Leadership

Our team is focused on nurturing a culture where ideas thrive and our client partners succeed.

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    Ed Castillo

    Strategic Intelligence

    Ed is a respected executive who served as Global Chief Strategy Officer at Arnold Worldwide and Chief Strategy Officer at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. He also worked as SVP, Global Strategy Director at McCann NY, leading American Airlines' communication strategy. Prior to that, Ed was SVP, Strategic Planning at PHD, where he led strategic planning for clients including HBO, Starbucks, and Google. One of his proudest career moments is writing the brief and leading strategy for the “What Happens Here, Stays Here” campaign on behalf of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Ed began his career at Leo Burnett in Chicago and graduated with honors in philosophy from Amherst College in 1994.

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    Serge Flores

    Creative

    From Uruguay to Australia to NYC and then Austin — is it any wonder why Serge ended up in an agency where culture and identities drive the work?
    Pair that with enviable creative foundations — Clemenger BBDO, Saatchi NY, Arnold NY, TBWA\Chiat Day NY — and you get a creative leader that understands the layers of culture and how they can result in real impact.
    His brand experience is as diverse as his background — Pernod Ricard, BNY Mellon, Mars, Cadbury-Schweppes, Unilever, Tecate, SportChek, Red Stripe, McDonald’s, Merck, Accenture, Hearts On Fire, Hennessy, Starbucks and Google.

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    Cailin Bula

    Media

    With over a decade of ad agency industry experience, Cailin Bula leads THIRD EAR’s media practice. She represents a new generation of media executives, having solid broadcast experience, as well as a strong command of digital platforms and the expert use of data and analytics to inform her work. Prior to THIRD EAR, Cailin served as AMD at TBWA\Chiat Day NY, where she led integrated campaign strategy and planning for Nissan’s national media business within a 400+ person integrated agency structure. Cailin also spent several years at OMD New York, where in addition to the automotive category, she worked on the telecom and hospitality industries. An outstanding leader, she earned business and advertising degrees at SMU in Dallas, where she also excelled as an NCAA Division 1 athlete in volleyball.

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    Leo Olper

    Agency Management

    With 30 years of advertising experience, 20+ in the Hispanic market, Leo is able to leverage a robust agency background with unmatched leadership skills in his role at THIRD EAR. For over 18 years, Leo held various positions within the Leo Burnett organization, including SVP/Chief Operating Officer at the agency’s US Multicultural practice. He also served as Chief Executive Officer at Totality, the multicultural agency for Havas (Euro RSCG/Arnold). Leo has gained industry-wide accolades for his work on some of the leading global brands in the consumer universe. His extensive experience includes serving Heineken, Unilever, McDonald’s, Allstate, General Motors, US Cellular, H&R Block, Google, Chase, Coca-Cola, Domino’s, and P&G among others. Leo is a graduate of Brandeis University and studied at the London School of Economics.

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    Scott Radigk

    Finance & Production

    With over 30 years of experience in advertising, Scott oversees the agency’s finance, content production and project management operations. A restless executive, Scott works hard to improve and refine the needed processes to meet internal and client needs. With multiple degrees to his credit, including a CPA and MBA, Scott has held positions in finance, production, account service, negotiations, and project management at global agency networks such as Leo Burnett and DDB. In addition, he has served agencies such as Ackermann McQueen and The Marketing Arm to name a few. His client experience has ranged from mainstream national work on brands such as McDonald’s, United Airlines, Allstate, Kellogg’s, Reebok, and others, to cross-cultural work on General Motors, Lay’s, Target, The Texas Lottery, Major League Baseball, MARS, and countless other clients.

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    Alejandro Ruelas

    Founder

    Alejandro began his marketing career at Anheuser-Busch, leaving in 1998 to create THIRD EAR – formerly known as LatinWorks. Over more than two decades the shop was recognized as the top creative agency in the ad industry, winning every major award in its category. In 2019, inspired by significant cultural changes in the U.S. consumer landscape, Alejandro and his team evolved the agency’s point of view and aligned it to the realities of the new consumer mainstream. As CEO, he has led THIRD EAR’s transition from a pure multicultural play, to one that bridges consumer constituencies through a Total Market approach. Alejandro holds an MBA from the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, where in 2010 he was honored with the Olin Distinguished Alumni Award.

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Alejandro Ruelas, Founder & CEO

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