Azher Ahmed and Valerie Bengoa have been promoted to leadership roles for DDB in the U.S. Ahmed has been elevated to EVP, director of digital while Bengoa has been promoted to EVP, director of finance. Both will report to Paul Gunning, president and COO of DDB U.S. In these new roles, Ahmed and Bengoa will lead their respective discipline and be responsible for the team in DDB‘s three U.S. offices, Tribal New York and Rodgers Townsend. With more than 20 years of experience spearheading digital marketing, Ahmed has designed and implemented creative ideas and tech-driven campaigns for brands, including Capital One’s “Road to the Final Four” and McDonald’s “Lovin’ the Super Bowl.” In his new role, Ahmed will focus on capability connectivity across DDB U.S. offices and clients such as State Farm, Miller Lite and Symantec. He is also charged with advancing the agency network’s capabilities to ensure DDB’s talent can create for any digitally-rooted idea and execute it in today’s connected world. Bengoa has been part of the DDB team since 1998 and has worked in the Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco offices at different points in her career….
Nico Buris is joining production service company Rabagast as managing director/EP for its offices in South America which include Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. For the last 20 years he has been producing in his native Argentina as well as in Chile and Uruguay. Previously a producer at Landia, a top Spanish speaking production house, Buris has worked closely with directors on large-scale projects in the U.S., Europe and South America. Among them are collaborations with American ad agencies on projects for Coca Cola, SC Johnson and P&G. He was also a line producer at Tronco, a commercial and creative content production company where in collaboration with the U.S. production company 1st Avenue Machine his credits include Benjamin Moore for The Martin Agency, and Motorola for Droga5….
