With a BS in engineering from Syracuse University and intrigued by the promise that marketing holds, I decided to go back to school to study business, specifically marketing. After getting my MBA from Harvard Business School, I became a consultant. Little did I know that marketing and technology would eventually collide.

After stints in leadership positions at consulting firms, I landed at Razorfish in 1999 as chief operating officer. Back then, technology wasn’t advanced enough to deliver on-brand promises and the bubble burst. But the past decade has truly seen the convergence of marketing and technology and in hindsight, my early career experiences primed me for that shift.

Since acting as chief operating officer, my job has evolved. I was president of the East region for six years before becoming the global CEO of Razorfish in 2009. In 2011, I was named leader of VivaKi’s digital assets as well as leader of its Digital Transformation Team, a cross-agency group charged with developing a strategy to accelerate digital capabilities and technology for Publicis Groupe.

In addition to being at the helm of Razorfish, I serve as the CEO of Publicis Groupe's Digital Technology Division which includes Razorfish, the Digitas LBi network and Denuo—leading over 7500 employees worldwide. I also drive the agencies' digital product offerings which currently include Fluent and CRM365. I represent the Groupe's technology assets on Publicis Groupe’s P12, its Strategic Leadership Team and the board of directors for its VivaKi unit.

I love working with clients and our amazing teams, selling new work, challenging ideas and driving innovation within the organization. Making a difference to our clients and their bottom lines, and helping them communicate with customers like never before is without doubt the most rewarding and energizing part of my job.

In advancement of the industry, I sit on the board of directors for the Ad Council and IAB; I'm also an active member of the TED community and a founding member of the Nantucket Project. Whenever I can, I enjoy biking, surfing and spending time with my family.

When I wrote my first basic program on my Atari 800 I was hooked; I’ve been spending time with computers ever since. I studied computer science and philosophy at Boston University, looking to bring the answered and unanswered together. The thing that keeps technology exciting is that it’s constantly changing and always fresh. That’s something I’ve always loved about this industry, and often it feels it’s growing at a faster pace every day.

As global chief technology officer for Razorfish, I manage our capabilities in Web cross-platform technology architecture and development, and oversee all our technologists. A core part of this role involves looking to the community for collaboration, and I’m consistently amazed by technologies like good-old message boards and wikis. (In fact, I was fortunate to help Razorfish build our internal, award-winning wiki.)

I’ve been in the industry for close to 20 years, previously at Cambridge Technology Partners and Scient. My professional experience in the application development life cycle, from inception to rollout, led to my work with clients ranging from Citibank to Ford Motor Company to the National Football League. Most recently, I was CTO in Razorfish’s role as incubation partner for Bundle, a personal finance startup. I also enjoy training and creating curriculums, and recently led the development of the Razorfish Agile Process.

Anything outdoors is my passion, whether biking, skiing or hiking with the family. Over the years I’ve enjoyed mountain bike and ski racing, and was fortunate to ride across Costa Rica in La Ruta de Los Conquistadores. I also find the DIY culture very inspiring; I’m looking forward to hacking some Arduino with my kids someday soon.

I get most excited when brands stop talking and start doing. Organizations require a new generation of thinking, ideas, storytelling, interaction, digital products and utility-driven services to keep their promise to play a meaningful, indispensable role in the lives of their audience.

I joined Razorfish in 2011 with a brief to focus on the creative leadership of our key multinational clients and to help Razorfish realize the ambition of being the market leader in creative excellence, talent, brand profile and positioning.

Prior to joining Razorfish, I spent 15 years as a key leader at AKQA, growing the business and working with a large number of the world’s top 50 brands. While leading the creative team and working with some truly talented people, I was fortunate enough to be recognized as one of the world’s most awarded creative directors and had the opportunity to make a significant contribution to the agency’s 21 Agency of the Year accolades.

In addition to collaboration with clients, I produced design practice workshops for the Design Museum, London, and worked with students via their education program. I have also served as judge and chairperson for the leading UK, European and global creative award initiatives in the advertising and design industry. In 2010, I was proud to be recognized as the UK’s No.1 Digital Creative Director and was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in recognition of my work and overall contribution to excellence in digital advertising.

I’m on round two with Razorfish. During my first stint at the agency, I worked in a variety of roles ranging from senior vice president of media to general manager of the Northwest region to chief strategy officer. After 10 years, I decided to spend time on the publisher side of the industry, serving as managing director of the advertiser and publisher solutions group at Microsoft Advertising. But in 2011, Razorfish played the role of the Godfather, and I was a willing Michael Corleone — getting pulled back into the industry’s most dynamic agency.

