ChicagoÐ TFA/Leo Burnett Technology Group this week will open a San Francisco Group office with no clients on its roster but expectations that the Silicon Valley will prove to be a fruitful new-business ground.

The Bay Area outpost of the Chicago-based shop is expected to bill $14 million by yearÕs end, officials said. That should not be a problem, according to TFA chief executive officer Sean Bisceglia. The agency is currently in negotiations with two other West Coast reviews.

TFA has named Robert Ahearn president of the San Francisco operation. Ahearn was most recently director of business development at Euro RSCG Worldwide, San Francisco.

"HeÕs somebody who clearly knows that market and the people in it," said Linda Wolf, president of Leo Burnett North America. "Our confidence is based on experience."

The TFA/Leo Burnett Technology Group in March opened an office in Austin, Texas, with one core client, MotorolaÕs semiconductor division. That office is expected to bill $30 million by the end of the year, Officials said.

With an office in BostonÐ another high-tech hotbedÐ and headquarters in Chicago, a Silicon Valley presence was necessary to expand the high-tech specialistÕs business, Wolf said.

"That is a field that is evolving at every moment, and thereÕs a sense that any changes need to be made quickly," she said. "Proximity is an issue."

Though the new office will also be home to Leo Burnett creatives working on toysrus.com and Burnett media division Starcom Worldwide is planning to begin San Francisco operations, a full-service Bay Area office is not in the works, Wolf said.

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