ON A MISSION TO MAKE EVERYTHING I TOUCH SIMPLE, UNEXPECTED, AND INSPIRING
I’m Havas New York’s Chief Strategy Officer, and have spent my career advising many of the world’s biggest brands, including Snickers, Dove, Doritos, Häagen-Dazs, Marriott, Modelo, and Frank’s RedHot. I care fiercely for the people I work with, have a talent for forging order from chaos, and pride myself of being an optimist in a pessimistic advertising age.
WORK I’VE LOVED WORKING ON
WElcome to vacay
Cayman islands department of tourism / GREY / 2025
THE CAYMAN ISLANDS WANTED TO BREAK FREE FROM THE (LITERAL) SEA OF SAMENESS OF CARIBBEAN BEACH DESTINATIONS, AND ‘VACAY’ gave the country a way to own a uniquely cayman APPROACH TO laid-back relaxation.
STAY CLOSE
WYNDHAM HOTELS / HAVAS / 2025
WYNDHAM’S HOLIDAY HOT TAKE? The best way to stay close to your family IS To SKIP THE PULL-OUT COUCH and STAY at a nearby hotel instead. and since 90% of people are within 10 miles of a wyndham, no hotel chain is better suited to serve as your holiday escape hatch.
unreturnable party box
jbl / havas / 2025
JBl had a problem – young partygoers were buying party boxes on friday, going ham, and then returning them on monday morning. this activation called out one particularly bad offender in such an engaging way that it went viral (and markedly reduced those pesky returns!)
feeling planty good
silk / havas / 2025
With other milk alternatives stealing its thunder And long-maligned milk making a comeback, Silk needed to reclaim its rightful place in american cereal bowls. enter creator carter vail, who wrote some serious earworms on the brand’s behalf, propelling it back to relevance (and winning a bronze lion too!)
when it’s on, it’s on
mike’s amazing / havas / 2025
this is my personal favorite installment of Mike’s longtime collaboration with jason alexander - a spicy man who perfectly complements this spicy mustard. while other condiment brands play it safe, Mike’s amazing was founded on the belief in going out on a limb for the best. this ad embodies that ethos perfectly.
frank it up
frank’s redhot / GREY / 2022
i spent years finding new spins on frank’s iconic ‘i put that $#!T on everything’ campaign. this one hits the usual ‘use it on this and this and this’ notes, but it does it in a particularly charming and beautiful way.
LET YOUR MIND TRAVEL
MARRIOTT HOTELS / GREY / 2019
AT A TIME WHEN AIRBNB HAD made hotel travel feel like a COOKIE-CUTTEr corporate choice, MARRIOTT needed TO GIVE PEOPLE A REASon - BEYOND BONVOY points - to choose it. let your mind travel elevated the brand and made it feel newly special and interesting.
mark of a fighter
modelo / GREY / 2024
while other beer brands crowd around the ‘good times with good friends’ space, modelo stands apart, evoking tenacity, perseverance, and pride in a job well done. this campaign cemented modelo as a cultural icon and helped it overtake bud light to become the best-selling beer in america.
give cinco stars this cinco de mayo
modelo / GREY / 2023
between the white guys in sombreros and marg specials at APPLEBEE’s, No mexican holiday feels less authentic than cinco de mayo. modelo aimed to change that, with a program celebrating mexican business owners.
HERE FOR IT
ADORE ME / GREY / 2020
Direct-to-consumer LINGERIE BRANDS ALL FELT a little beige and staid, but not adore me. this valentine’s day campaign made the most of the brand’s comparatively brash, unapologetic, and AUDACIOUS energy.
halftime bathroom break
febreze / GREY / 2017
my first super bowl spot, a kathryn hahn-narrated homage to the one moment that unites all americans – the rush to the bathroom during the precious minutes between the end of the second quarter and the start of the halftime show. won a lion, an effie, and helped febreze steal top air-freshener status from glade.
bleep don’t stink
febreze / GREY / 2018
febreze’s second crack at the super bowl was even bolder. We tempted censors with the story of a man whose ‘BLEEP’ don’t stink. ‘Normal, normal, he’s a freak’ is still a line I reference constantly.
onslaught
DOVE / ogilvy / 2008
the first ad I ever made - can’t you tell from how pixellated that image is?!? in the early years of dove’s famed campaign for real beauty, this marked one of the first (but certainly not the last) times dove placed responsibility for girls’ self-esteen issues upon the media
THe END
doritos / bbdo / 2011
another pixellated oldie - this one made during the heyday of crowdsourced flavors, from the tortilla chip brand that arguably did it better than anyone else. this was so long ago that i was still an account person!
HIGHLIGHT REEL
podcasts
brand are not important
behavioral branding with van rais / 2026
while ostensibly about branding and behavior change, this podcast mostly wound up being a greatest hits tour of my work, from Snickers to Frank's RedHot to Modelo to Wyndham Hotels. (Sorry for hogging the mic Van!)
The future of strategy in the ai era
waldo how i strategy / 2025
here, i share the framework i use to evaluate insights (the true and interesting test!) and talk about how ai is changing the work my team and i do every day.
laundry list of everything else
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Degrees I've Earned
Yale University / MBA / 2011
Carleton University / Bachelor of Journalism / 2008
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Jobs I've Done
Chief Strategy Officer / Havas New York / Sept 2024 - Present
Head of Brand Strategy / Grey New York / Dec 2022 - Sept 2024
Executive Strategy Director / Grey New York / Dec 2021 - Nov 2022
Group Strategy Director / Grey New York / Oct 2019 - Nov 2021
Strategy Director / Grey New York / Mar 2016 - Sept 2019
Strategy Director / TAXI New York / Mar 2015 - Mar 2016
Senior Planner / TAXI Toronto / May 2014 - Feb 2015
Account Planner / TAXI Toronto / Apr 2013 - Apr 2014
Account Planner / BBDO Toronto / May 2012 - Apr 2013
Account Supervisor / BBDO Toronto / May 2011 - Apr 2012
Project Manager / Derek Lam New York / Jun 2009 - Apr 2011
Associate Account Executive / Ogilvy Toronto / May - Aug 2008
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Awards I've Won
Campaign Strategist of the Year / 2026
Campaign Strategy Team of the Year / 2026
North American Bronze Effie / Wyndham Stay Close / 2026
Cannes Lions Bronze / Silk Feeling Planty Good / 2025
Clios Sports Bronze / JBL Unreturnable Party Box / 2025
4As Jay Chiat Bronze / Wyndham Stay Close / 2025
LIAs 2 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze / the harris project You Don't Know The Half Of It / 2025
LIAs Gold /Mike’s Amazing / 2025
North American Silver Effies / Frank’s RedHot / 2024
Cannes Lion Bronze / Frank’s RedHot / 2023
Cannes Lion Shortlist / Frank’s RedHot / 2023
North American Silver Effie / TUMS / 2021
ARF David Ogilvy Silver / Advil / 2020
Cannes Lion Shortlist / Frank’s RedHot / 2019
Twitter Brand Bowl / Frank’s RedHot / 2019
North American Silver Effie / Febreze / 2018
Global Bronze Effie / Febreze / 2016
Silver Cassie / Kraft Peanut Butter / 2016
WARC Top 100 Campaigns / MiO / 2015
50 Planners to Watch / The Planning Salon / 2014
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Awards I've Judged
Grand Effie Awards / 2025
4As Jay Chiat Awards / 2024, 2025
Effie Awards Final Round / 2022, 2023
Collegiate Effie Awards / 2020
Griffin Farley’s Beautiful Minds / 2017