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TBWA\Chiat\Day New York has today announced Emily Wilcox as CEO. Emily will join TBWA on April 1 from Johannes Leonardo, where she held the role of CEO. It’s the first move from new United States CEO, Erin Riley, after she took the reins of TBWA\Chiat\Day’s agencies in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles.

As CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York - the agency behind award-winning work such as Hilton’s 10-minute TikTok and the internet sensation, Lofi Girl for Nissan - Emily will be tasked with creating the conditions for Disruptive creativity that moves people, drives growth for the agency and our brand partners, and inspires talent. She will be deeply invested in nurturing the strong relationships with current partners as well as driving growth, especially across TBWA’s expanded specialisms in B2B (Plex), design (DxD), and social (Feed). She will report directly to Riley and contribute to the larger agenda for TBWA\Chiat\Day US.

Erin Riley, CEO, TBWA\Chiat\Day US noted, “Emily is new to Chiat, but she clearly has the heart of a Pirate, Disruption is in her soul. She believes in the power of creativity to unlock business advantage and has the taste, rigour, and unyielding energy to drive those outcomes. Also, like me, she is wonderfully crazy enough to have three kids, so we understand each other as humans, moms, and ambitious professionals.” 

Emily has spent the last eight years at independent agency Johannes Leonardo, where she has led the ongoing expansion of the business’ existing client relationships, as well as driving new business efforts with energy, precision and calm. She joined as the agency’s head of account management before becoming managing director, and then CEO. Before that, she spent five years as SVP at Saatchi & Saatchi, New York.

Talking about her appointment, Emily Wilcox shared, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work alongside the wonderful leadership team at TBWA\Chiat\Day who share my strong belief that great creativity is a brand's biggest competitive advantage. The people at TBWA\Chiat\Day are both talented and passionate and are committed to the power of Disruption® as the foundation and methodology to bring great creativity to great brands. I am excited to be part of this iconic agency that continues to have a profound and positive impact on our industry, and look forward to getting started.” 

Emily first joined Johannes Leonardo as head of account management in 2016, growing the account leadership department, optimising client operations, and leading newly won client relationships and creative campaigns across Kraft Heinz, Danone, Volkswagen, MassMutual, GAP, Amazon, EA Sports, UBER, Instagram, Google and more. During this time the agency saw a period of significant momentum and growth as it grew from 30 to 200 people, solidifying the agency’s place on Ad Age A-List for four consecutive years, and propelling Emily to take on the newly created role of managing director. Since taking over as CEO, her focus has been on fostering a strong creative culture where talent can do their best work while collaborating closely with client partners on solving their biggest problems with the power of great creativity. This focus has led to the agency’s most successful financial year in its 16 year life span with strong organic growth, new business wins in spirits and fintech, a 100% increase in talent retention, the agency’s highest talent and client satisfaction score and the debut of the agency’s first Super Bowl work for their Volkswagen client.

“It’s always incredibly exciting to bring new talent into our business. We will be kicking off Q2 with a new energy across North America and that is just what our agencies and clients need right now,” added TBWA’s president and global CEO, Troy Ruhanen.