In my current role I oversee all media planning and buying globally, and have a passion for understanding how mobile, social media, ad exchanges and data management are reshaping the media industry. Again.

I’m a long-suffering fan of Seattle’s professional sports teams (and yes, I’m still bitter about the Sonics moving to the city that shall not be named) as well as the Washington State University Cougars. I live on Mercer Island (just outside of Seattle), with my wife, three children, two fish and dog. In my spare time I’m an occasional, and very average, coach of youth sports. I’m also a board member at Mixpo, formerly a board member at AdXpose (since sold to comScore) and a corporate advisor to several startups.

I have always believed the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That belief, along with a thirst for exploration, has guided my decisions throughout life.

When I found the Internet, I knew that my affinity for being on high-performing teams would be satisfied. This is a business where technologists and marketers, creatives and project managers, math geniuses and account people all must come together to crack codes and solve riddles. Creating an environment where the best ideas can rise from the mosh pit is part art and part science — and always interesting.

As for that thirst for exploration, I’ll never forget my first encounter with the Spyglass browser in 1995 — it was love at first sight. I knew the browser would open up a whole new world and luckily for me, it keeps on changing. Every few years, the playing field dramatically shifts, and to succeed you need to completely reorient yourself.

As president of the East region for Razorfish, I am lucky to be able to tap into my passions every day. I’m surrounded by talented people who share my belief in the power of collaboration. We get to work with incredible brands like Mercedes-Benz USA, Unilever’s Axe, Citibank, Starwood and Ford Motor Company — brands that have all embraced winning through digital.

On the weekends you can find me coaching the power of team play to one of my kids’ sports teams.

I grew up loving sports, video games and math, which made pursuing a degree in engineering and computer science an easy decision for me. Believe it or not, my first job out of college was writing software programs for telephone switches in machine language. That was obviously long before software, creativity and marketing became so intertwined.

I quickly discovered that I needed to do something a little more dynamic, so I made the shift to consulting and led various practices that helped businesses innovate through emerging technologies. Immediately prior to joining Razorfish more than 10 years ago, I was the CEO of a digital consultancy for several years, where I became addicted to working with creatives, strategists, marketers and technologists to solve the most challenging business and marketing problems.

Today, I most enjoy working closely with clients and the Razorfish teams to create new strategies and ideas that are innovative and, of course, add value to brands and businesses. I like thinking about what's next — and am particularly passionate about how Razorfish and our clients can take specific action to capitalize on changes in technology and consumer behavior.

As the leader of the Central region, I manage our client teams and offices across Chicago, Atlanta and Austin. My other roles at Razorfish include executive leadership for several of our global practice groups including Emerging Experiences and Omnichannel Commerce. Outside of work, I enjoy running, sports and spending time with my wife and two children. 

As the president of the West region of Razorfish, I lead the Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. I have been with Razorfish for more than 12 years, and have built solutions across strategy, creative, technology, and media organizations, for clients including Disney, ESPN, CBS, Activision, Walmart, Sony, Intel and Microsoft.

The West Coast is a vibrant marketplace and I’m proud that we have built one of the largest agencies within the Western States. Our belief is that technology, media, user experience and creative unlock new brand experience possibilities, which change the way people interact with our clients. We have rich resources being so close to innovation centers and companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft and all the start-ups that are shaping the future.

But our journey has only just begun, as technology continues to shape marketing. Content, programming and storytelling are becoming more important as brands build enduring, always-on marketing. Ubiquitous computing, wearable computers and digital out-of-home are changing the way we think about sharing and being informed. I’m excited to lead our team of 500+ people who are the best in the business at working on these challenges, and can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Throughout my professional life, I’ve been inspired by almost every colleague, client and partner I have had the pleasure of working with. Ideas are the emulation of what we see, hear and experience — so sharing truly is the thing that keeps us moving.

After completing my LLM, I chose to pursue an alternative career, which resulted in a number of different roles within the music and film industries. Back then, I couldn’t have predicted that my experience would incorporate assisting Sean Connery for several months, cutting a license deal with the iconic music label Mo’Wax and becoming the unit manager on a B-movie production with French superstar Johnny Hallyday.

While working in the advertising industry in the early 90s, I progressed beyond the traditional discipline to set up and lead the first integrated agency in Germany, later named Tribal DDB. I took on responsibility for the EMEA region in 2005, tripling Tribal DDB's regional footprint to 24 offices and receiving many significant recognitions, from Cyber and Film Grand Prix Awards in Cannes to Advertising Age’s Global Agency Network of the Year.

