John Stofka
Vice President, Finance
John Stofka’s career can be compared to a combination of Mad Men and Austin City Limits. The son of a recording engineer for RCA Records and the nephew of an advertising agency executive, Stofka played in New York City clubs and was accepted into The Juilliard School of Music. When a few working musicians asked him what he was good at, his answer – “math” – steered Stofka to Queens College and NYU, and freelancing part-time in a New York ad agency’s billing department.
He then joined boutique creative shop Homer & Durham as accounting manager, and soon moved up to controller and head of finance with Lowe & Partners / Homer & Durham. After his hotelier in-laws lured him to Miami, Stofka joined Sam Crispin’s small boutique shop – and was on hand for Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s meteoric rise in the 1990s. From there, he worked with a host of respected South Florida creative shops – Baccus Turner, Courtney and Watson, and The Ad Team – always finding his niche as a numbers guy who worked well with creatives.
When his South Florida run was done and Stofka returned to New York, a friend mentioned a “really different type of agency” that could use his financial skills. Twenty-five years later, Stofka’s career with ICON International has taken him from sales and media, to accounting and finance. “I kinda fall into places with companies who need growth,” he said.

My wife is Cuban and we have four kids from 35 to 18 – Gens X, Y and Z, including a daughter we adopted from China. When I’m not raising my family, I’m a car guy building and restoring cars.
“I’d leave agencies because the challenge was over,” he says. Barter presented new challenges that he soon mastered – and helped clients thrive with. “At ICON, I’m a lifer. ICON fits my personality and management fosters people who are movers and shakers in their areas.”
What drives me professionally?
Just pushing the rock up the hill and moving it toward. I’m one of the cogs in the machine. I get up in the morning because the company’s successful and we’re all pushing it up that hill.
To unwind:
I don’t know that I ever do. Working on cars, water skiing at our house on a lake. That’s my chill space