
He left Hudl for a windowless room behind a roofing company and spent nearly eleven years turning a messy photo problem into durable software. Then, with uncommon restraint, Chad Wilken stopped to decide what should come next.

Before he became Nelnet Business Services' chief marketing officer, Johnny Le learned leadership in design studios, youth soccer, bowling lanes and the referee's lonely patch of grass. His useful idea is simple: give people room to play, and give difficult moments a little grace.

He started with architecture, a $500 car-wash idea and the nerve to learn in public. Nearly three decades later, Archrival is joining Havas Play without surrendering the Midwestern character that made it useful.