Visual designer, entrepreneur, and Creative Director with Fortune 500 brand experience.

Range

Co-founded and built an e-commerce business from one product, one customer to six brands, 100+ designs, and over 30,000 sold worldwide. Designed, Art Directed, and solved marketing problems for businesses and brands of all sizes. Art directed photoshoots with budgets ranging from $100 to $100,000. Hired and managed teams of designers, art directors, freelancers, and developers. Worked for agencies large and small, some with amazing writers, some with none at all.

Truths

I’m constantly trying, doing, learning, analyzing, adjusting, questioning how it can be better. I believe equally in branding and sales. Ideas are easy—execution is hard. Great typography makes me smile. Writing makes me procrastinate. GaryVee, Seth Godin and Freakonmincs get my marketing juices flowing. A little wine or red ale to relax. My family warms my heart. Helping others solve their business problems brings me genuine joy.

Experience

Co-Founder
Artificer Wood Works
Oct 2013 - Present
High Ridge, MO

Co-Founder
WineforaWedding 2011

  • Co-founded WineforaWedding and later the umbrella company, Artificer Wood Works. What started as one product with one design, has grown to six brands with 100+ designs sold throughout the world.
  • Led the introduction of new products, website function and design (front & back end), Etsy, Amazon, and retail partnerships.
  • Collaborated with co-workers to create and execute social content and ad campaigns.
  • Created 80+ wine box graphics, many of which are top selling products across multiple channels.
  • Art directed and executed product and editorial photography. 
  • Partnered with artists to create a wider variety of product design and gain awareness within their network.
  • Worked with influencers, brands and media companies to generate awareness. Several were paramount in generating strong residual sales year after year. Examples include: Today Show, Real Simple, Goop, Google, and Gary Vaynerchuk.

Creative Director
Groove Agency
2008 - 2011
St. Louis, MO

  • Led a team of Art Directors, Designers, Production Artists and Web Developers. 
  • Collaborated with regional and national Photographers and Illustrators. 
  • Solutions: Branding, Marketing (B2C & B2B), Web Design & Dev, Sales Promotion, Packaging, Print.
  • Clients: Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser, Bud Light, BevIntel, Big Time Jersey, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Frankenmuth Brewery, Good Shepherd, Rolling Rock, Vi-Jon.

Sr Art Director
Shaw Company
2003 - 2008
St. Louis, MO

  • Led a team of Designers, Production Artists and Developers.
  • Collaborated with regional and national Photographers and Illustrators. 
  • Solutions: Advertising, Branding, Marketing (B2C & B2B), Sales Promotion, Packaging, Print, and Web Design & Dev..
  • Clients: Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Select, Shock Top, Michelob, Brunswick, Costa Farms, Match Meats, Vi-Jon, and Nexsol Biodiesel.

Art Director
Zipatoni
2001 - 2002
St. Louis, MO

  • Art Director for everything Quiznos. 
  • Collaborated with an incredible team of Marketers, Designers, and Writers.
  • Solutions: Branding, In-Store Design, Menu Design, Sales Promotion, and Packaging.
  • Lead Art Director for Photoshoots in LA and print press approvals in Denver.

Designer
The Marlin Company
1999 - 2001
Springfield, MO

Created print and interactive solutions for Kellogg's, FoodHandler, Mission Foods, ConAgra Foods, Portion Pac Inc., Sysco and Drury University. Was also lucky enough to be put in charge of maintaining stock photo book library.. yes, book. Old school.

 

Education

Missouri State University
BFA in Graphic Design
1995 - 2000

Business Skills

BRANDING
Business Strategy
Identity
Product Design
Packaging

E-COMMERCE
Web Design
UX / UI
Retail Partnerships
Photography

DIGITAL MARKETING
Online Advertising
Influencer Marketing
Social Content & Ads
Email Marketing

Technical Skills

  • Adobe CC: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign.
  • E-commerce: Shopify (various apps), Volusion, Squarespace, Etsy, Amazon, Shipstation, Stripe.
  • Mac: Pages, Numbers, iMovie. / PC: Word, Excel, Power Point.
  • Tools: Mailchimp, Dropbox, Later, Trello.
  • Google: Analytics, Adwords, Search Console, Merchant Center, Shopping Campaigns, MyBusiness, G Suite, Sheets, Docs, Drive, Calendar.
  • Social Advertising: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest.
  • Experience working with developers in HTML, CSS, JS, PHP.