When not working I'm generally either hanging out with my family or pursuing my life-long passion—endurance sports.

Over the course of the past decade or so, I've managed to check mark some pretty lofty goals; I've completed an Ironman triathlon, swam from Alcatraz to shore and in July, 2011 I accomplished a long-time objective: a 100-mile trail run.

The reason I share this isn't to boast—it should be noted that I'm a middle-of-the-pack finisher, at best. But there's a strong correlation between my love for endurance sports and how I run our business operations on the West Coast, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Orange County. I like to think that our approach to business is reflected in my personal approach to endurance sports. This manifests itself on a number of different levels:

• We don't get fazed easily and we finish everything that we start
• We understand that hard, smart work always pays dividends on "race day"
• We set lofty, ambitious goals and tackle them one element at time
• We are built for distance; we take a long-term approach towards building our own business as well as our clients'

In my twenty-plus years of agency life, I've successfully toggled a focus on both technology and consumer marketing. The old adage that you're judged by the company you keep rings true to me, and I'm especially proud of the clients I've partnered with over the years. They include McDonald's, Sony, Logitech, Microsoft, Active Network, Treasury Wine Estates, StubHub and Hyundai, among many other others. I take special pride in the fact that for most of these clients we've managed to evolve our role from that of mere agency, to trusted and valued business partner.

I've been with the Ruder Finn Group for many years. Prior to leading the Finn Partners West Coast operations, I led Ruder Finn Chicago. During that time I developed a deep appreciation for the Midwest work ethos. I also learned I don't like to be cold.

Before that, I worked with several other agencies in New York City. I graduated with a degree in English from the University of Michigan and currently reside in lovely Mill Valley, CA with my wife and two children.