Essence Matches Growth with Four New Senior Promotions

With all promotions now in effect, Garza, Thomas, and Krick report to Reifenheiser, while Kirtcheff reports to COO, Richard Mooney

In line with the brand’s upward spiral, global digital agency, Essence, has promoted Oscar Garza (pictured left) to Global Programmatic Director, Michael Thomas (pictured right) to Global Analytics Director, Brian Krick to Global Search and Biddable Director, and Eric Kirtcheff to Global Ad Operations Director—all appointments are effective immediately.

The appointments underscore the network’s accelerated expansion and double-digit revenue growth in the 2015 fiscal year from new business. Garza joined in 2014 as the North American Programmatic Lead to oversee a team across the New York, San Francisco, and Seattle offices, which he doubled in headcount over the said period.

He also drove programmatic spend by 15% and up-levelled the offering across the board—revamping Essence’s data usage guidelines and deployment processes. His latest role entails innovation across and between territories, serving key clients like Google and DoubleDown Interactive, and managing 30 people across the US, EMEA, and APAC.

Former Deutsch EVP of Data Strategy, Thomas, who entered as Director of Analytics for North America, has been charged with setting the team’s vision, driving scalable innovation, and moving the analytics business forward. In the past year, he led the team’s restructure and solidified Essence’s analytics practice in his assigned market.

Krick, who spent more than 12 years at Razorfish in multiple media and SEM roles prior to arriving at the firm in 2013, will now be accountable for Essence’s global search and biddable product for all clients. While his expertise lies in best practices, his experience includes accounts like Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Meanwhile, Kirtcheff has been Essence’s Director of Ad Operations for North America since April 2013. In the capacity, he improved the brand’s measurement of quality within ad operations to exceed 98% trafficking accuracy since its inception over one year ago.

Before Essence, he held roles with Akamai Technologies, Yahoo!, and DoubleClick. His new commission holds him responsible for leading the agency’s practices and principles within Ad Operations globally, and to ensure its clients receive consistent, quality, and innovative work.

“These four individuals are extremely smart and passionate people. The practices they lead are the source of our rapid growth. As our clients continue to evolve and expand their digital marketing approaches, it’s important that we have the infrastructure in place to shepherd them globally,” said Christian Juhl, Global CEO of Essence.