Experience.

amp Sound Branding (Munich, Germany / Chicago, IL, USA)

Creative Director October 2020 - present

2x Red Dot Awards, 1x Transform North America Award (Silver)

Building on my background in traditional design, creative direction, brand management/building, etc. as well as my passion for audio creation and development - my role is to translate your brand into the sonic space. In the same way that a logo is just one aspect of your brand - we treat brand’s audio development in a much more holistic way so that it is scalable, flexible, and clearly identifiable as the brand. I’m located in Chicago with US colleagues all across the states, and our Global HQ in my second home of Munich, Germany.

Wirecard AG (Aschheim, Germany)

Lead Creative Director August 2018 - September 2020*

Global Brand Migration, Corporate Identity, campaigns, customer engagement. Travel globally to subsidiaries to build and maintain brand standards as well as open & transparent world-wide communication. (EU, Brazil, US, APAC)

*Wirecard filed for insolvency in 2020, resulting in the closure of my department and many others.

Brainlab AG (Munich, Germany)

Senior Creative Manager June 2015 - July 2018

Branding, corporate marketing, adverts, campaign design, tradeshow design, editorial design. Team Lead for 7 designers in 2 international offices.

JST Studio (Chicago, IL, USA)

Freelance Creative Direction & Design July 2014 - July 2018

Freelance design and direction for a variety of different clients, brands and functions. (Print, advertising, digital front-end (web and app) social media, events, tradeshows, etc.)

Clients: Hasbro / Star Wars, Absolut, Malibu, J.P. Wiser’s Rye, Sears, Kahlua, Hilton, Negra Modelo, Corona, Jameson, Beanitos, General Electric, The Glenlivet, Aberlour, GrubHub, Bud Light, UFC, Kraft Brands, Brandtrust, University of Chicago, Best Buy, Pillsbury.

Brainlab, Inc. (Chicago, IL, USA)

Senior Designer / Brand Manager October 2012 - July 2014

Brand management, corporate identity, corporate marketing, adverts, campaign design, tradeshow design, editorial design, packaging.

Faucet Queen, Inc. (Vernon Hills, IL, USA)

Graphic Design Manager July 2009 - October 2012

Branding, packaging, and all marketing collateral for the Helping Hand and Latitude Tools brands, as well as other external partnerships.

RC2 Corp. (Oak Brook, IL, USA)

Graphics Manager September 2005 - May 2009

Branding, packaging, and marketing collateral for Thomas Wooden Railway toy line, as well as packaging design for the John Deere Preschool, Take Along Thomas, Bob The Builder and Nick Jr. toy lines.

Skills.

Software

Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, AfterEffects, Logic Pro X, Reason 8, Audition, Reaper, ProTools (basic), MS Office, Google Suite, Sketch, Dreamweaver/HTML (basic), Premiere (basic), etc.

Hard Skills

Hand sketching and ideation, brainstorming and strategy, audio creation (multiple instruments), Voice Overs, painting, print-making, organization and prioritization, delegation, collaboration.

Soft Skills

Extreme positive attitude and passion for daily work, flexible and adaptive to new challenges, collaborative focus, team leadership, mentoring, transparency, strong interpersonal skills, public speaking and presenting, willingness to learn new things and expand my horizon.

Languages

English (native speaker - US)

German (B2.2 proficiency)

Education.

September 2001 - May 2005

Double Major: Visual Communications and Fine Art: Pre-Masters at Judson University (Elgin, IL, USA)

Studied practical applications of Visual Communications as well as Fine Art (painting & print-making) to establish a well-rounded approach for graphic design and visual problem solving. AIGA University Chapter Vice President.

Me.

I’m a musician, artist, creative thinker, cocktail enthusiast, “beer league”/rat ice hockey goalie, and loving father to a beautiful cats named Goose & Tandy along with my wife (also from Chicago).

We made the full-time transition to Munich in the fall of 2016 after living our whole lives in the Chicagoland area; following our passion for travel and exploring new opportunities. It was a fantastic experience for 5+ years, and we relocated for my role at amp Sound Branding in August of 2021.

My design background started with music. My roots were planted in the Chicago DIY punk scene and my band and other locals needed affordable art for t-shirts, albums, etc., so that’s when I first dipped my toes in. Since then I’ve worked on developing everything from small businesses to global brands to punk and metal bands (yes, still) to you name it. It only made sense that my journey through brand development and brand management brought me back to music/audio, and I couldn’t be happier with that unforeseen path!