Riester Leadership
Tim Riester
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
When your grandfather is a creative director, your mom is an art instructor, and your dad is a CPA, you have a pretty good shot of becoming a creative guy with a healthy respect for business. That’s Tim. Still the day-to-day leader of the agency, Tim is Riester’s founder and CEO and is focused on helping his staff and clients succeed. He is as much at home in a late-night brainstorming session as he is in a media planning meeting. Tim was named an Honored Entrepreneurial Fellow by the University of Arizona’s Karl Eller College of Business and Public Administration. And he was chosen as “Ad Person of the Year” in 2005 by the American Advertising Federation for his outstanding achievements and contributions to the Ad community.
Tim has a strong commitment to helping future generations. For this reason, he chairs the board for the A.T. Still University School of Health Sciences and sits on the boards of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator. As Alternate Governor of the Phoenix Rising FC professional soccer team, he has also made a commitment to supporting youth soccer leagues all across the western United States.
Mirja Riester
Principal & Chief Strategy Officer
As Chief Strategy Officer, Mirja supervises research, strategic planning, and manages the integration of all services within Riester. She established the European method of brand planning and strategy at Riester when she joined the firm in 1997. Mirja’s experience is international and spans across many categories. Her interest in health and wellness has led to exceptional contributions to clients in the healthcare sector. This has included a campaign to prevent methamphetamine addiction among women that was licensed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; a national HIV awareness campaign for Gilead Sciences, and one of the nation’s most successful tobacco awareness, prevention, and cessation campaigns.
The American Advertising Federation named Mirja “2016 Ad Person of the Year”. She has also been recognized as the top Advertising Executive on Arizona Woman Magazine’s list of Leading Women in Business, and she has been called upon by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for her behavior change and social marketing expertise. Mirja earned the German equivalent to a MBA from the University of Hamburg.
Alan Perkel
Principal & Chief Digital Officer
As Chief Digital Officer, Alan focuses on using technology to help clients on their path towards digital transformation. He leads a team of digital experts with the mission to deliver world-class user experiences for connected devices. Involved on a daily basis with Riester’s range of clients, he provides tremendous value to digital marketing programs with his depth of strategic experience in UX strategy, e-commerce, customer relationship management (CRM), and mobile technology. His thought leadership is one of the reasons Forbes named Riester one of the “Top 100 Global Ad Agencies That Know Social Media and Google.”
Alan also immerses himself in the world of media, and collaborates with Riester’s Media Department to explore emerging opportunities for clients.
Paul Svancara
Executive Creative Director
Paul has an extraordinary ability to improve every creative project he touches. His approach to collaborating with clients and colleagues is based on tremendous respect and appreciation for the talent and positive energy that can be harvested from everyone.
For more than 14 years, Paul has been creating and improving client campaigns for all forms of media at Riester. Throughout his career, Paul’s creativity has supported many national and regional clients including; Pepsi, Capitol Records, PetSmart, Dial, Nissan, Wholly Guacamole, MidFirst Bank, University of Arizona, Talking Stick Resort, Casino Arizona, the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Rising FC.
Paul has been honored by Graphis, American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Print Magazine, and the American Advertising Federation named Paul its 2025 “Creative Professional of the Year.” Paul received his BFA in visual communications from Northern Arizona University and was an advisory board member of the AIGA AZ.
Christina Borrego
Executive Director Public Relations & Communications
Christina is a bilingual, seasoned public relations professional who started her career in internal communications while simultaneously working in a newsroom.
Christina oversees both the organic social media and public relations teams at Riester. She also collaborates with the creative team on multicultural campaigns. Her work has resulted in positive outcomes for clients and she has a breadth of experience in a variety of client verticals including healthcare, consumer-packaged goods, restaurant and food, travel and hospitality as well as government communication within transportation, voter education and public health.
A moment of great team pride was winning the national PR Week, 2019 Best in Public Sector Campaigns for Riester client the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication and a Minor in Business from Arizona State University. She also holds a Master of Science Degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Grand Canyon University. She attended the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, where she became proficient in written and spoken Spanish. Christina is adjunct faculty in the Behavior Sciences Department within the Maricopa Community College District.
Kari Brill
Executive Director Media & Measurement
Kari leads a team of media planners, traditional buyers, digital strategists, and performance analysts at Riester that is dedicated to providing clients with custom executions tailored to their business needs. The media and measurement team is passionate about delivering quality programs spanning from brand awareness to lead generation and measuring the results of every media dollar spent. Kari has extensive experience in tourism, gaming, finance, sports marketing, behavior change, and home services.
Kari holds numerous expert media and analytics certifications from Google and Zartico.
Kurt Krake
Founder, CEO MetricsEdge
Kurt brings 20+ years of experience in digital marketing and web analytics. He may have started his career as a CPA/MBA Big 5 Public Accountant but ventured into a brand new industry called “digital” just in time for Y2K. His search experience began at the inception of search itself.
Kurt is a successful entrepreneur and a pilot in training. He has served on the Bazaarvoice and Compare Metrics Advisory Boards and spends his free time RVing around the country with his wife and two sons.
