OAKLAND, USA – Independent global marketing and advertising agency Park & Battery has appointed Paul Birks-Hay as its new president, marking a significant leadership expansion during a period of rapid growth and new business momentum.
Paul’s appointment enables co-founder Michael Ruby to concentrate fully on his role as Chief Creative Officer, while fellow co-founder Ted Kohnen continues as CEO. As president, Birks-Hay joins the Executive Leadership Team, overseeing global client service and project delivery to ensure the agency maintains its high standards as it scales internationally.
A seasoned leader with experience spanning agency and client side roles, Birks-Hay most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer for Hamsa, the fintech payment platform he co-founded and helped grow to a $250 million valuation in under five years. His career includes leadership stints as Partner and President at Venables Bell & Partners in San Francisco, and as Managing Partner at AMV BBDO in London, where he began his career in 1997. Over the years, he has worked with global brands such as Audi, Chipotle, Google, REI, Diageo, and Mercedes-Benz, building a reputation for delivering transformative campaigns.
His arrival coincides with a strong period for Park & Battery, which has defied sector headwinds by increasing headcount by over 20% in the past year across the US, Mexico, and the UK, driven by recent wins in the healthcare and biotech sectors.
Paul Birks-Hay, President of Park & Battery said, “Ted and Mike have built an incredible agency, in an incredibly short period of time. The intelligence and creativity that their entire team pours into every brief has allowed them to quickly rise up the rankings, and I am excited to help them continue their journey to the top.”
Ted Kohnen, Co-founder and CEO of Park & Battery said, “We hadn’t expected to be in a position to bring in someone at this level so early in our journey. Meeting Paul felt like a rare bit of serendipity: he has a combination of top-tier agency leadership and deep client management and marketing experience that makes him the ideal person to lead our Park & Battery teams. The fact that he was open to a new challenge at the exact moment we were looking to grow made it a perfect fit.”
Founded in 2022, Park & Battery has built a reputation for delivering creativity-led campaigns that drive results, earning the Association of National Advertisers’ B2B Agency of the Year title three years in a row and a shortlist spot at the 2025 Cannes Lions for its “Talking Commercial Plumbing” campaign for Roto-Rooter. Its client roster includes Meta, Kaiser Permanente, UBS, Jack in the Box, Roto-Rooter, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Acxiom, and Oakland Roots SC.
