2026 AMERICAN ADVERTISING AWARD JUDGES
Thank you!
Juan Ignacio “Juancho” Chirinos
Associate Creative Director at Nestlé-Purina
Juan Ignacio “Juancho” Chirinos is an award-winning, multicultural creative leader with more than a decade of experience working at the intersection of creativity, strategy, culture, and technology. He began his career in the U.S. as a Junior Creative at Dieste, where he was shortlisted for the Cannes Lions YouTube Young Creatives Competition—an early milestone that shaped his belief in creativity with purpose.
His career has taken him through Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis, and Miami, working with leading organizations including The Community, DDB, DraftFCB, Discovery, NBCUniversal, and Nestlé Purina. Juan has helped shape campaigns for global brands such as Verizon, BMW, Corona, Modelo, Kroger, and Purina.
He currently serves as a Judge for the American Advertising Federation and has judged international festivals including El Sol. Juan is also a Senior Advisor and Lecturer at Miami Ad School, teaching across the Punta Cana, Mexico City, and Miami campuses while advising leadership on the strategic integration of AI into creative education.
Silver Cuellar III
Creative Director at Tombras
Silver Cuellar III is the Creative Director at Tombras in Atlanta, Georgia. He specializes in strategic brand building, Pokémon Go, and facial hair. He’s spent the past 19 or so years working at McGarrah Jessee, Mullen, The Richards Group and BBDO, on everything from fried chicken to ladies underpants. Along the way he’s been fortunate enough to gather recognition from CA, The One Show, Archive, Obies, Clios and his parent’s refrigerator door.
A proud Mexicano from the Central Tejas land of barbacoa and breakfast tacos, he now spends his time outside of work roving the Georgia countryside, poking around various local barbecue establishments as he is also a self-taught Meat Whisperer.
Currently, he resides in Roswell, Georgia with his high school sweetheart Susan, their 14-year old daughter Sophia the Book-Piranha, 10-year old budding pizza critic Silver IV, wildling 9-year old Simon Bear the Showa Godzilla expert, 108-pound ball of drool covered fur, Waffles P. Buttermilk, Esq, as well all the forest critter folk lurking in the woodlands of Northern Atlanta.
Taylor Potts
Multimedia Creative Director at Balcom Agency
Taylor Potts is a sixth-generation Texan based in Fort Worth, Texas, with deep roots in ranching, Western heritage and Texas culture. He began his career in graphic design in the early 2000s during the industry’s transition from analog to digital, an experience that shaped his appreciation for craft, process and execution. Over the past two decades, he has built a career spanning brand identity, campaigns, video, photography and integrated marketing, with a consistent focus on work that is both strategically grounded and visually distinctive.
Taylor has served as a Creative Director and Executive Producer across agency and in-house environments, leading multidisciplinary teams and overseeing work for heritage brands, healthcare organizations, financial institutions and consumer-facing companies. His background in design expanded early into film and photography, giving him a strong point of view on storytelling, aesthetics and production quality across channels. A five-time national AAF award recipient, he helped earn AAF Fort Worth its first Best of Show recognition at the multi-state district level in the organization’s 115-year history. Drawing on his experience, Taylor also served as a storytelling consultant on the billion-dollar redevelopment of the historic Fort Worth Stockyards.
In addition to his client work, Taylor has served on the Fort Worth Film Commission Marketing Advisory Committee, helping support and attract film and television production in Texas. His involvement coincides with the state’s growing presence in film and television, including productions such as Landman and feature films like The Green Knight, reinforcing Fort Worth and Texas as authentic backdrops for modern storytelling.
Today, he is a Multimedia Creative Director at Balcom Agency in Fort Worth, Texas, where he continues to lead creative and marketing efforts while building new ventures at the intersection of brand, culture and technology, guided by a distinctly Texan perspective rooted in independence, craftsmanship and story.