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BUSINESS BRIEFS

Hawthorne-Castro; Dec 22, 2014

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Hawthorne-Castro named ‘Female CEO of the Year’ in CEO World Awards Hawthorne Direct CEO Jessica Hawthorne-Castro has been named “2015 Female CEO of the Year in Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations” by the CEO World Awards. Representing the “next generation” of brand marketing experts, Hawthorne-Castro, based at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles, oversees the agency’s position as a leader in accountable advertising. She spearheads innovations in creative solutions and analytic systems that consistently deliver optimum return on investment for Hawthorne’s clients.

“It’s an honor to receive this recognition by this esteemed industry and peer group with the CEO World Award,” said Hawthorne-Castro. “This award speaks to Hawthorne’s history and commitment to highly memorable and measurable successful brand response advertising and is a testament to our innovations via data science for our clients.”

The coveted annual CEO World Awards program encompasses the world’s best in leadership, innovation, organizational performance, new products and services, CEO case studies, and customer satisfaction programs from every major industry. Organizations from all over the world are eligible for consideration, including public and private, for-profit and non-profit, largest to smallest and new start-ups.

More than 40 judges from a broad spectrum of industry voices from around the world and over 200 CEOs participated. Their average scores determined the 2015 CEO World Award winners.

The winners of the 2015 CEO World Awards will be presented during a red carpet awards event June 29 in San Francisco.

Hawthorne-Castro, who became CEO in May 2014, first joined Hawthorne Direct in 2007. Throughout her tenure with Hawthorne Direct, she has fostered service-oriented relationships with high profile clients, helping them to envision, create and execute their advertising plans. Her strategy is renowned for its hands-on and highly responsive approach. To date, her clients have included 3M, Armor All, Black & Decker, Gerber, L’Oreal, Hamilton Beach, Remington, SanDisk, Pella, Transamerica, PETA, Carbonite, Audible, Hoover, United Healthcare and others.

Recently, Hawthorne-Castro, a board member of the Digital Hollywood organization, was the moderator of a panel presented by that group entitled “Women in Advertising.” Also, earlier this year, she was named a 2014 “Women in Business” award nominee by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Prior to joining Hawthorne Direct, Hawthorne-Castro had been a successful television literary agent with William Morris Endeavor, one of Hollywood’s top, full-service talent agencies representing writers, directors and producers for television. As the agent for WME’s top TV talent, she identified and negotiated opportunities for shows airing on all major broadcast and cable television networks. She also packaged key elements necessary to develop TV shows, working regularly with executives from ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, HBO, USA, Bravo, and others. She assisted the creators of a number of top rated television programs, including “Entourage,” “The Office,” “Heroes,” “24,” “Law and Order” and more.

Hawthorne-Castro holds a magna cum laude Master of Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University, with a double emphasis in management and marketing. She also holds a cum laude Bachelor degree from UCLA’s School of Arts and Architecture.

She and her husband, James Castro, an investment banker, live in West Hollywood, California, with their son Braden.