected with TBWA\Chiat\Day's mission to leverage data, culture and cultural events to disrupt with relevant and provocative work that drives business."
The TBWA organization has recently moved to promote and hire female leaders within the company in order to reach a specific goal: increasing the number of women in such roles by 20 percent before 2020. For International Women's Day in March, the network released "Take the Lead," a project centered on quotes from women as read by more than 100 male staffers in an effort to directly address the unique challenges female professionals face in the advertising industry. Since the launch of that project, TBWA hired Nancy Reyes from Goodby Silverstein & Partners to serve as managing director of its New York office and promoted Lauren Niemcewicz to managing director of its Chicago-based Engage unit.
Riley joins Reyes and Niemcewicz, as well as presidents Erica Hoholick of dedicated Apple agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab and Jill Nykoliation of Toronto's JuniperPark\TBWA among the ranks female executives working across the TBWA North America network.
Riley succeeds Luis DeAnda, who spent two years as president of TBWA\Chiat\Day L.A. and more than 14 years with the larger TBWA organization before announcing his plans to leave last month. DeAnda's departure preceded client MillerCoors' decision to move lead creative duties on its Miller Lite brand to 180LA without a review.