marketing
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Alon Brener and the Deal That Became a Job
After building Legion, Alon Brener invested in Sensi.AI and offered to help with U.S. sales. Closing its first American deal brought him onto the founding team.
Paul Roetzer and the education of an AI optimist
A television quiz show sent a Cleveland agency founder down an unlikely path. Fifteen years later, Paul Roetzer is still trying to answer the question that followed him there: what happens to the people?
Brad Simms built GALE backwards.
He started with customer data and built outward into creativity and media. By the time Brad Simms retired in 2025, GALE had become a test of whether an agency could put the business, and its people, together differently.
Jeffrey Campos and the work after the wish
From restaurant shifts in New York to recruiting and AI automation, the Sharp 2.0 founder has kept working on what happens after an introduction. A Costa Rican beginning, a Lady Gaga reunion and a career built around getting people to the next step.
Empathy Lab wants marketing to think
EPAM’s agency pairs creative teams with software engineers to connect marketing, commerce and loyalty. Its most revealing work starts with the small things customers struggle to do.
Susan Flinn Cobian and the case for a smaller room
Susan Flinn Cobian built SFC Group around close client relationships and a team that could work from anywhere. Her career offers a practical argument for fewer layers, clearer ownership, and paying attention long after a pitch ends.
Mary Ann O’Brien and the customer who gets the last word
A computer company gave Mary Ann O’Brien her start. Twenty-five years into OBI Creative, she is still following the people on the other side of the sale.
Dax Cornelius and the art of keeping founders in the cockpit
The former F-16 pilot launched Bastion’s US operation in 2017 with a proposition for agency owners: keep a stake, gain a team. His next leadership venture takes lessons from business back to the military.
Margi Tooth and the long road from hoodie to stadium
Before Margi Tooth became Trupanion’s CEO, a company hoodie could start a conversation. Her career has been an exercise in making that conversation bigger - without losing the person on the other side.
Jaymie Scotto Cutaia and the story at the other end of the cable
Before founding JSA in 2005, Jaymie Scotto Cutaia learned to follow a story from a television newsroom into the machinery of the internet. She has spent two decades giving that hidden world a public voice - and asking who else should have the microphone.
Tyrone Nelson Jr. and the stories hiding in plain sight
The Newviews Agency founder has made films about a basketball team and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Richmond connections. His next question is what happens when the people in those stories get together in the same room.
Cleveland Spears III Set the Table. New Orleans Needed More Room.
He started a communications firm at 25 and helped turn a friend’s fried chicken idea into a citywide gathering. Cleveland Spears III keeps finding reasons for people to meet - and reasons for New Orleans to benefit when they do.
Ann Marie Sorrell and the business of showing up
A $200 business registration started The Mosaic Group. The relationships Ann Marie Sorrell built around it would carry her from marketing campaigns to conservation ballots - with a few dating stories along the way.
Jeffrey Barnhart and the value of a silver dollar
A lighting marketer mailed money to make a point. Nearly four decades after founding CMA, Jeffrey E. Barnhart is still working on the same question: what makes a business worth coming back to?
Richard J. Lenz and the Business of Bringing People Together
He started with a spare door for a desk. Over three decades, Richard J. Lenz built a Decatur marketing firm whose work spilled into book festivals, record releases, and the radio - then handed the company to someone he had helped grow.
Steven R. Jolly and the art of being known nearby
Since founding SRJ Marketing Communications in 1989, Steven R. Jolly has made a career of helping local organizations get noticed. His approach joins the public work of reputation with the quiet discipline of keeping a message clear.
Barbara Zenz and the art of making the complicated useful
From Silicon Valley technology campaigns to marketing for independent alarm dealers, Barbara Zenz has built her work around a practical question: what will help the customer take the next step?
Mary Verdin and the art of making yourself useful
A card table, a laptop, and a community foundation became the beginnings of Mary Verdin’s agency. Then she found another use for a marketing firm: giving a nonprofit a new public face in 24 hours.
Kenneth S. Johnson Knows Who Should Be in the Room
The JMI founder has spent three decades bringing people together in Virginia. His work runs from festival stages to public history, with a practical question underneath it all: what should happen when people meet?
Jill Swartz and the art of earning the next conversation
The co-founder and CEO of Spotlight Marketing Communications has built a career around the people behind complicated investments. Her approach begins with a useful question, a clear explanation and a reason to keep talking.
Ken Begasse Jr. and the business of building a team
A college goalkeeper became an agency founder, built a decades-long partnership and joined Accenture Song. Along the way, Ken Begasse Jr. kept returning to the people who make a business work.
Mike Wheeler and the business of getting you through the gate
Before co-founding Rocket Launch, Mike Wheeler worked on the places Southern Californians visit for a good day out. His agency carries that experience into a practical question: what makes someone show up?
Sarajane Sparks Verghese and the Art of Getting Someone Else Interested
A former journalist with an MBA, Sarajane Sparks Verghese built SPARKS Consulting Group around the journey from a brand’s private ambition to somebody else’s attention.
Elen Gasparyan and the case for a slower beginning
Before she builds a campaign, Elen Gasparyan wants to know what holds it together. From Armenian banking to a Los Angeles creative agency, her career follows the questions that come before the advertising.
Ron Young keeps finding the right crew
From an America’s Cup campaign to a social network for marketers, Ron Young has spent his career bringing specialists together. His other regular appointment is a sailing luncheon, where the introductions keep coming.
Chris Lin and the business of being ready
A school district needed better pictures. Chris Lin found a new career - and went on to help photographers solve the problems that begin long before the shutter clicks.
Allan Jones and the cost of doing it yourself
A family mini-market taught Allan Jones how expensive a missing HR department could be. After a clothing startup failed and a marketing career took off, he built Bambee for owners who could not afford one.
Pedro Sánchez de Lozada and the business of paying attention
Before Canid, Pedro Sánchez de Lozada worked on online courses, laundry logistics and recruiting. His career keeps returning to the same question: what would let a small business owner get on with the job?
Wesley ter Haar and the trouble with getting good at something
He helped build MediaMonks from a hotel basement into a global creative business. Now Wesley ter Haar is asking what an agency should become when the machines can make things, too.
Pramod Rao and the question of who comes back
He joined Zomato as employee thirteen, then built Threado to help online communities stay connected. After its wind-down, Pramod Rao is exploring the same question through sustainability, small software experiments and Sunday mornings in Bengaluru.