The first eighteen years of my career were spent in the commercial world, leading design studios on both coasts, creating award-winning work for clients large and small.
1999 to 2004
Turner & Associates
Position: Communications Director
Turner & Associates
Position: Communications Director
I moved to California in May of 1999 for the opportunity to work with Turner & Associates, an up-and-coming design communications firm. The dot-com boom was in full swing and the ability to generate unique ideas and integrate compelling storylines in a variety of media was in high demand in a very lively marketplace.
In order to place an emphasis on the firm’s storytelling abilities, I assumed the title of Communications Director. In this capacity, I led the creative charge: conducting client interviews, crafting strategy, drafting creative briefs, writing copy, assigning creative duties, supervising creative development and production. Additionally, I directed the firm’s marketing efforts, managed client accounts, conducted new business presentations, and wrote everything from proposals, business plans to white papers and strategic briefs.
During this fertile five-year period, virtually everything that Turner & Associates produced was published in some shape, form or fashion. Clients included: Adaptec, Macromedia, Yahoo!, PeopleSoft, Robert Mondavi, The Walt Disney Company, Clorox, Cost Plus World Market, WD-40, AIGA, Invisalign, Anderson Lithograph and Hemlock Printers.
1989 to 1999
EAI/Atlanta (now doing business as “unboundary”)
Position: various, from Designer to Principal/Director of Creative Services
EAI/Atlanta (now doing business as “unboundary”)
Position: various, from Designer to Principal/Director of Creative Services
When I joined a firm named Executive Arts, Inc in 1989, I was the fourth employee of an unknown design firm then partnered with a service bureau. A corporate divorce left the studio in a warehouse on the wrong side of town. However, careful management of our slim business led to more serious inquiries, and soon — as self-styled creative hit men for hire — we were off to bigger and better things.
Eventually known by its anonymous moniker — EAI/Atlanta was soon pulling together annual reports and corporate communications for Fortune 50 companies, building a national reputation along the way. I eventually became a managing principal overseeing dozens of people on significant projects for large clients — including IBM’s first ever interactive annual report (simultaneously released in print, online and on CD-ROM) and Coca-Cola's very first web presence.
Responsibilities included strategy, concept, design, large-scale project management (including supervision of a "new media" division), contractor and vendor selection, client presentations, traveling photo shoots, production of print collateral, and integration of online assets. The firm’s success eventually provided the opportunity to partner with Turner & Associates and move California.
Clients included: IBM, The Coca-Cola Company, AT&T, Seagate Technology, Compaq, Nabisco, Equifax, Turner Broadcasting Systems , Potlatch Paper and Dickson’s Specialty Printing.
