A natural leader with a deep love for the Denver area, Katie Holdsworth has over fifteen years of digital marketing and agency leadership experience. Her work as Booyah’s Chief Operating Officer involves executive-level support and strategy for the company’s top clients, business development, forecasting and profit management within the agency, and resource management. As the strategic driver for all of Booyah’s account teams and clients, Katie focuses on developing long-term, business-level partnerships with clients, working to drive holistic business results. Her expertise lies in taking something small and growing it into something much bigger, aware of what makes a project viable and how to scale it accordingly. Katie is also an expert at organizing people. An astute observer of strengths and weaknesses, she’s the kind of leader who supports others by taking the time to learn who they are. “I consider it my job to find the best in people, and to maximize that. Not everyone has the same strengths, so I make sure to put each person in the right place. I want everyone in a position to thrive.”
Katie has always gravitated toward leadership positions, excelling in strategy development and people-management because of her precision and dedication. She joined Booyah in 2009, working her way from entry-level reporting to her current executive position and learning the nuances of every role along the way. Her first major job as an Account Manager for a GAP retail campaign soon led to a full book of business, a variety of retail clients, and a team of thirteen working under her. Now as COO, Katie focuses on developing relationships with major clients and creating strategy to meet their long-term business goals. Her clients, which include Unilever and the Mountain Collective, rely on Katie’s expertise and vast experience as well as her natural acumen and transparency. “There’s a feeling of alignment in a true partnership, when you’ve joined forces to reach a shared goal. You can feel it.”
In addition to developing client strategy, Katie enjoys the relational aspects of her role as COO, sorting people into positions that elicit their best work. Charged with managing the company’s leaders (all Group and Senior Directors report directly to her), she takes pride in the individual development of those she mentors. Her communication style is exact, encouraging, and clear, whether wrangling her two young boys at home or managing teams at work. Collaborating with Katie means working toward a well-defined, shared goal with explicit guidelines and crystal-clear expectations. “I find that precision and clarity help things fall into place.” For Katie, the biggest draw of advertising is the dynamic nature of the work, which requires enormous flexibility. “Adapting to constant change is a huge, fascinating challenge characteristic of this field. No day is the same in this industry– that means you can’t get comfortable. But most people in this field don’t want to get comfortable. You have to enjoy that kind of ever-changing work.” She does.
