
Mark Twain once penned, “I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have the time.” I’ll try to honor his intent.
I’m a writer. Creative director. Storyteller. Incurable optimist. I look for the goodness in every brand – and the simple human truths that bond people to brands in the most powerful way.
I’ve practiced that for the past decade as a freelance CD/writer – often on new business, doing the winning creative on accounts that will generate well over 1.5 billion dollars in billings: The U.S. Census (a 4-year government contract), PhRMA (the main advocate group for the Biopharma industry), Wendy’s, Rackspace (managed cloud solutions); and fuboTV (a new sports-centric streaming TV platform).
The past seven years specifically have been a deep dive into Health and Wellness. I’ve loved making a difference in that area – to patients, brands, and agencies. New business wins I’ve contributed to in Health have included PhRMA, Takeda’s Dengue Fever Vaccine, Eli Lily corporate, Abbott Labs Corporate, a new Astra Zeneca COPD treatment, Genentech’s Alzheimer’s breakthrough Genterumab, Natera’s Genomic oncology screening, Vazalore enteric aspirin, and Alopecia Areata and Covid disease education for Pfizer.
A large amount of my time in Health has been spent working on DTC and HCP campaigns for over 75 different brands over dozens of disease categories, including Oncology, Cardio-Pulmonary, Renal, Diabetes, Psoriasis, Eczema, Epilepsy, MS, Parkinson’s, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, HIV, Addiction, and more. Not surprisingly, I have a very broad base of experience and knowledge across the Health spectrum. I’ve also worked on the launches of two brands: Skyrizi (Plaque Psoriasis) and Rinvoq (Eczema)
In my past life as a full-timer for 22 years, at Saatchi, McCann, Leo Burnett, BBDO (twice), and Grey, I helped grow (and run) some of the world’s most iconic brands: McDonald’s, AT&T, Dairy Queen, Progressive, FedEx, Hallmark, Olive Garden, Aetna, Pepsi, and Wendy’s. Some grew beyond my wildest dreams, like DQ’s 40% growth over five years. (We made a lot of people laugh. They bought a lot of ice cream.)
At Grey, I ran a group that generated 40 million in annual revenue. Overall during my full-time and freelance career I’ve been a key member of teams (sometimes leading them) that have won well over 3 billion dollars in new business.
As contractually stipulated by the Creative Director’s Union (Local 99), I’m obligated to include that I’ve won every major award several or many times over, including Cannes Lions, Clios, Emmys, London Int’l, and D&AD (about 200 in all) including four Grand Prix. I have work in the Clio Hall of Fame, the permanent collection of MOMA – and work that’s won Super Bowl polls, Olympics polls, and People’s Choice awards.
Because mentorship makes better and smarter creatives (and because I’m grateful for my mentors), I guest lecture at Syracuse University (Newhouse School) regularly and also personally mentor teams from there throughout the year.
I’m married for 34 years to a saint, and have two awesome daughters, 28 and 23.
As for that storyteller thing, I actually do have a screenwriting degree – from NYU. I just ended up writing shorter stories. As for this one, probably not short enough.
My apologies. I am a writer, but there’s only one Twain.