SAN DIEGO – This month, marketing agency CourtAvenue announced the hiring of industry veteran Robyn Freye in the new role of President and Chief Growth Officer.
In her new role, Freye will formalize the company’s first dedicated growth engine across go-to-market strategy, client leadership and organizational scale, while advancing the agency’s integrated approach across commerce, CX, AI, media, data and experiential.
“What that means to me is making it easier for clients to access the full value of the CourtAvenue collective,” Freye said. “It’s a complicated business, because clients’ businesses are complicated, but we’re really making sure that our capabilities are working seamlessly together and helping CourtAvenue scale while preserving what makes us special as an independent agency. Ultimately, it’s all about helping clients grow faster and smarter.”
For over 25 years, Freye has led growth for U.S. holding companies and independent agencies. Her last position was as Chief Growth Officer for marketing company Stagwell.
Freye was connected with the opportunity at CourtAvenue over coffee with one of the company’s founders, Dan Khabie, who is also a friend and former colleague of Freye’s.
“He looked at me and said, ‘I think you should join CourtAvenue,’” Freye said. “And I said, ‘I think I can be really impactful there.’ We were just really looking for another opportunity to bring the band back together.”
CourtAvenue has experienced a period of “high-velocity organic growth,” according to the company, reporting a 65% year-over-year growth from 2024 to 2025. Demand for the agency’s AI-enabled capabilities in particular has been on the rise. In 2026, the company plans to enhance its specialist capabilities through strategic M&A.
Marketing in the Age of AI
The rise of AI technology has rapidly changed the media world, Freye said. This evolution has serious implications for the marketing industry, impacting how consumers receive information, how clients perform in the marketplace and how organizational workflows are structured.
“AI has disrupted every category across the board,” Freye said. “But one of the categories and business verticals that it’s really impacted is the way advertising agencies work, the way that holding companies have worked for a very long time.”
Freye comes from the holding company world, which she said she “loved very deeply.”
However, the amount of “chaos” and “disruption” occurring in that space made her want to pivot, she said.
“What really drew me to CourtAvenue being an independent agency is just how nimble and quickly we are able to move for our clients,” Freye said. “Without silos, without bloated infrastructures, without bloated teams, so that we are delivering the best outcomes for our clients.”
Freye said that CourtAvenue has made “significant” investments in AI technology, and that it poised itself as an early adopter.
“Marketing has shifted from being a support function to a core growth driver,” Freye said.
“Companies really want the smarter use of data and AI, tighter integration across all channels and clear business outcomes. I believe that CourtAvenue was built for that moment, and San Diego is just such a great place to help and lead what comes next.”
Company Expansion
While the company currently sits at 220 employees, Freye said that CourtAvenue plans to do significant hiring in the coming year to match the company’s growth trajectory.
In the coming year, Freye said that CourtAvenue will be primarily competing with holding companies, similarly sized independent agencies and some specialty firms.
“CMOs are really gravitating towards specialty agencies that can integrate core capabilities,” Freye said. “In some cases, our target market is coming to us just for specialized services. And in other cases, they are coming to us to be their next generation agency of record (AOR), which looks very different than how AOR has looked even a year or even three years ago.”
Freye shared that a statistic from Gartner Inc. that caught her attention and revealed how companies may be shifting in the near future.
According to Gartner’s research, 56% of CxOs, defined as C-suite leaders reporting to the CEO, excluding CHROs, are likely or extremely likely to leave their current role in the next two years.
“When you have that turnover within the C-suite combined with AI acceleration, it’s really disrupted the industry,” Freye said. “On one side of it, it can be scary, because the clients and the ecosystems are always changing, and we’re seeing that on a daily basis. But on the flip side, it creates enormous opportunities for companies like CourtAvenue, who are ahead of the curve in these service offerings.”
In addition to its headquarters in San Diego, CourtAvenue has offices in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Dallas and is opening a new office in Chicago within the next month.
CourtAvenue
FOUNDED: 2020
FOUNDING PARTNERS: Dan Khabie and Kenny Tomlin
HEADQUARTERS: San Diego
BUSINESS: Marketing
EMPLOYEES: 207
REVENUE: 65% growth YOY 2024-2025
WEBSITE: https://courtavenue.com/
CONTACT: [email protected]; 844-268-7828
SOCIAL IMPACT: Company is involved with early-stage entrepreneurs and give personal time for mentor-ship. Company also helps out in the community.
NOTABLE: CourtAvenue was named for the first paved road in America, located in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
Born and raised in San Diego, Madison takes great pride in local storytelling. Her coverage at the San Diego Business Journal includes tourism, hospitality, nonprofits, education and retail. An alumna of San Diego State University’s journalism program, she has written for publications including The San Diego Union-Tribune and The San Diego Sun. At the 2024 San Diego Press Club awards, Madison was recognized for her exemplary profile writing. She was also a speaker for the 2023 TEDx Conference at Bonita Vista High School. When she’s not working on her next story, Madison can be found performing music at a local restaurant or on one of San Diego’s many hiking trails.
