• by Fern Siegel , July 3, 2025

Cactus has revamped its staff to better serve brands and enhance agency innovation.

Brian Watson, who has been with the agency for 23 years, has been promoted to Chief Creative Officer from executive creative director. He said he will continue to “elevate Cactus’ work and our national reputation — and I’m fortunate to do so surrounded by an agency full of sharp, creative individuals dedicated to consistently developing smart creative solutions that are always in service of our clients’ best interests.

In addition, Shea Tullos has been upped to executive creative director. As group creative director he led the agency’s three state lottery accounts. Tullos will now lead creative across all client brands.

Chris Shewmake, formerly at Crispin, Porter and Bogusky, has been promoted to vice president, media and digital. During his five years with Cactus, Shewmake has expanded his media planning and buying department to a 20-person team to encompass communications planning, CRM and marketing automation, behavioral UX/UI, full stack development, ecommerce and SEO strategy.

On the account side, Ainslie Fortune has been promoted to vice president, account leadership and people. Lisa Van Someren has also been promoted to the newly created role of vice president, business operations, where she will be focused on optimizing workflows and improving efficiency.

CEO Joe Conrad said: “This was the perfect time to shake things up and make some bold moves … to usher in the next era of the agency.”

Denver-based Cactus’ client roster includes Fjallraven, Colorado Lottery, University of Miami,  and Cochlear Americas. It also launched a campaign for Man Therapy to combat suicide among working-age men.