As CEO International for Razorfish, I drive the business in all non-US markets, while strengthening our global footprint and growing client relationships. I’m motivated by our radical thinking and ground-breaking solutions, and am grateful for the chance to work with the smartest and most innovative colleagues, clients and partners every day.

Fresh from an MBA with a major in International Business Strategy and Finance, I started a career in advertising that over the next 25 years would take me from Paris to London and eventually to Singapore. My choices were not influenced by what I had learned but by the people I met. At the time, advertising drove change and created new marketing rules of engagement. I wanted to be part of the magic it generated and the feeling that nothing was impossible.

I embraced the challenges of globalization and led advertising changes in Europe for brands like Mars and Master Foods as well as the marketing transformation of companies like Air France from national to worldwide carrier. Beyond helping clients adapt their marketing organizations to a new world order, I was keen to embrace change within my organization, and as CEO of the EURORSCG Group in APAC for eight years, I led the transformation of a collection of advertising agencies into a network of 21 fully integrated operations in 15 countries through the development of marketing services and emerging digital capabilities.

Conscious that the digital revolution was only in its infancy and that advertising networks would never undertake the fundamental structural changes necessary to drive Internet and mobile opportunities beyond the realm of advertising, it was time to reinvent myself. In 2005, I became an entrepreneur and started a joint venture in Shanghai with a major Chinese digital company to develop a high-level, online operational marketing consultancy as well as a platform to manage CRM programs on mobile phones… slightly ahead of time.

In January 2011, I joined Razorfish as president of Asia Pacific to build out our China, India, Hong Kong and Australia operations, a network able to accompany our clients in their business transformation, particularly through the development of e-commerce and social media capabilities, both organically and through acquisitions.

After completing graduate studies in finance and accounting at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland in 1994, I secured a position with the Austrian Trade Commission in Malaysia, consulting companies on their market entry strategies. This early international career experience and cultural education set the tone for the rest of my professional journey.

Passionate about academic research, I returned to Switzerland in 1996 for doctoral studies. At that time, I also joined the Institute of Marketing to be part of large-scale European-wide research projects about best practices in marketing. Consequently, I advised industry-leading firms such as Hilti, Siemens, and Credit Suisse on customer acquisition, retention and marketing profitability strategies.

After receiving a scholarship from the Swiss National Science Foundation, I was accepted by Harvard University to continue my doctoral studies in 1999. During this time, I published several books, articles and case studies on best practices in marketing. In 2000, I joined Digitas in Boston, and in 2004 took on responsibility for the 100+ strong Strategy & Analysis teams in Boston and Detroit, leading large-scale assignments for clients including AT&T, Bayer, Ericsson, General Motors, Microsoft and SAP.

When Digitas was bought by the Publicis Groupe in 2007, I moved to London to serve global clients including General Motors and Samsung, and continued on to co-lead Digitas’ London operation with an emphasis on re-igniting its strategic and creative direction.

In 2010, the Publicis Groupe purchased Razorfish and I became Chief Operating Officer International, with responsibility for all offices and markets outside the US, and in 2011 added additional responsibilities as President EMEA.

Experience across multiple continents and an extensive academic career have contributed many insights and learnings to my role. As well as overseeing key multinational client relationships, my focus is orchestrating Razorfish’s international network capabilities, which enable us to deliver breakthrough, award-winning work for clients across geographies.

When I left school I started searching for a career that would combine my interest in business with my love of creativity. It could have been movies, music or advertising. Advertising won because the first job offer I received was from Cole & Weber, a division of Ogilvy & Mather. I spent nine years there, eventually becoming EVP general manager for the Seattle office.

Then I became disenchanted with the agency side of the business. It finally sunk in that advertising is only one part of building a brand, and I wanted to participate in everything. After a couple of jobs not worth mentioning, I moved to McCaw Cellular (which eventually became AT&T Wireless) to become head of sales and marketing for one of their divisions.

As the company grew into a big business, I developed a hunger for something more entrepreneurial. In 1996 I started a business in the custom-swimwear category. In three years we raised $5 million in equity, opened six stores, launched a Website and built a production facility in Seattle. At the end of the third year the business failed and I had to call all my investors to tell them we had lost their money. Those calls were not fun.

One of those investors was Nick Hanauer, the founder of Avenue A. He took pity and offered me a job. I joined the company in 1999 at the height of the Internet boom. I’ve never regretted it for a minute. The industry has changed every year, and we have been presented with a never-ending supply of fascinating challenges. And along the way I’ve made some lifelong friends within the industry.

Last year I released Do or Die, the first fully interactive business book for the iPad. In my spare time I study Italian and play in a mediocre blues band.