At chemistri I led the strategic vision of the company and had day-to-day operational responsibilities for the client service, producer, strategy and finance practices. In addition to running the business I also led many of the new business pitches and was active in nearly all client relationships. Many of these clients are household names and most likely you saw chemistri’s work.
A partial list of clients include: Adidas, Altoids, Hallmark, IFIC (Kidnetic), Kellogg’s, McDonalds, P&G, US Army, US Post Office and Walt Disney.
If you’d like, visit my samples section to see examples of some of this work or better yet
ping me and we can discuss.
Three pieces of work I’m especially proud of are (there’s more but I thought I’d better narrow it down for this writing): lauching the first tween online loyalty program, Eet and Ern for Kellogg’s; re-launching the US Army Brand and GoArmy.com; and creating kidnetic.com to get kids active and promote better eating habits.
Being at Leo Burnett and running chemistri gave me the experience of working within a large agency, working directly with Burnett, Starcom and other network partners. I gained the direct operational experience of running a business and P&L responsibility while at the same time working on a larger scale then a stand-alone may have allowed.
Lately I did my second start-up, Tractiv. Similar to chemistri, Tractiv helps(ed) clients create online marketing campaigns and helps client find, connect and engage with their most relevant and interested audience. In addition to the same business components I started with chemistri I also lead the search engine marketing and media practices of Tractiv.
In late 2005 I entered into an agreement to sell Tractiv and along with the two other principles we joined Element79. There I now lead the digital operations and new business. It’s been interesting being back at a big(er) agency for a few years now, especially as part of Omnicom.
What else can I tell you about myself? Well I spent the early part of my life on the East Coast, where I developed a passion for the ocean. I continue to be passionate about the ocean and marine environment (even in Chicago), and today share my interest by teaching as a scuba instructor. Later, my family moved back to the Midwest where I learned farming first hand, working on my grandfather’s farm. During my teen years I was probably the only kid to show livestock at the county fair in July and then spend August on Martha’s Vineyard. Today I’m in Chicago, married to my Scottish wife Tricia, a practicing acupuncturist, where we’re lucky to share the house with two cats and a friendly German Shepherd Dog.