Indie agency Cactus, based in Denver and now celebrating 35 years in business, has recently restructured to better serve its clients and spur growth and innovation. The evolution is designed to create stronger alignment across strategy, creative, media, and operations, deepening the agency’s ability to drive long-term value for clients.
Brian Watson has been promoted to chief creative officer from his long-time role as executive creative director. He started his career as a copywriter at Cactus 23 years ago and has shaped nearly every creative project and client engagement at Cactus ever since.
“I’m honored and energized to step into this role and continue my career-long ambition of elevating Cactus’ work and our national reputation — and I’m fortunate to do so surrounded by an agency full of sharp, creative individuals who are dedicated to consistently developing smart creative solutions that are always in service of our clients’ best interests,” said Watson.
With Watson’s elevation, Shea Tullos has been promoted to executive creative director. Tullos has been at Cactus for over 10 years, where he rose from senior copywriter to group creative director, leading the agency’s three state lottery accounts. Tullos will now help lead the creative charge at the agency across all client brands.
Chris Shewmake has been promoted to vp, media and digital. Since coming to Cactus from Crispin, Porter + Bogusky five years ago, Shewmake has expanded his media planning and buying department to a 20-person team, encompassing communications planning, CRM and marketing automation, behavioral analytics, and now, digital experience. The agency’s digital team has expertise in UX/UI, full stack development, ecommerce solutions, SEO strategy, and more. This integration of disciplines under Shewmake’s leadership gives clients a unified solution across the full customer journey.
On the account side, Ainslie Fortune has been promoted to vp, account leadership and people. Fortune, with over 16 years at Cactus, has led the charge of the client services team, helping the agency maintain strong and long-term client partnerships. Beyond these responsibilities, she’s been passionate about nurturing the agency’s employees. In her new role, she’ll continue to empower employees and carve out career paths for Cactus team members.
Lisa Van Someren has been promoted to the newly created role of vp, business operations, where she will focus on optimizing workflows, improving efficiency, and managing agency resources across all departments to ensure the agency’s smooth, successful, and profitable operations. Van Someren has been with Cactus for over 28 years and most recently served as vp, project management.
Guiding this transformation is founder and CEO, Joe Conrad, who started Cactus in 1990, promising to deliver “sharp ideas that hold water.”
“This was the perfect time to shake things up and make some bold moves to power the next phase of our agency’s growth. We’ve recently added two large new clients to our agency roster and we’ll be sharing that news in the next few weeks. Our talented leadership team is ready for this next step, and we’re eager to usher in the next era of the agency,” said Conrad.
The re-organization follows some major hires earlier in the year, including Jill Kelleman as executive growth director and Brian O’Connell as group strategy director.
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Kyle O’Brien is managing editor of Indie Agency News.
