People: Sarah Polito, Michael Leonardini hired to key roles at KPS3

RENO, Nev. — KPS3 recently announced the hirings of Sarah Polito as vice president of client strategy and Michael Leonardini as creative director.

According to a Jan. 27 press release from the Reno-based firm, Polito brings more than a decade of successful and diverse integrated marketing experience to KPS3. She will collaborate and engage with KPS3's clients across a variety of industries to lead marketing communications strategy.

Sarah joins KPS3 from Cisco Systems, where she developed and executed marketing and communications plans to acquire and inform more 28,000 attendees for its largest customer and partner event, Cisco Live.

Prior to her time at Cisco, Polito was a senior account director at KPS3, responsible for creating strategic marketing plans and executing digital projects that drove results for her clients.

In 2011, Polito joined the team at Waste Management as a communications specialist. Before then, Politio was a marketing coordinator at Renown Health. Polito earned her B.S. in business administration and her MBA from UNR.

As creative director, Leonardini will lead one of the firm's two digital and creative teams, providing innovative design solutions for a wide range of products and projects.

He will direct creative strategy and help bring client creative insights to life. Leonardini will also lead the charge for KPS3's creative content creation service line.

Shortly after graduating from college, Leonardini worked as the creative director for Barcellona, a boutique agency in Sacramento that specializes in the home building industry. He then made his way to MeringCarson as the team's design director.

From 2015-2017, Leonardini worked as the creative director for Moxie International. He then transitioned to become a consultant for Cambria Solutions. He then accepted a position as the chief creative officer for The Abbi Agency in Reno.

Leonardini earned his B.A. in journalism with a minor in photojournalism from San Francisco State University. He also takes classes at eCornell in design thinking and strategies.