Brave Bison expands North American team with senior hires

Digital media and performance agency Brave Bison has strengthened its North American presence with two senior appointments in its performance division.

Stephen Holtsnider joins as business director, leading client partnerships for New Balance and driving new business across the region. 

He brings over a decade of experience in paid media and digital transformation, having held roles at Acronym Media, Merkle and an AI linguistics software firm in Germany. 

His portfolio includes award-winning work for brands such as Cisco, T-Mobile and Four Seasons.

Stephen said: “What drew me to Brave Bison is its energy and ambition. 

“I’m excited to help strengthen our North American footprint and bring even more integration between strategy and performance for clients. 

“There’s a real opportunity here to build something special and I can’t wait to get started.”

Joining alongside Stephen is Stephanie Bartlett, who has become director of performance marketing after leading global paid social strategy for major travel and retail brands. 

With experience at MuteSix and Techtronic Industries, she has managed multi-million-dollar campaigns and cross-market teams in the US, UK and South Africa.

Stephanie added: “Having worked with Brave Bison from the brand side, I already knew how collaborative and driven this team is. 

“Joining them feels like the perfect next step. I’m passionate about performance marketing that genuinely moves the needle for brands, and I’m thrilled to now help lead that effort as we grow across North America, especially following the incredible success of our Meta award-winning work.”

Their appointments follow Brave Bison’s recent creative diversification wins at Meta’s Agency Awards in the UK and Canada.

Hannah Kimuyu, chief executive, added: “I’m thrilled to welcome both Steph and Stephen to the team as we further scale our North America operations. 

“Steph and Stephen bring incredible experience, high energy, and a shared vision that aligns perfectly with the agile delivery model we’ve built across Europe. 

“I’m excited to see how they help us elevate our presence and impact in North America.”

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