Erin Riley Appointed CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day United States

TBWA has announced the promotion of Erin Riley to CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day United States, effective immediately. In her new role, Erin will oversee our creative minds in Los Angeles, Nashville and New York and is charged with the continued growth of the agencies in the US. 

No stranger to TBWA and its Disruption® methodology, Riley has been with the collective since June of 2016 – first joining TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles as president, before taking the helm as CEO in 2021. 

As recent agency consolidations erase great legacy agency brands, this coming together seeks to strengthen one of the best. TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, Nashville and New York unite under one leader, enabling the offices to reap the benefits of increased scale while maintaining their individual successes, strong local cultures and intimacy with clients.

Erin loves to reveal the souls of brands and find the just right collision of marketing intelligence and creative magic to propel them into the cultural conversation and drive exponential growth. Having spent time on both the brand and agency side, she has a unique view of how to orchestrate the total brand experience. One key focus for her will be scaling the best-in-class specialisms within TBWA that have delivered significant growth and breakthrough work in both cities. This includes, DxD by TBWA\ for design, Feed by TBWA\ for social content creation, TBWA’s Health Collective and Plex by TBWA\ for B2B and the most complex businesses.

Troy Ruhanen, global CEO, TBWA\Worldwide notes, “This newly created role is a testament to both TBWA and Omnicom’s ability to foster the growth of brilliant leaders from within. The strength of TBWA is our collective mindset – our agencies connected by our common belief in Disruption and its willingness to share speed and scale. This united front will only amplify our strategic advantage and resources to push to even greater heights and get us to our future, faster. 

TBWA is in an incredibly strong position to continue its growth and creative momentum. With our storied history of creating brand platforms underpinned by impactful creative work, I believe there’s no better or more deserving leader to continue that promise than Erin,” continued Troy.

With a keen understanding of the business of creativity, over the past few years Erin has provided stability and humanity through the pandemic whilst also commanding an indisputable rebound, growing the business by double digits, launching new B2B and design offerings, and adding over ten new clients to TBWA\Chiat\Day’s roster in LA. All of which contributed to TBWA being named Adweek’s Global Agency of the Year in 2021 and 2022, AdAge’s Global Network of the Year in 2022, and one of Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies for five consecutive years from 2019 to 2023. Furthermore, Erin was recently named a Campaign US 40 over 40 honouree and in 2023 TBWA was honoured as one of Adweek’s top five US agencies and a Stand Out Agency on AdAge’s A-List. 

Erin Riley, CEO, TBWA\Chiat\Day United States notes, "Over the past nearly eight years at TBWA, I have been extremely grateful to work for a company with an ethos, values, and people I connect to so genuinely and fundamentally. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to continue to grow with TBWA and to partner with close to 2,000 incredibly smart, creative souls to drive impact at an even greater scale. 

Both CDLA and CDNY are operating from positions of strength and I am looking forward to working with the outstanding leadership teams in both offices to capitalize on the current momentum and really set it afire. I have lived in both New York and Los Angeles and I have worked on both the agency and brand side - a range which enables me to both understand and honour each agency’s vibe and be a more astute and empathetic partner to our clients,” continued Erin.

Over the course of nearly twenty-five years, Erin has worked in almost every category from fashion to fintech, sport to spirits, and QSR to CPG, on both the agency and brand sides, up and down the funnel, and on both coasts. The through line has been a penchant for challenging convention. She helped Johnnie Walker go from an old leather armchair to the world of personal progress, she put drag queens, New York City Ballet ballerinas, and Maya Angelou in Cole Haan heels, she made fashion fun and inclusive at Old Navy, and now at Chiat she creates the conditions to uphold Lee Clow’s standard of “make it smart. make it beautiful. make it fun."