• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, September 7, 2022

WPP’s AKQA has appointed Tesa Aragones President, North America, a new role at the agency.

Aragones will oversee the agency’s ambitious expansion plans in the U.S. where it currently has a staff of 1,250 across locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Portland and Miami.  

With growing client service demands and aggressive new business goals, the agency expects to double the number of U.S. employees over the next five years.

Aragones will also work closely with AKQA’s international team, which is now present in over 24 markets.

Aragones has more than 25 years of brand leadership experience with blue chip firms including Nike, Volkswagen, Apple, XBOX, Bacardi and Universal Studios.

In her 10-year tour at Nike, she held a variety of senior marketing positions including Senior Brand Director Global, Women’s Training. An inventor on 12 patents filed by Nike, her assignments included Nike+, NikeID and the Nike+ Training Club.

The agency also credits her as a DEI “champion.”

Most recently, Aragones served as CMO at gaming social media platform Discord, and CMO at the premium photo and video editing app VSCO. Earlier in her career, she held leadership positions at agency David & Goliath and automotive leader Volkswagen Group of America.

She is also currently on the Board of Directors at banking app Dave and the Board of apparel retailer Tillys. She is also an Advisor, Adjunct Speaker at the Stanford Community College, part of the Stanford Design School designed for and by brown and black community members.