Tim Riester
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
RIESTER
Phoenix, AZ
Tim Riester is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of RIESTER, one of the largest, privately-owned digital marketing and advertising agencies in the western United States. Under his leadership, RIESTER was listed on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in America for four consecutive years, Advertising Age listed the firm among the “20 Agencies to Watch in America,” and Forbes named RIESTER among the “Top 100 Global Ad Agencies That Know Social Media and Google.”
Tim has been leading successful public health campaigns for more than two decades including campaigns to; prevent tobacco use and create smoke-free laws, stop methamphetamine addiction, advance treatment protocols for HIV/AIDS, halt drinking and driving, and break opioid addiction. Tim served as a strategic marketing consultant for the FDA Center for Tobacco Products’ Office of Health Communication & Education and also served on an expert panel for the Boston University Medical Center that established guidelines for national and state tobacco prevention programs.
The University of Arizona’s Karl Eller College of Business and Public Administration named Tim an Honored Entrepreneurial Fellow in 1999. He was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2000 and was chosen as “Ad Person of the Year” in 2005 by the American Advertising Federation. Tim was selected as a “2010 Father of the Year” by the Father’s Day Council and the American Diabetes Association, and he was awarded the “2011 Spirit of Philanthropy Award” by the Greater Arizona Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The Phoenix Business Journal honored Tim and his wife Mirja with inclusion on its list of "2015 Phoenix Power Couples."
Tim is a founding Co-Owner and Board Member of Phoenix Rising FC, Arizona’s highest-level professional soccer team. Tim also serves as a founding board member for the MaxInMotion Foundation, a non-profit organization assisting economically challenged youth athletes as well as those with disabilities, and as a member of the endowment board of trustees for the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.