Since coming to Hill Holliday in 2010 to lead new business and marketing, Chris has helped spearhead the agency’s growth to over $1 billion in billings. In 2023, with a relentless focus on the future and his inspiring brand of leadership, Chris was promoted to CEO of Hill Holliday. Previously, as President, Chris helped secure notable wins like Optum Health, BMW Motorrad, Simple Mobile, Major League Baseball, Party City, Planet Fitness, Frontier Communications, Ahold-Delhaize, Tempur Sealy International, Boar's Head, and global assignments for Bank of America.
Prior to Hill Holliday, Chris was the Chief Marketing Officer at Modernista!, leading marketing strategies for such iconic brands as Cadillac, Hummer, (RED), TIAA-CREF, and Showtime Networks. His extensive résumé also includes influential roles at Fallon Worldwide, Carmichael Lynch, Y&R, and GSD&M, where he oversaw award-winning initiatives in categories ranging from automotive, spirits, and sports/athletic apparel to packaged goods, technology, and telecommunications. Chris has appeared on numerous industry panels, and his contributions have been recognized by the Effies, Cannes Lions, One Show, Webbys, and Clios.
In 2014, Chris was featured as one of Ad Age’s “40 under 40.” In 2021, Chris was featured as one of Campaign US', "40 over 40".
Jay LaFratta has over 20 years of financial leadership experience. A proud Hill Holliday boomerang, in his first 13 years with the Agency Jay led best in class finance and accounting teams during significant disruption in the advertising industry. In his role as Chief Financial Officer, he is responsible for executing the financial and operational strategy of the Agency. His dynamic leadership style and ability to manage change have fostered positive results throughout his career. Jay brings a wide range of knowledge across technical accounting, financial planning and analysis, treasury, SOX, risk management, restructuring, ERP implementations, HR, IT, and real estate.
Before returning home to Hill Holliday, he spent two years guiding start-up athletic footwear and apparel brand NOBULL through a major business transformation and sale of the company. Early in his career, Jay was a Senior Manager within Grant Thornton’s Boston audit practice serving middle market private and public clients across software, finance, manufacturing, and technology industries. Jay is a CPA, with an MSA from Stonehill College. He now serves as the Chief Financial Officer of the US Attivo Group including Hill Holliday and Deutsch NY.
Dave Weist is an award-winning writer and proven creative leader with over 25 years of experience. Prior to joining Hill Holliday, Dave ran two offices for MullenLowe (Boston & New York) and was responsible for getting the best out of hundreds of creative people.
He has shaped great purpose-built brands like JetBlue, E-TRADE, Royal Caribbean, US Cellular, American Greetings, Navy Federal Credit Union, Nuveen, KFC, Burger King, Acura, Cadillac, Volkswagen and many more. Dave has won every major international award including over 40 Cannes Lions, the Cannes Grand Prix, the Grand Andy, the Grand Clio, the Grand Kelly and two Emmys for digital experiences. His work has also received the Grand Effie and three Golf Effies for sustained success as measured over a 5-year period. For Dave, it’s about helping everyone to see the potential of a big idea and collaborating with the full team to make it happen.
Managing Director
Healthcare
Christy brings over 20 years of client-side healthcare marketing experience to her role as Managing Director of Hill Holliday Quest, the agency’s new healthcare division. Her deep industry knowledge and hands-on experience enable her to better anticipate client needs, navigate industry complexities, and deliver tailored solutions that exceed business expectations and drive meaningful results.
Throughout her career, Christy has worked across a diverse portfolio of iconic brands for Pfizer, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, Campbell Soup Company, and Kraft Foods. She understands what it takes to make a brand resonate and how to differentiate in a crowded marketplace.
Driven by a passion for pushing boundaries and shaking things up, Christy has a proven track record of successfully repositioning, launching, and growing brands such as Advil, Advil PM, Children’s Advil, Chantix, Estring, Premarin, Premarin Vaginal Cream, ThermaCare, Velsipity, and Xeljanz. Her strategic vision and creative flair have earned her numerous accolades, including the prestigious Cannes Lion, solidifying her reputation as a forward-thinking business leader.
