Cheil USA Appoints Van Gestel President And CEO

As President & CEO, Buz Sawyer is transforming Cheil Americas into a fast-growing network of creative and strategic business partners who help brands add value to people’s lives. A subsidiary of Cheil Worldwide, a global advertising agency network with Korean roots, Cheil Americas’ agency partners share a passion for quality ideas and a vision for collective growth. They include Cheil USA, Cheil Canada, Cheil Mexico, Cheil Latin, Cheil Brazil and The Barbarian Group.

Buz has a long history of building highly successful, creatively focused businesses. Throughout his 25-year career, Buz has worked extensively with preeminent US and international brands in both consumer and business-to-business categories.

After stints at BBDO, NW Ayer and The Lowe Group, Buz was hired by Wieden+Kennedy in 1990 to run their global Nike account. Two years later he spearheaded the launch of Wieden+Kennedy’s first international office. As the Managing Director of Wieden+Kennedy in Amsterdam, he grew the new agency from six employees to a staff of 125, adding an impressive list of accounts including Nike, Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Heineken.

After six years, Buz returned to the US to run the San Francisco office of Interpublic Group’s Lowe, which he grew from 20 employees to a staff of 100 in three short years. He then rejoined Wieden+Kennedy in 2001 as the Managing Director of their New York office, expanding the agency from 60 employees to a staff of 200 in 10 years, while serving ESPN, ABC Television, Nike and Delta Airlines.

Buz also serves as the non-executive Chairman of Hyper Island, the Swedish based education organization focused on helping communicators understand the new world of digital media.

As President & Chief Executive Officer, Alex Van Gestel leads Cheil USA with an entrepreneurial drive and a strategic vision for the agency’s growth in the US market. He ensures that Cheil USA continues its transformation with a strong creative mandate, the best talent, seamlessly integrated operations and the most efficient processes to over-deliver quality results for clients.

Alex directs Cheil USA’s New York and Dallas offices, and oversees the agency’s integrated advertising, experiential marketing and design operations.

A born New Yorker with a British accent, Alex has a mix of local industry expertise and global industry perspective gained from twenty-years experience at big networks and small boutiques, in the US and abroad.

Most recently, Alex was the Executive Director of Worldwide Brands at Anomaly in New York, where he drove the expansion of the network into international markets and led multinational accounts, including Diageo, Nike, Budweiser, Marriott and Sony. Prior to Anomaly, Alex served as Executive Vice President of Publicis Worldwide where he directed international clients including Citi and Hilton.

After graduating from Oxford University with an MA in Fine Art, Alex began his career in the early nineties with WPP in various roles at Ogilvy and JWT, where he led large multi-disciplinary brand teams in New York and London for Samsung, American Express, Seagram and Vodafone. Alex also played key leadership roles at Euro RSCG on Volvo, at M&C Saatchi running Mars and at Leo Burnett where, as their youngest Board member, he drove Toyota, Nintendo and Heinz, which was named Campaign's 2000 Advertiser of the Year.

Alex has been honored by numerous industry awards and was featured in Media & Marketing magazine's "40 under 40" leaders to watch.

Lars Bastholm is Chief Creative Officer of Cheil USA, an advertising agency that helps brands add value to people’s lives. As CCO at Cheil Worldwide’s newly re-launched US flagship, Lars is focused on establishing Cheil USA as a center of creative excellence. He is also helping Buz Sawyer, CEO & President of Cheil – The Americas, elevate the creative integration across the America’s network, including Cheil Mexico, Cheil Brazil, Cheil Canada and Cheil Central America.

A former Cyber Lions Jury President and three-time Cyber Lions Grand Prix winner, Bastholm has become one of the most highly awarded and internationally renown creative leaders in the industry during his 16-year career.

He joins Cheil USA following two years digitally transforming Ogilvy North America as Chief Digital Officer and fueling Ogilvy New York’s growth as Chief Creative Officer, where he oversaw clients such as IKEA, American Express and Time Warner Cable. He was also a member of Ogilvy’s Worldwide Creative Council.

Bastholm previously spent four years at AKQA, where he was hired to open its New York office and helped land global Agency of Record accounts with Motorola, Coca-Cola and Smirnoff.

Prior to AKQA, he started-up Grey Interactive in Scandinavia and then joined Framfab in Denmark as Creative Director, working on

some of the world’s most recognized brands, such as Nike, LEGO, Coca-Cola and Carlsberg.

In 2009, Lars had the honor of chairing the Cannes Cyber Lions jury and he is a frequent speaker at industry events. He was named a creative leader by the Wall Street Journal and has contributed to three books about the digital advertising industry published by Taschen. He is a member of the IAB’s Agency Advisory Board as well as The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences.

Lars is also a bona fide film buff, who has co-written two screenplays and has worked on and off as a film reviewer for over 25 years. You can currently read his reviews on www.thursdayswithoutzada.com. Lars also enjoys karaoke as well as science fiction, technology and fine cuisine.