Howatson+White Bolsters Creative and Design Team with Host of New Hires

Howatson+White has today announced several new appointments including Leslie Sharpe as creative director and head of art, Caroline Gilroy as design director, Demian Hamann as senior designer, and Elaine Li, Jared Wicker, Tim Smith and Giles Watson as senior creatives, further strengthening the agency’s creative offering. 

Ant White, CCO and founder of Howatson+White, said: “We’ve been blown away by the calibre of talent who are joining us so early in our history. It feels exciting and meaningful to build our team. We all share a big ambition that unites us to build an outstanding creative culture that fast tracks creative talent and continually delivers opportunities and distinctive work that we’re proud of, that drives our clients’ success.” 

Leslie Sharpe, creative director and head of art, has over a decade of experience working across local  and global brands like Amazon, Qantas, Optus, and Tiger Beer. He previously spent time at Droga5 (Sydney), Marcel (Sydney) and Bear Meets Eagle On Fire. In between that he’s worked on various brand creation opportunities, working with individuals on early-stage start-up ideas in the digital health and wellbeing space.

Caroline Gilroy, Howatson+White’s recently appointed design director, brings over 15 years of experience in both traditional print design and advertising, having worked in Sydney, London, New York, and Melbourne. Most recently, she was design director at Re.  

Senior designer Demian Hamann joins Howatson+White with 14 years of experience working as a  visual designer in Wellington, Amsterdam, and Sydney. Demian has spent time at agencies including Resn (Wellington), Random Studio (Amsterdam), R/GA, Marcel, and Design Studio.

New Howatson+White senior creatives, Elaine and Jared, come from DDB Sydney, where together they led the Australian Red Cross account and created the latest Amarok campaign for Volkswagen, Walkinshaw Station. The duo has also worked on projects including the Super Bowl campaign Coors Big Game Dream, and The Burnt Christmas Tree.  

Tim Smith and Giles Watson also recently joined Howatson+White as a Senior Creative Team based in Melbourne and bring over ten years of experience as creatives and CDs at some of the world’s top agencies across New Zealand, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and London. 

These latest hires join recently appointed senior designers Dana Rogers and Ellena Mills, editorial writer Ashe Davenport, and creative Riana McKenzie, along with the growing Howatson+White team of business leaders, strategists, media planners and buyers, technologists, and social and PR practitioners.