Standouts Over and Under 40

In 2003, Patti Temple Rocks was leading a multinational QSR chain’s global PR account, and she hired Tricia Ewald as an intern. Seventeen years later, they are both playing industry leading roles at ICF Next, where Ewald is a managing partner and Rocks is a senior partner leading client service within the agency’s marketing and communications group, which works for major clients including Molson Coors, Kraft Heinz, Mars Wrigley, Bissell and the Belize Tourism Board.

In the past year, they both received age-related honors, with Ewald being named one of Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 (an honor she received previously from different publications) and Rocks earning a place on Campaign’s “Digital 40 Over 40” list.

Ewald’s honor focused on her meteoric rise and belief in ICF Next’s non-traditional approach to creative. “Ideas can come from anywhere … the definition of a creative has expanded,” she says. “It’s no longer just a big group of people in a room with a locked door, spending two weeks unbothered. Sometimes it has to turn around in 10 minutes. Or one minute.”

Campaign asked Rocks what qualities were necessary to be successful in digital today. Her reply: “An appetite for change; eyesight to see around corners and an ability to patiently and compassionately lead people through the change.”  Asked to sum up her journey in five words or less, she answered: “I always give a damn.”