Tim Castree
Chief Executive Officer, Leo Burnett
Tim has been working in advertising for 18 years.
Tim got his start in advertising at Leo Burnett in Melbourne in 1989, working primarily on Safeway
Supermarkets and FMCG accounts including Kraft Foods, Sara Lee Brands and Nestlè; “The best training
ground in the world for an aspiring marketer.”
In 1996 Tim joined FCB Melbourne to work on Cadbury Schweppes and Heinz before being shipped off to
their New York Office 18 months later to work on Campbell’s and Nabisco.
Soon after he was made VP, Management Director on the AT&T business where he “got the telco and
technology bug”, driving product launches and “fighting advertising warfare” in the fiercely contested US
telecommunications market.
Tim left FCB for Ogilvy & Mather New York in 1999 to become Partner, Worldwide Management Supervisor
on IBM overseeing global product launches for the ThinkPad range, but soon after the dot-com world came
calling and he joined a specialized marketing services start-up called Dirty Water as their General Manager.
“It was a weird and crazy time, but I learned a lot and I loved it”, he says.
After four months rejuvenating on the beaches of Australia and Brazil, Tim jumped back into advertising at
the world renowned BBH as Head of Account Management for their New York Office, “running ING Direct
and Unilever business, taking care of the department, heading up loads of new business pitches and
generally having the time of my life”, he says. BBH won AdWeek’s Eastern Agency of The Year award
during Tim’s time there.
In the middle of 2004, Australia beckoned and Tim headed to George Patterson Partners Sydney as
Managing Partner to run their enormous Telstra business and the new business effort. He was made
Managing Partner for the entire office soon after. Once the agency was sold to WPP in August 2005 Tim
was responsible for leading the merger of the George Patterson and Y&R Sydney operations. He then
resigned to “let the new guys do their thing.”
Tim re-joined Leo Burnett as the Managing Director of their Sydney office in February 2006 and was
appointed CEO in early 2007.
He lives in Paddington with his wife Kristen and spends his spare time “either outdoors or cooking and buried
in books.”
Tim’s favorite food is Porridge.
He thinks millions of people doing lots of small things will save the planet and kids inspire him…as they have
all the answers!