I was born a middle child in Omaha, Nebraska, though I wasn’t the middle child at the time. The attending physician’s name was Dr. Doolittle—it’s on my birth certificate—but I ignored the obvious signs to go into veterinary medicine and went into advertising instead, which is totally behavior you’d expect from a middle child. At my first internship, the agency was building an edit suite but forgot to hire an editor. So I volunteered and immediately started screwing up other people’s good ideas. It taught me a lot. Like how long 30 seconds isn’t. And craft. And how to pretend you know what you’re doing. Eventually, I stopped screwing up other people’s good ideas and started coming up with my own. Since then, I’ve worked on, pitched, and led everything from airlines to alcohol, and banks to amusement parks. Along the way, I’ve learned how to help other people come up with good ideas too. And how to help clients recognize good ideas. And how to make damn sure no one screws up those good ideas, especially not some kid pretending he’s an editor or something.
FREELANCE / CREATIVE DIRECTOR / 2020 – PRESENT I’m here to help solve, whether that means coming in as interim ECD while you’re on sabbatical (which I’ve done recently), coming up with that idea no one else has been able to, or writing that thing no one else has time to. A few agencies and clients I’ve done these things for include BARKLEY, CHEVY, COLECTIVO COFFEE, DIGITAS, FACEBOOK, GIGAMON, HAVAS, HIGHDIVE, HANSON DODGE, JACK MORTON, JEEP, LOUISIANA TOURISM, MAYTAG, OKRP, THOMSON REUTERS, ZENNIFY
DDB CHICAGO / CREATIVE DIRECTOR / 2019 – 2020 CAPITAL ONE, JEEP, MILLER, STATE FARM
FREELANCE / CREATIVE DIRECTOR / 2017 – 2019 BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY, BBDO, BEAM SUNTORY, BOOST MOBILE, CHARMIN, CORONA, HIGHDIVE, ILLINOIS TOURISM, JEEP, OCEAN CONSERVANCY, MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN, STANLEY, TACO BELL
HAVAS / GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR / 2016 – 2017 MIKE’S HARD LEMONADE, SEARS/KENMORE, CITI/AMERICAN AIRLINES AADVANTAGE CARD, MOEN
CRAMER-KRASSELT / VP CREATIVE DIRECTOR / 2006 – 2015 CAREERBUILDER.COM, AIRTRAN AIRWAYS, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES, CEDAR FAIR AMUSEMENT PARKS, KEYBANK, CROCS, PORSCHE, CORONA, MAUI JIM, EDWARD JONES, HEINZ
GOODBY, SILVERSTEIN & PARTNERS / SENIOR COPYWRITER / 2005 – 2006 BUDWEISER, COMCAST, CALIFORNIA MILK PROCESSOR BOARD, DORITOS, HP, SATURN, ACE HARDWARE, ELIZABETH-ARDEN
AWARDS CANNES CYBER LION, CANNES SHORTLIST, ONE SHOW, COMMUNICATION ARTS, LÜRZER’S ARCHIVE, WEBBY AWARDS, EFFIES, CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, CHICAGO ADVERTISING FEDERATION