Doner Appoints Jason Gaboriau & Zihla Salinas to Lead LA Office

Full-service advertising agency Doner announced it has appointed Jason Gaboriau as EVP, Executive Creative Director, Doner LA and Zihla Salinas as EVP, Managing Director, Doner LA. In these new roles, the two leaders will leverage their deep, wide-ranging industry experience to grow and define Doner LA’s vision for the future, uncover unique opportunities for new and existing clients and innovate by using new approaches to problem solving that challenge traditional thinking, while establishing a strong collaboration between strategy and creative. They will report to David DeMuth, co-CEO and President, Doner and Rob Strasberg, co-CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Doner.

“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. We’re thrilled to have them lead the growth of our LA office and build out all of its possibilities.”

In her role as EVP, Managing Director, 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. 

“We’re constantly challenging ourselves to create ideas that not only move people, but get them to act,” said Strasberg. “Jason and Zihla are insightful, accountable and creative which is why they’ve been so successful throughout their careers at growing businesses and transforming brands. They’re monster creative thinkers and skillful strategic assassins, who are more importantly wonderful people with open minds and big hearts. We couldn’t have found two better individuals to come together to take Doner LA to an entirely different level.”

As EVP, Executive Creative Director of Doner LA 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 ten years, receiving industry recognition and awards along the way for creating ideas that went beyond the realm of advertising and into pop culture.

“This is a great time to join the Doner network as the agency looks to the future," said Salinas. “We are poised for incredible growth in 2015 and beyond, and have some exciting new client work already underway.”

“The energy we have created at Doner LA is thrilling and our vision of the future of the offices is bold and bright,” added Gaboriau.

Salinas and Gaboriau’s appointments follow a year of powerful 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.