Leadership

Meet the Team

Our leaders lift everyone around them because AUC believes every voice matters. More than encourage inclusive collaboration, we celebrate how it leads to better outcomes, shared passion, and collective accountability. Learn about our leaders' experiences that get further unified every day.

Victor Lee, President

Victor is a preeminent builder of brand-loyal global audiences; transformer of legacy-based organizations into digital-first companies; driver of category-leading sales programs; developer of agile, analytic mindsets; and reinventor of creative and media-buying processes.

He previously served as chief marketing officer at Kin Insurance and RXBAR, where he led marketing, communications, commercialization, shopper, media, product development, and consumer insights. He earlier served as senior vice president, digital marketing at Hasbro, and senior vice president, marketing at Digitas.

What do you bring to AUC?

I've split my career working on the agency and the brand side and understand the nuances of what clients worry about daily and what solutions agencies can provide.

What's your secret advantage?

Never settling. Having lived through all the challenges as a brand and marketing executive and trying to keep up with the pace of innovation on the agency side, the one constant is change and progress are inevitable. The key is how you react and embrace it.

People. I love finding the extra “gear” in everyone. We all have that gear, but it's not often used or realized. But when we do find it, buckle up because it's going to be a great ride.

What's a unifying theme from your career?

The highest career batting average of all time is Ty Cobb with .366, so he averaged less than four hits out of ten, and he's rightfully immortalized as one of the greatest. We focus too much on being perfect rather than the at-bats. Take the swing and don't worry about missing. Ty Cobb didn't get a hit six out of ten times.

What's your favorite commerce channel?

The next one. Commerce isn't dictated by the people selling things, it's built upon the shoppers and how they want to engage and transact. We used to talk about the thousands of messages consumers are exposed to daily. Today, we have an overwhelming amount of ways to reach people, plus countless ways of transacting with them. The race for attention has turned into a race of conviction and trust. Do I trust this platform or retailer with my business? Am I convinced this brand shares the same beliefs and needs I have?

What advice do you return to time and again?

Own your decisions. Be accountable. Fear is self-inflicted. Time is undefeated. When you get to the top, send the elevator down for everyone else. And don't gloat, act like you've been there before.

Believe it or not

I was an alternate for Amazing Race. I was a DJ for a few years. I am an avid sports card collector.

Dino de Leon, Executive Creative Director

Dino has been creatively solving marketing problems for decades. With a traditional advertising background, his curiosity and passion for challenging norms led him to leadership roles with digital, promotional, and shopper agencies. The consistent theme being to deliver unexpected, strategic, and successful ideas for world-class brands.

What do you bring to AUC?

Having vision is only part of the role. Equally important (and more challenging) is communicating it in a way that inspires others to see, understand, and contribute to the same vision. Whether working with creatives, colleagues, or clients, I inevitably get wrapped up in the passion and possibility of the work. The constant refinement of ideas, and balance of pioneering with performance, make the process rewarding. It helps a lot if it's fun, too.

What's your secret advantage?

I'm curious and I question things. I believe by observing, collaborating, and constantly changing your perspective, you can connect dots and, together, create unexpected work that works.

What's a unifying theme from your career?

Finding ways to explore new and diverse areas at every step of my career. Working for agencies focused on design, branding, multicultural, direct, digital, promotional, and now, commerce has given me a dynamic view of how consumers experience brands.

What's your favorite commerce channel?

Social media is like a real-time, global bazaar, an exciting portal to new products, businesses and artists. But flipping through record crates is pretty hard to beat.

What advice do you return to time and again?

Progress > Perfection

Favorite hometown hang

Catch me cycling around White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas. Literally. I am trying to race you.

Fahim Naim, SVP Amazon

Former Amazon category manager turned agency founder, Fahim started eShopportunity, a leading ecommerce and Amazon growth consulting firm. His team of a dozen Amazon specialists is now fully integrated into AUC and supports categories like beauty, health and personal care, and hardlines.

What do you bring to AUC?