Managing Director
From To Labs
Jen Klise is a new Managing Director with Hill Holliday.
Incurably curious, Jen leads with inventive problem-solving combined with sound business acumen. She built and led Target’s corporate innovation practice. Her decades of leadership across merchandising and marketing keep her grounded in P&L considerations, with empathy for clients' priorities and constraints.
Jen has consulted with large companies in complex, regulated industries, emphasizing customer-centric thinking. She is grateful to have worked with iconic brands like American Express and Target while supporting growth companies like Caribou Coffee. Jen possesses a uniquely broad understanding of healthcare-she even read the Affordable Care Act before leading projects with UnitedHealth Group, Vizient, and MinuteClinic, as well as supporting Abbott and Planned Parenthood projects.
EVP Head of
Decision Science
Jeff leads Hill Holliday Decision Science; the agency’s marketing analytics and consumer research practice. Jeff brings more than 12 years of experience of using data and technology to drive business decisions for clients across a diverse portfolio of industries, including QSR, CPG, Financial Services, Insurance, and Sports. Jeff is a true believer in the value of data-driven thinking in fostering more creative, immersive, and effective advertising and brings an insatiable curiosity for new and unconventional opportunities where evidence-based insight can stem growth for his clients. This passion drives the innovation in his team’s capabilities from data creation and data strategy, to application of marketing technology, experimental design and machine learning - all with a bias toward immediate impact to his clients’ commercial goals.
Last year, Jeff was recognized on Business Insider’s “Rising Stars of Madison Avenue”, a list recognizing early-and mid-career advertising professionals who challenge the traditional agency model, find creative uses of data to inform their ad strategies, and produce stand out work.
Jamie loves a good challenge, is obsessed with results, and brings a cool head and collaborative approach to problem-solving and building brands. Jamie is an award-winning Brand and Marketing leader with over 15 years of experience building iconic brands by leveraging insights, creativity and innovation to drive business growth.
Jamie joined Hill Holliday in 2016 and has led a variety of accounts, including Bank of America, Frontier Communications and Santander Bank. In 2022, ever the competitor, she became our SVP, Growth, leading business development and marketing for the Agency. Prior to Hill Holliday, Jamie has a wide range of experience working with storied brands including Verizon Wireless, NFL, Dos Equis, Citibank and Applebee’s.
Jess is a Hill Holliday boomerang where she recently returned as Head of Strategy. During her first stint at Hill Holliday, she spent over seven years working across many of the agency’s most notable accounts while leading a significant role in new business. She then left the agency to bring her talent and experience to management consulting. She joined Slalom Consulting to better define the intersection of brand strategy and business strategy. While at Slalom, Jess worked as a Principal in the Customer Strategy practice, building marketing strategy capabilities while also applying her brand strategy and customer journey mapping experience to traditional business management engagements.
But her love for the advertising industry was too strong to stay away. She then went on to join DiMassimo Goldstein, where she most recently served as Head of Strategy. During her time at DiMassimo Goldstein, her role was to lead development of strategic and research capabilities, including customer journey development, brand positioning, quantitative research and analysis, a variety of qualitative research methods, insight development, and culture trends development. Jess has returned to Hill Holliday to not just lead the Strategy team, but develop strategic consulting capabilities, all while lending her talents to advance agency capabilities and growth.
Leslie leads the Hill Holliday media practice and has over 20+ years of experience developing and executing media strategies for a wide range of clients. Leslie has worked on a variety of retail, healthcare, travel, and packaged goods clients, including SEI, Temper Sealy, Dunkin’ Donuts, Chili’s, HomeGoods, Great Wolf Resorts, CVS, TJ Maxx, Trip Advisor, P&G’s Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and Partners HealthCare here at Hill Holliday. Prior to joining Hill Holliday, Leslie worked at ISM Travel and Leisure Marketing, where she helped to launch a multimedia campaign for one of the fastest-growing international airlines, Emirates. In her spare time Leslie enjoys running, swimming, spinning, and spending time with her two kids.
