founded the agency C14torce (pronounced: Catorce) in Barcelona, Spain, which he had built up exclusively for the car brand SEAT. By the end of 2019 the firm had more than 400 employees with offices in 7 countries. In 2020, after about 30 years in the business, Kassaei retired from the advertising industry. Most recently, he founded the architecture and design company Buresq. The BuresQ loft in Barcelona was honored with a Frame Award in 2020. Kassaei is also working on his fashion brand H4H and is building up The Maniacs, a content production company that will supply streaming service. Awards During his career Kassaei has received (together with his creative teams) numerous awards, including 140 Cannes Lions. The official chart of the Cannes Lions Archive attributes 109 Lions and nominations to Kassaei personally (2020). In 2009 he was named The Big Won Report's Top Chief Creative Officer. At that time he was regarded as one of the most successful advertising creatives internationally. Douglas Quenqua of Campaign magazine UK lists the awards of DDB Worldwide in 2016 under Kassaei's leadership as follows: "... the network took home 101 Cannes Lions, up from 78 in 2015; it won 32 pencils at the D&AD awards, down from 40 in 2015; and it claimed the same number of pencils at this year's One Show—23—as it did in 2015." References 1968 births Living people Austrian investors 20th-century Austrian businesspeople 21st-century Austrian businesspeople