Preacher Promotes Five to Senior Leadership Positions

Coming off a stretch of new-business wins and organic growth, creative agency Preacher has promoted five employees to senior leadership positions.

Amanda VanAntwerp has been promoted to managing director and will focus on executing the strategic vision of the agency. A five-year veteran of Preacher, she started as a brand director working on accounts like Venmo, Crate and Barrel and Tommy John, and was most recently the agency’s director of operations. Prior to joining the agency, she was VP-account director at BBDO New York, leading the FedEx and M&Ms accounts.

“Preacher will always be about spreading the good word," VanAntwerp said. "We’ve built an agency of talented, humble people with a shared creative ambition that’s supported by equally passionate clients who truly value partnership. That will continue to be our growth strategy–it’s timeless."

Preacher also promoted two creative directors, Kellyn Blount and Greg Hunter, to the role of executive creative director.

Prior to joining Preacher in 2016, Blount was a creative director at Baldwin&. Hunter joined Preacher in 2017 after seven years at Dallas-based independent agency Firehouse, as its ECD. Before that he was a writer at Mother. Together, Blount and Hunter have been the creative force behind some of Preacher’s best-known work, including a Super Bowl spot for SimpliSafe, the award winning SXSW activation for Vimeo, “Where Space Comes From” for The Container Store, “Go Out Swinging” for Topgolf, and most recently, the lauded “What If Everyone Knew You Didn’t Have Life Insurance” campaign for Bestow. The pair is also leading creative on a campaign for a major brand under Coca Cola set to launch late spring.

Finally, Preacher has promoted two strategy directors, Marika Wiggan and Jasmine Clark, to share the title of co-head of strategy. Wiggan joined Preacher as a senior strategist in 2016 after time at ARGONAUT and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and has worked on accounts such as Fanta, WeTransfer, Saint Archer and Bumble. Clark joined Preacher in late 2019 after seven years at Mother New York. Prior to that, she was at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, where she and Wiggan first worked together. She helped Preacher win the StreetEasy account shortly after joining and also led strategy for Basil Hayden’s, Lucky Brand Jeans, Topgolf and San Antonio Express-News.

Over the past year, the Austin shop has picked up business from the likes of Bestow, WeTransfer and Arcadia Clean Energy while expanding its relationship with additional brands under ESPN and Coca-Cola. This is in addition to a roster of clients that includes Beam Suntory, Vital Farms, Fanta and The Container Store.

"We’re at the point with Preacher where we want to evaluate what we keep sacred, what we leave in our past, and how we craft the work we do moving forward,” said Krystle Loyland, co-founder & CEO of Preacher. “This starts with some of the very folks that helped get us where we are today.”