Experience
Plan B · Chicago, IL · Contract
- Hands-on creative lead and writer for challenger and niche brands, from McLaren Automotive and Unilock to industrial, automotive and senior-living clients.
- Helped mechanical contractor F.E. Moran enter new markets and built luxury senior-living brand Livelle from the ground up.
- Took Thunderer and Americus into consumer marketing and developed material-science company Charter Next Generation's first employer brand.
- Led and crafted all eleven Goodwin Living websites and developed the accompanying campaign, bringing a large and complicated range of services under one clear, human story.
- Each engagement grew into a larger relationship, with expanded scopes, budgets and timelines. The core brand work is now live in market.
Independent · Chicago, IL · Freelance & Fractional
- Developed full campaigns for Florida Power & Light and Home Instead during new-business pitches at FCB Chicago. Both helped win multimillion-dollar accounts.
- Turned a complex renewable-energy story into a Series C investor presentation that secured the requested capital.
- Created an end-of-year campaign for Education Through Music Colorado that more than tripled projected donations.
Leo Burnett · Chicago, IL
- Led creative for Copenhagen, Altria's $1B+ smokeless tobacco brand, and launched "Proven Since 1822." The campaign improved brand-equity scores and generated more than $1M in additional agency scope.
- Directed a six-person team of writers and art directors. Presented brand direction monthly to USST's president and CMO, and twice yearly to Altria's CMO and leadership team.
- Created a giving platform connecting Copenhagen with service members and veterans' charities, increasing web traffic and click-through rate by 25%.
- Led the launches of Copenhagen Fine Cut Wintergreen and Weyman's Reserve Black, resulting in 2% share growth.
- Created the first brand campaign and logo redesign for PF Holdings, a $2.4B green-energy company. The work included a social campaign and Nasdaq ticker reveal, and the manifesto was later adopted for employee onboarding.
Leo Burnett · Chicago, IL
- Served as day-to-day creative lead across two Altria brands, directing a team of ten. A new brand platform increased equity scores 8% across the portfolio within its first year.
- Created an annual planning event that delivered nearly 200% ROI and led the launch of Skoal Cool Spearmint, which produced measurable share growth in seven months.
- Led creative for the U.S. launch of IQOS across retail stores, website development, product education and ongoing customer support.
- Developed "Back to the Classics," an integrated Diageo concept pairing classic cocktails with curated Spotify playlists. Retail executions included bottle neck hangers that doubled as miniature phone amplifiers.
Leo Burnett · Robinson & Maites · Y&R · Chicago, IL
- Created brand campaigns for Samsung, Harley-Davidson, Jameson and Black & Mild. The Jameson work helped secure a $1.1M agency win.
- Helped establish the voice and long-running platform for Black & Mild as it became the category leader. Freelance clients included Hotels.com, FedEx and Verizon.
Kendall College · Loyola University · Roosevelt University · Story Studio Chicago
- Taught composition, creative writing and literature across four Chicago institutions.
- Helped build Kendall College's English department from scratch, developing curriculum grounded in language, argument, craft and what it means to be human.