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BarkleyOKRP has appointed Katy Hornaday as CEO and Nick Swift as president. Photo credit: Shutterstock (VideoFlow).
Posted May 12, 2025
BarkleyOKRP has selected Katy Hornaday as its next chief executive officer, as well as naming Nate Swift as president.
Hornaday will be succeeding Jeff King, having served as CEO for the advertising agency since 2009. King will continue in a new role as founding partner, according to a release. She first joined the agency in 2012 as an associate creative director. Most recently, Hornaday served as the chief creative officer, beginning in January 2020.
“As we’ve been planning for BarkleyOKRP’s long-term growth and continued success, her elevation was obvious,” King said in the release. “No one could be more prepared or inspiring to lead our agency and our clients into the future.”
Hornaday also played a key role in the merger between Barkley and OKRP in 2024, in addition to onboarding major clients such as Planet Fitness, Smoothie King and Frontier Airlines to the agency’s portfolio. As CEO, Hornaday will lead the BarkleyOKRP team of over 700 employees across Kansas City, Chicago, Austin, Denver and New York City.
A search for BarkleyOKRP’s next chief creative officer is underway, according to the release.
Alongside the announcement of Hornaday’s new role, BarkleyOKRP also announced that Swift will become the agency’s new president. Swift also joined OKRP before the merger in 2012. He most recently served as chief marketing officer for BarkleyOKRP for over a year.
