Ornelas & Associates executive creative director Tony Sandoval is stepping down from his post at the Dallas Latino marketing shop later this year.
Sandoval, a resident of Austin, Texas, said he wants to remain closer to home and work on freelance opportunities. He currently commutes weekly to North Texas to serve as Ornelas' creative chief four days a week.
"It's just too much time away" from his family, Sandoval said from his home last week. "I live in Austin, and I've been doing this for . . . a couple of years. I decided to come back to Austin and work out of here."
Agency president Victor Ornelas said his shop will conduct a wide search for a new executive creative director while Sandoval winds down his tenure.
"We're already getting lots of calls from people interested," Ornelas told Adweek.
Sandoval will remain on the agency's payroll for up to six months until Ornelas settles on a replacement.
Sandoval came to Ornelas & Associates in 1995 when the agency was affiliated with DDB Needham Dallas. He previously was with GSD&M in Austin, handling general market and Latino assignments for the Coors account as an associate creative director. Other accounts he has worked on at Ornelas include Banc One, Borden and GTE.
The creative executive also has nearly 20 years of general and international Latino market experience with McCann-Erickson in New York and Beber Silverstein & Partners in Miami.
Sandoval said he will pitch his dual Hispanic and general market experience to shops in Austin and perhaps San Antonio, although he expects freelance assignments will come from outside the region. He said he will not be a part of the decision involving his successor.