The Summit Group

My first foray into creative agency life was with The Summit Group, a full service firm led by Bill Paulos and Todd Wolfenbarger. In addition to managing my own book of accounts featuring clients like Subway and Apple, I managed our account coordinator team who oversaw an enormous range of clients including Verizon, Microsoft, and Costa Vida.

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The Summit Group was an incredible place to cut my teeth in the agency world after spending a decade managing retail teams. I loved running coffee and record stores in my early 20s, but my heart felt drawn to the creative world where I could solve bigger problems with passionate people.

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Shifting my attention from managing retail teams to design ones felt natural. TSG was a larger firm (about 200 people) and my role had me working across design, development, production, media buying, finance, account services, business development, and operations. It was the best possible environment for a young professional trying to find his place in the creative world.

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I was lucky enough to work under Jordan Howe in Account Services, very easily the best mentor a person could hope for. Jordan taught me the importance of human centered leadership well before Sinek wrote "Leaders Eat Last." Bill Paulos was a powerhouse of a CEO and he showed me how to put your heart and soul into your work without sacrificing your ability to be a good husband and father.

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Eventually I decided that I wanted to pursue a role with a smaller, more focused firm that would marry my individual passion for tech focused work with my love for the creative process. I wanted an environment that would provide greater autonomy and an ability for my work to have greater impact. I heard about a small, recently founded agency called Underbelly and decided to make the jump.