Doner LA has put a new leadership team in place with the hiring of Jason Gaboriau as EVP, executive creative director, and Zihla Salinas as EVP, managing director. Gaboriau, will oversee the creative work and will be responsible for the overall creative direction for the agency’s clients, as well as Doner LA. In addition, his work with Salinas will be instrumental in harmonizing creativity with strategy across all or any media for the agency’s growing client roster and for the culture of Doner LA.
Most recently, Gaboriau served as VP, executive creative director at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky LA, where he grew the agency from a small production outpost with one client to a fully integrated agency with over 100 employees and several clients such as Paddy Power, Turkish Airlines and NBA 2K. During his four years at CP+B LA, it was the fastest growing CP+B office, which earned the most awards and the most new business. Prior to that, he was founding partner/executive creative director at Amalgamated, an agency he helped to start, grow and run for 10 years.
Salinas will develop and oversee all of Doner LA’s operations and be an integral part in bringing its vision to life, working closely with Gaboriau. Salinas joins Doner LA from partner company MDC Partners, where she served as SVP strategy and development. Prior to that she was the CMO of Rapp, where she lead business development, agency branding and client strategy on digital and multi-channel CRM and initiatives. During her career, Salinas held senior positions at companies including Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Genex and O’Grady Meyers, where she excelled in the rapid expansion of digital strategies and married creative ideas with strategic insights to grow and develop new business.
Gaboriau and Salinas will report to Doner’s David DeMuth, co-CEO and president, and Rob Strasberg, co-CEO and chief creative officer.
“In 2014, the Doner network experienced tremendous growth, and we’re poised to continue our momentum this year by turning the spotlight on Doner LA,” said DeMuth. “It’s a dynamic time for the entire agency, and we’ve found that LA has extraordinary growth opportunities for us. Both Zihla and Jason are smart, creative and modern thinkers.”
Salinas and Gaboriau’s appointments follow a year of growth across the Doner network, and more recently come on the heels of new client partnerships for Doner LA including being named AOR for Menchies, Neato Robotics and Jafra International.
