My title is SVP, Strategy and Integration

But I’m really the agency’s friend maker.

• My first job in marketing was working as a press aide at the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, Chicago City Hall.
• I used to work at TWR/JagSport, the Factory Race Team For Jaguar Cars. I was hired to pitch/find team sponsors (my first job in business development). It was an amazing experience - very glamorous - especially for a kid who grew up in Northwest IN, a place caught between the steel and corn belts.
• Some of the highlights of my career are: I worked on the 1995 Jimmy Paige and Robert Plant Tour. I’d grown up listening to Led Zeppelin, therefore, this was a big deal for me. After being backstage at Madison Square Garden (that’s another story), I watched their final U.S. concert on the floor about 20 rows back and center. It was the first time in my career that I ever impressed myself. I also worked on the North American introduction of the Jaguar XJ 220 (at the time, the fastest and most expensive car ever made). I had the chance to drive with Johnny Rutherford, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner. He took me on a few hot laps at Indianapolis Raceway Park in an XJ. He taught me how you can get a car sideways going around a turn without losing control.
• I got into this business because of a few movies that I saw in the ‘80s that were about advertising (I was around 16 or 17). I remember seeing scenes about pitching campaigns and thinking it was so cool. So, four years later, I got a degree in Marketing Communication and found myself working in special events.
• I think the smartest thing anyone said about marketing is, “Nothing happens until you sell something.” Therefore, without marketing there is no sale.
• The road taught me how to be flexible, open minded, tough and gracious.
• The strangest experience I’ve had so far is learning how small our business community really is. I still meet people who know someone that I met or worked with 15 or 20 years ago.
• I grew up in steel producing country, NW IN. It taught me how to have a work ethic.
• Whenever I see myself working long hours, that’s my dad and my mom coming through.
• I will always ask for the ORDER. What can I say; I’m in business development.
• The first thing I ever sold was Firecrackers. My father used to bring me fireworks from MO. I would break apart bricks of firecrackers and sell them to the kids on my block.
• If forced to give up Chicago winters, I’d probably spend my time in a Mexico coastal town.
• The way I like to work is on my own time, however, that’s not my reality, I can only wish for it.
• I believe this business is all about relationships that are based on trust.
• I’m good at this because I truly love what I do.