• by Fern Siegel , November 4, 2024

MullenLowe West added three executives to its roster.

Steph Kohnen joins as executive creative director. Previously, she was at Deutsch LA leading the Taco Bell business. Her award-winning campaigns include “Mexican Pizza: The Musical,” featuring Dolly Parton. Other agency posts include CP+B, WorkInProgress and David & Goliath, working with brands such as American Airlines, Hershey’s and Best Buy.

Donesh Olyaie is now head of strategy. Before this, he was director of strategy at Liquid Sunshine, Keurig Dr Pepper’s internal creative-marketing unit. Prior to that, he was at Deutsch LA, heading up planning teams for PetSmart, Nintendo and Angel Soft. Olyaie also spent 10 years at David & Goliath developing data-driven strategies for Kia and Jack in the Box.

Kim Withee takes on a new role as head of account management at MullenLowe West, where she focuses on client relationships. Most recently, she served as program manager at Meta’s in-house creative agency, Creative X, where she led global marketing initiatives for WhatsApp and Instagram. Prior to Meta, she was an agency operations consultant at NerdWallet. Most of her career was spent at Deutsch LA, TBWA\Chiat\Day LA and Team One, developing brand strategies for Infiniti, Target Lowe’s and McDonald’s.

“What makes this leadership team so strong is our deep understanding of the challenges brands face today, because many of us have lived them ourselves,” said Jenn Wong, president. “We’re uniquely positioned to think like a client and act like an agency, bringing a practiced perspective and innovative approach to the total brand experience.”

MullenLowe has offices in Boston, Los Angeles and New York. Clients include Acura, Bayer, Ghirardelli, Grey Goose, Hawaiian Airlines, Navy Federal Credit Union and Patrón.