Riester Leadership
Tim Riester
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
When your grandfather is a creative director, your mom is an art instructor, and your dad is a CPA, you have a pretty good shot of becoming a creative guy with a healthy respect for business. That’s Tim. Still the day-to-day leader of the agency, Tim is Riester’s founder and CEO and is focused on helping his staff and clients succeed. He is as much at home in a late-night brainstorming session as he is in a media planning meeting. Tim was named an Honored Entrepreneurial Fellow by the University of Arizona’s Karl Eller College of Business and Public Administration. And he was chosen as “Ad Person of the Year” in 2005 by the American Advertising Federation for his outstanding achievements and contributions to the Ad community.
Tim has a strong commitment to helping future generations. For this reason, he chairs the board for the A.T. Still University School of Health Sciences and sits on the boards of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator. As Alternate Governor of the Phoenix Rising FC professional soccer team, he has also made a commitment to supporting youth soccer leagues all across the western United States.
Mirja Riester
Principal & Chief Strategy Officer
As Chief Strategy Officer, Mirja supervises research, strategic planning, and manages the integration of all services within Riester. She established the European method of brand planning and strategy at Riester when she joined the firm in 1997. Mirja’s experience is international and spans across many categories. Her interest in health and wellness has led to exceptional contributions to clients in the healthcare sector. This has included a campaign to prevent methamphetamine addiction among women that was licensed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; a national HIV awareness campaign for Gilead Sciences, and one of the nation’s most successful tobacco awareness, prevention, and cessation campaigns.
The American Advertising Federation named Mirja “2016 Ad Person of the Year”. She has also been recognized as the top Advertising Executive on Arizona Woman Magazine’s list of Leading Women in Business, and she has been called upon by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for her behavior change and social marketing expertise. Mirja earned the German equivalent to a MBA from the University of Hamburg.
Alan Perkel
Principal & Chief Digital Officer
As Chief Digital Officer, Alan focuses on using technology to help clients on their path towards digital transformation. He leads a team of digital experts with the mission to deliver world-class user experiences for connected devices. Involved on a daily basis with Riester’s range of clients, he provides tremendous value to digital marketing programs with his depth of strategic experience in UX strategy, e-commerce, customer relationship management (CRM), and mobile technology. His thought leadership is one of the reasons Forbes named Riester one of the “Top 100 Global Ad Agencies That Know Social Media and Google.”
Alan also immerses himself in the world of media, and collaborates with Riester’s Media Department to explore emerging opportunities for clients.
Paul Svancara
Executive Creative Director
Paul has an extraordinary ability to improve every creative project he touches. His approach to collaborating with clients and colleagues is based on tremendous respect and appreciation for the talent and positive energy that can be harvested from everyone.
For more than 14 years, Paul has been creating and improving client campaigns for all forms of media at Riester. Throughout his career, Paul’s creativity has supported many national and regional clients including; Pepsi, Capitol Records, PetSmart, Dial, Nissan, Wholly Guacamole, MidFirst Bank, University of Arizona, Talking Stick Resort, Casino Arizona, the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Rising FC.
Paul has been honored by Graphis, American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Print Magazine, and the American Advertising Federation named Paul its 2025 “Creative Professional of the Year.” Paul received his BFA in visual communications from Northern Arizona University and was an advisory board member of the AIGA AZ.
Christina Borrego
Executive Director Public Relations & Communications
Christina is a bilingual, seasoned public relations professional who started her career in internal communications while simultaneously working in a newsroom.
Christina oversees both the organic social media and public relations teams at Riester. She also collaborates with the creative team on multicultural campaigns. Her work has resulted in positive outcomes for clients and she has a breadth of experience in a variety of client verticals including healthcare, consumer-packaged goods, restaurant and food, travel and hospitality as well as government communication within transportation, voter education and public health.
A moment of great team pride was winning the national PR Week, 2019 Best in Public Sector Campaigns for Riester client the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication and a Minor in Business from Arizona State University. She also holds a Master of Science Degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Grand Canyon University. She attended the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, where she became proficient in written and spoken Spanish. Christina is adjunct faculty in the Behavior Sciences Department within the Maricopa Community College District.
Kari Brill
Executive Director Media & Measurement
Kari leads a team of media planners, traditional buyers, digital strategists, and performance analysts at Riester that is dedicated to providing clients with custom executions tailored to their business needs. The media and measurement team is passionate about delivering quality programs spanning from brand awareness to lead generation and measuring the results of every media dollar spent. Kari has extensive experience in tourism, gaming, finance, sports marketing, behavior change, and home services.
Kari holds numerous expert media and analytics certifications from Google and Zartico.
Kurt Krake
Founder, CEO MetricsEdge
Kurt brings 20+ years of experience in digital marketing and web analytics. He may have started his career as a CPA/MBA Big 5 Public Accountant but ventured into a brand new industry called “digital” just in time for Y2K. His search experience began at the inception of search itself.
Kurt is a successful entrepreneur and a pilot in training. He has served on the Bazaarvoice and Compare Metrics Advisory Boards and spends his free time RVing around the country with his wife and two sons.
