New York Hustle
Global Muscle

Rob Schwartz

Rob was once described as a “CEO’s Creative Director.” In other words, the rare creative person who is curious about all aspects of a business and finds ways to create breakthrough ideas that get results and build brand value. As a creative leader he spearheaded work for blue-chip brands, including Nissan, McDonald’s, PepsiCo and Visa.

Along the way he has won nearly every advertising award, including Grand Effies, Cannes Lions and One Show Pencils. Rob was recognized as thinkLA’s “Leader of the Year,” and is considered one of Adweek’s “25 Voices to Follow in Social Media.” He also lends his voice to Forbes, where he is a popular and regular contributor. After two decades on the West Coast, Rob has come home to his native Manhattan, where he leads TBWA\Chiat\Day’s New York office.

Chris Garbutt

Chris Garbutt is the Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York and TBWA's Global Creative President. Chris oversees the creative direction for the New York client portfolio as well as the network's global clients including Nissan, McDonald's, adidas and Pernod-Ricard.

Chris started his career at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris in his native South Africa before moving to TBWA\Paris to become its Executive Creative Director. As ECD, he produced some of the agency’s most celebrated work for Nissan, Absolut, PlayStation and Pedigree.

Prior to returning to TBWA, Chris was the Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Paris where he created award-winning campaigns for IBM, Coca-Cola, Perrier, Louis Vuitton and Google.

Chris has won nearly 100 Cannes Lions in his career, including three Grand Prix awards, as well as top honors in The One Show, D&AD, Webbys, Clios and Art Director’s Club awards.

He's not a bad surfer either.

Kyla Jacobs

Kyla leads global business development for TBWA Worldwide and is a member of the global executive team. She works with key leaders and offices across the TBWA network to drive growth for the agency, including new business, organic growth, and promoting the network's latest platforms and services. In addition to this role, Kyla continues leading business development for TBWA\Chiat\Day New York.

She cut her teeth at Whybin\TBWA and gained her experience from some of the world’s renowned agencies – having worked in Australia, Europe and now North America in her current role. Her international experience provides a diverse portfolio across a range of markets and brands, including Coca-Cola, Kraft, Virgin, Microsoft and L'Oreal.

Kyla is an established industry speaker, having been featured at Advertising Week and Harvard Women in Business events. Kyla also has the distinction of being recognized by the IPA & Campaign’s “Women of Tomorrow.”

Aki Spicer

As leader of the digital strategy team at TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York, Aki works across all the agency’s clients. Prior to joining TBWA\Chiat\Day Aki led the digital strategy for clients like Cadillac, Nestlé and H&R Block. Aki started out his career as VP of Marketing at clothing brand Rocawear/Native BDG, led by Damon Dash, Jay Z and Biggs Burke. He then went on to hold the role of Planning Manager at Vigilante, a youth-focused think tank.

Brian Carr

Brian leads the financial operations of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York as Chief Financial Officer. He is responsible for spearheading client fee and contract negotiations, contributing to management team decisions regarding staffing, evaluating capital expenditure needs and managing the agency’s working capital.

Brian has held positions within the TBWA network for over a decade. In his previous role as Regional Controller, Brian oversaw financial results, evaluated and managed acquisition and ownership matters, and managed cross-border tax issues for the Latin America region, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

Prior to joining TBWA, Brian worked in public accounting at Arthur Andersen as a CPA across multiple industries, including advertising, for a diverse group of blue chip companies. There, he lead financial statement audits, managed acquisition-related due diligence projects, and conducted a major fraud investigation.

Nancy Reyes

Nancy Reyes is an industry veteran with nearly 20 years combined agency and client-side experience. She joined TBWA’s New York headquarters in 2016 as Managing Director, serving as the day-to-day operational lead for the agency, as well as the principal liaison across all roster clients, which include GoDaddy, Travelers Insurance, H&M, Thomson Reuters, Michelin and McDonald’s.

Prior to TBWA, Nancy was VP of Marketing Creative for Verizon, responsible for 360-degree creative product for the brand’s wireless business, which included advertising, retail and social marketing under the “Better Matters” brand platform. Most of Reyes’ advertising career was spent in Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ San Francisco office, where she worked for 11 years on accounts like Adobe, Frito-Lay, Google, Comcast and HP.

A graduate of Harvard University, Reyes began her career in New York City at Ogilvy & Mather and D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles working on IBM, along with Procter & Gamble brands including Folgers, Pampers and Crest.

Blanca Stephens

Blanca Stephens is a veteran HR and Advertising professional. She has been known throughout her venerable career as a coach and mentor of talent. She has groomed many young professionals and guided them toward identifying their innate talent, and then finding their specialty and best career match. She is known for hitting the nail on the head of particularly complex issues and coming up with creative solutions. Blanca holds a BS in Psychology from Fordham University and is a Certified Life Coach.