I have experience on both sides of the table with Amazon. Inside, I hired, trained and learned from the best. Outside, I launched an e-commerce consultancy that helped brands achieve unprecedented success with Amazon. I am obsessed with Amazon. During my journey, I have learned how critical a strong and functioning team is in achieving ambitious goals and the benefit of hiring people who are smarter than you.

What's your secret advantage?

I put in the time to stay on top of all things Amazon, even in my “free time.” I'm scanning forums, LinkedIn, mastermind groups, and more daily to see what people are talking about. This helps me stay ahead of the curve and eliminate our blind spots.

What's a unifying theme from your career?

Get things done. No matter my role — senior financial analyst to category manager to CEO — I roll up my sleeves and focus more on solutions than problems. The only constant is change, so I believe you must have passion and agility to conquer challenges thrown your way.

What's your favorite commerce channel?

Surprise: It's Amazon. I spend most of my day on the platform for work or personal shopping. I am that guy who buys cereal, clothes, and toothpaste on Amazon.

What advice do you return to time and again?

“Bias for action.” This is a leadership principle from my time at Amazon that focuses on moving fast but sensibly and continuing to reevaluate along the way.

Favorite hometown hang

Representing at a Miami Heat game.

Stephanie Rogers, SVP Strategic Services

Both a student and teacher of the digital world, Stephanie is constantly learning and sharing knowledge. For 25 years, she has brought her entrepreneurial spirit to every facet of digital marketing from planning through measurement while leading agency relationships, building teams, and instituting offerings.

What do you bring to AUC?

An entrepreneurial spirit with keen interest in digital media and cultural trends. I've built and led teams for 25 years, developing and delivering services across strategic planning, media planning and buying, and measurement and analytics.

What's your secret advantage?

I thrive in creating order out of chaos. In today's world, we are inundated with information, options, data points and opportunities and it can be challenging to connect the dots. Especially in the Media & Analytics space in which I live, where technology, tools, and techniques change frequently. I create processes and frameworks that help us harness all that's available in a digestible and actionable way — while maintaining just the right amount of “chaos” to fuel innovation — is my secret advantage.

What's a unifying theme from your career?

Lifelong learning, curiosity and innovation. I began my career in the early days of digital marketing. More than being comfortable with change, I expect it and enjoy continuously learning new frameworks, tools and technology to succeed.

What's your favorite commerce channel?

Sephora does a fantastic job unifying its physical and digital shopping experience. Recently a store associate scanned my face with a device, showed me matching foundations from over 8,000 SKUs and attached them to my profile for future reference.

What advice do you return to time and again?

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

Favorite thing to do when you're not working

Travel. I absolutely love seeing new places and am energized by learning about people, food, art and culture.

Kathryn Longhurst, SVP Account Management & Digital Retail

Before Advantage, it’s fitting that Kathryn spent her previous decade at Hasbro because she has been a real Transformer for AUC. Her previous experience in integrated marketing, including brand strategy, analytics, and digital marketing and media, helped break down internal silos and unify our shopper and ecommerce teams into one integrated omni account group. We’re excited to watch her continue to fuel growth, foster innovation, and nurture diversity.

What do you bring to AUC?
Having spent time on both the agency and the brand sides gives me a unique perspective and enables me to solve problems for our clients that I have most likely experienced myself at some point.

What’s your secret advantage?
I never back down from a challenge and believe that each one is an opportunity to influence change for good.

What’s a unifying theme from your career?
Algorithms. In every role I’ve held over the last 10+ years, our success has been dependent upon knowing and understanding the science behind channel algorithms. Whether it be YouTube, Meta or any retailer.com, you are only as good as the content that consumers see. I’m naturally curious and finding ways to stay ahead of and gamify winning against the algorithm has followed me throughout my career.

What’s your favorite commerce channel?
TikTok made me buy it.

What advice do you return to time and again?
Don’t adapt to the energy in the room.  Influence the energy in the room.

Believe it or not:
Back when I played tennis competitively, I could serve and hit targets with my eyes closed.