Zihla Salinas Elevated to CEO of Yes&

Jun. 27, 2025

Yes& has promoted Zihla Salinas to chief executive officer. A year ago, the premier, independent, fully integrated creative agency, based in greater Washington, DC, brought Salinas on board as chief operating officer. She has earned this new position for her exceptional operational leadership and ongoing success with growth across the agency in such areas as new business development, strategic mergers and acquisitions, and creative and talent development.

Prior to Yes&, Salinas was the U.S. CEO and global CMO of ENGINE, where she oversaw global brand identity and integrated capabilities. She was also CEO of Trailer Park Group, a leading entertainment marketing and content creation company, and managing director of Doner LA, a full-service agency within the MDC Partners network. She also served as SVP of Strategy & Development at MDC Partners and as CMO of RAPP.

Yes& will now be led by a four-person team consisting of Salinas as CEO; Josh Golden, president as of 2023; Jeb Brown, chairman and managing partner, and Bob Sprague, who relinquishes the CEO title to Salinas and remains active as founder and managing partner.

Salinas said:

“Ever since I heard the name Yes&, I knew there was something special about this company. My passion for the people, the culture, and the refreshing approach we take is more steadfast than ever. There are big things on the horizon for this group, and I am so honored to be a part of the team.” 

 

Salinas will work to continue the agency’s rapid strategic growth through new business, organic growth, and other acquisitions. In the last year alone, Yes& acquired Hothouse, a creative hot shop out of Atlanta; Williams Whittle, the legendary D.C. full-service agency with a 55-year history of its own; Beacon Digital Marketing (now known as Yes& Beacon), a New York state-based firm expert in B2B marketing; and CommCore Consulting Group, a leading communications training and crisis communications firm.

Jeb Brown added:

“Zihla has demonstrated great leadership ability, and promoting her to CEO is part of our plan to build the next generation of leadership for Yes&. Zihla and Josh will help us attract the talent and clients to establish Yes& as a leading independent agency."

 

Yes& was recently named to the Financial Times’s prestigious roster of the Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies for 2025. They’ve also been named one of Adweek’s Fastest Growing Agencies for the last several years and has been on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies for the last six years.

Serving clients nationwide, Yes& maintains hubs in the Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, and Philadelphia areas. The agency delivers “positivity + possibility” through an expanding suite of capabilities, including branding, digital, analytics, media, advertising, customer experience (CX), market research, content development, studio services, event production, crisis communications, media training, and public relations.  

Clients include FEMA, IHG Hotels, Pirelli, Disney, the U.S. State Department, Mercedes Benz, the Smithsonian Institution, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Pfizer, Google, the University of Virginia, the U.S. Mint, Akima, FINRA, and the Society for Human Resource Management.