Michael Villaseñor

Michael Villaseñor is Executive Creative Director at Hearst. Until recently, Michael was Creative Director of Ad Innovation and Marketing at The New York Times where he helped create advertising inspired by The Times legacy of premium reader experiences, evolving them to the next generation of digital platforms. Michael’s team won multiple awards for their work on features such as NYTVR (virtual reality), “Plan Your Next Adventure” (a mash up of The Times “36 Hours” series and Google Maps), and creation of mobile-first native ad formats. These projects demonstrate his belief that advertising can enhance a reader experience and enable innovation in the news space. Prior to joining The Times, Michael worked at Flite, a creative ad development platform. He has a degree from the University of San Francisco, and spends his days thinking about design, guitars, and tacos – in that order.