Personal
The important stuff first :)
I’m an Ohio native who grew up in the east suburbs of Cleveland, went to Ohio State where I majored in Strategic Communications, then promptly moved in a big circle across the country.
Columbus to Chicago to Phoenix to West Texas to Louisville and finally back to Columbus where I currently live with my wife Whitney, a sports reporter, my daughter Claire and our corgi Henry.
My hobby is, for better or worse, hobbies. I’m a collector of obsolete technologies (eg. Mechanical keyboards and mechanical watches) and sporting goods (golf equipment, high golf scores and snowboards). Yeah, I’m that guy whose hobby is buying stuff, lol.
I’m a hopeless consumer who compulsively studies products, specs and reviews like they’re the GRE or LSAT.
Outside of work, you can find me watching Moana for the third time today, on the golf course or losing at Overwatch. Even money on all three.
Professional
I’ve been fortunate enough throughout my career to have worked with dozens of brands, agencies and media outlets to give me what I call a “non-traditional” strategy background.
I say it’s non-traditional in the sense that I haven’t spend my whole career in a single sector or industry.
Working in PR has helped me craft purposeful messaging, considering the impact of every word published.
Working in news media put me in the editorial state of mind, treating content and subsequent creation as an instant necessity and the power of collaboration when deadlines are literally ASAP.
Working in ad agencies allowed me to explore the creative side of strategy and understand how to effectively be the mesh point between clients, accounts and creative.
Working in brand marketing made me understand what product owners need and how business goals should translate to creative needs.
Being a photographer helps me understand what is really needed out of a brief and how important it is to provide value and cut bloat and corporate speak out of the Strategy / Creative relationship.
It may be non-traditional, but I believe it comes together in a way that helps me see things in a unique light and gives me a lot of different ways to solve various problems.