ORA Interactive, a Chicago-based user experience and digital product studio, has named industry veteran Ray Villares to serve as its chief growth officer. In this newly created role, Villares is responsible for growing the organization’s revenue, size and position in the market.
Prior to joining ORA Interactive, Villares was an entrepreneur, holding leadership positions at digital agencies including Acquity Group, Critical Mass, Havas Chicago, and Symmetri, as well as growing nonprofits. He is an accomplished strategic executive, manager, customer experience planner, mentor, author and public speaker with experience spanning two decades. He has worked with B2C and B2B Fortune 500 organizations including USAA Financial, AT&T, Ben & Jerry’s, Denstply Sirona, McDonald’s, Motorola, Northern Trust, Proctor & Gamble, True Value, Yamaha and Disney.
“ORA has had a phenomenal year. We achieved 80% year-over-year growth in headcount, joined The Escape Pod Group, and added an exciting roster of new clients. To capitalize on our momentum, it’s critical that we bring on specialized senior leadership to round out our all-star team. We’re excited to have Ray onboard to help shepherd our next era of growth,” said Mike Kelly, ORA Interactive founder and CEO.
“ORA is among a short list of hot mobile and emerging technology studios quickly growing and enabling Chicago’s technology start-up ecosystem. The opportunity to do something spectacular was apparent from our very first conversation,” said Villares.
