Tom Ortega has been one of Phoenix's most talented ad men for two and half decades. He is a Partner at RIESTER and serves as Chief Creative Officer supervising all creative staff and work produced from three offices in Phoenix, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. Not only is he the hardest working man in advertising, he is one of the most selfless.
Tom first moved to the Valley in the early 1980s from his native Texas to join Phillips Ramsey as a copywriter. There he wrote award-winning campaigns for Safeway, PetSmart and Doubletree Hotels. He spent many subsequent years as the top freelance writer in town, helping establish creative credentials for many local upstart ad agencies.
RIESTER attributes some of its big account wins to Tom Ortega's leadership, including Hormel Foods, First Solar, Nationwide Insurance and MidFirst Bank. As a result, Tom has provided more opportunities for Phoenix-based creative talent to work on larger client brands while attracting new creatives to Phoenix. Although his schedule forces him to actually jog between conference rooms and airports, Tom always makes time for his colleagues-both personally and professionally.
So many of us owe Tom a debt of tremendous gratitude. The folks at RIESTER know it would not have become the agency it is today without Tom Ortega.