When it comes to marketing, Tim Kolling doesn’t mess around. (Unless, of course, it involves a good dad joke or a harmless prank — in that case, mischief is guaranteed.)
As Co-Founder and Chief Media Buyer at Compass Marketing & Advertising Partners, Tim brings over 30 years of award-winning experience in broadcast and digital advertising. Before launching Compass in 2023 with his longtime colleague Tara Dimick, he spent 29 years in the broadcast and digital advertising arena helping businesses amplify their message through smart strategy and creative execution.
Along the way, Tim picked up a shelf full of honors — including the prestigious Mike Oatman Award for marketing mentorship (Kansas Association of Broadcasters, 2017), the National Radio Wayne Award for Marketing Consultant/Streetfighter (Radio Ink, 2022), Who’s Who in American Business, and more than 25 KAB and ADDY Awards for everything from creative writing to digital campaigns. He even nabbed back-to-back National Radio Mercury Awards in 2020 and 2021, and was a finalist in 2022.
A proud Wildcat, Tim earned his bachelor’s in advertising from Kansas State University, and a digital advertising certification from K-State Olathe. After two years playing football in junior college Tim traded the gridiron for courtside — spending three years on the women’s basketball team staff at Kansas State. (He was taller than at least one person on the team, for the record.)
Tim’s passion for marketing is rivaled only by his enthusiasm for SCUBA diving, sharks, Jeeps, reggae playlists, Disney parks, the elusive Sasquatch and strategically timed dad jokes. He’s inspired by Walt Disney’s creativity and can spot an Imagineer’s hidden Easter egg a mile away. Outside of work, you’ll find him landscaping, in the gym, hiking, at his backyard Tiki Bar, or soaking up Shark Week & Expedition Unknown.
Married to his wife Amy, Tim is a proud Dad to Brett and Payton — and a patient roommate to a boxer who never left the puppy stage, a beagle-chihuahua rescue, and a couple cats who tolerate no one but Tim.
Deeply rooted in the Topeka community, Tim is a graduate of Leadership Greater Topeka’s “Best Class Ever” of 2011, an active Greater Topeka Partnership Ambassador, past president and current board member of the Topeka Independent Business Association, past president of the Topeka Area Catbackers, and a founding father of the Delta Chi chapter at K-State. He’s been honored as one of Topeka’s Top 20 Rising Stars and received the Ron Stryker Key Member Award from the Topeka Independent Business Association.
Whether he’s planning a multi-platform ad campaign or a family get away, Tim leads with creativity, passion, and purpose — always chasing results with a side of humor.
