I love identifying and defining exciting goals and assembling teams of people to accomplish them. Often times, people are capable of so much more than they think, and I've proven the ability to help them reach their best.
When I left the newspaper after 10 years, I invited all of my past employees to a big marketing department party. Everyone showed up, and several flew in from Washington and California.
The Shoreline area needed an Ultimate Frisbee club for middle school kids, so I started one. We had 36 kids sign up last year, and 40 this year. (I'm the one in the mask.)
In 1997, I started an Ultimate Frisbee league in Madison - Madison's Alternative Ultimate League. It lasted until I moved. This is some of the original members breaking ground on our new field.
In 2015, we would sometimes start days by getting in tune - literally. We would all sing a note until we were on the same note. Building close and effective teams is perhaps my greatest professional passion.
But Don't take my word for it...
Anyone can get LinkedIn recommendations. It's not that I have some. It's what they've said about me. What resonated with my past co-workers is exactly what I hoped they experienced working with me.
Keith Nelson, Shoreline Sports Foundation Director
Jon relentlessly expects excellence of himself, but he also works hard to push those around him and position them for success. As a result, people enjoy giving him their best work possible.
Genessa Demin - Senior Client Marketing Manager
Jon is a leader like no other. He'll bring the killer music selection, some epic success/fail stories to inspire you, and the encouragement and brainpower to think outside the box and push the limits on all the work he touches. As my manager, I watched him triple the size of our client services team to support our clients and the internal team better. He changed our long-standing operating model to build our creative team and deliver work more efficiently and accurately. He advocates for and supports his people wholeheartedly and is always honest, authentic, curious, and daring. If you get the chance to work with him, I highly recommend it.
Rebecca Collins Brown - Freelance Content Writer and Content Architect/Owner of Wonder Lab Creative
In a world where people expect to take orders as the norm, Jon realizes this approach may check boxes but it never reaches the heights of great leadership or spectacular vision. So instead he encourages dynamic teams that deal in honesty and earnest passion for doing the best possible job. Jon is not the norm and he is the furthest thing from rank and file. Anyone who has an opportunity to work with Jon will only come out better from his vision, his authenticity, and his natural leadership skills that empower every team member to initiate and lead while taking accountability.
Tanya Johnson - Art Director
Jon is one of the best leaders I've been privileged to work with in my career. I've seen him double the size of our creative team and our creative business within the first year that he worked at Responsys. He took entry-level creatives and turned them into leaders. He took a team with struggling morale and turned them into the team that everybody wanted to be a part of.
Jon is fearless. He approaches every project as if anything was possible. As a result, his "dream big" mentality has won the business of clients and their customers (oh, and lots of industry awards).
My favorite thing about Jon though is how he leads his team. Jon genuinely wants to help his employees become better at what they do. He is encouraging and creates an environment that is fun and rewarding, an environment that people are proud to be a part of. He is always willing to confront and solve issues one on one with his peers and team members that result in employee personal growth and trust.
I am lucky enough to be one of those team members who is better than I once was and all because Jon had seen my potential and wouldn't let me slide. I would be honored to work with him again one day.
"A strong and considerate leader who believes in, fights for, and inspires the people around him." - Matt Everson, Owner of Astuteo
I coached girls basketball for five years before deciding it was time for a new coach. It's a great thing to watch the players improve and work together like a team.
Dana Smitham - Art Director
As a leader, Jon is as valuable as they come, not only for his creative and strategic thinking, but also for his analysis of what makes something work or not work, and his ability to explain that to others. He’s smart, honest, dynamic, and a fantastic leader. Jon was an extremely influential mentor in my career and one of my all-time favorite managers.
Truthfully, he taught me how to concept and think conceptually on a professional level. He's a tremendous thinker, writer and friend. Jon is always willing to give you his time and he is certainly generous with it when you ask. And funny. You can’t forget funny, because it’s so necessary for survival in this business. Jon not only survives, he helps others thrive. I would highly recommend him and I look forward to our paths crossing again.
"Jon is a smart, innovative and creative thought leader. He worked diligently to help drive much of the strategic and creative direction for Verizon’s lifecycle campaigns. As his client, I enjoyed working with such a passionate digital marketer and learned a lot from him." - Patti Rutkin - Verizon (Client)
Michael Ryan Wilson - Art Director
Jon is a different kind of leader. Certainly not textbook, he empowers and trusts his team members to make the right decisions. The accountability and purpose he gave art directors, designers, writers, and developers helped grow a creative department in both knowledge and physical numbers. His ability to identify and utilize talent, implementing structure, was essential in building and leading teams.
I was lucky to work for him, on very large accounts and projects for Verizon Wireless and Safeway. The marketing strategies and creative solutions he drove were ambitious, and one of the things I appreciated the most. We never settled for “just good enough”, as long as it exceeded the business goals. With Jon, there is no ego’s, he can be told his idea is wrong, and will help adapt and evolve the right solution. This is how we came to create such visionary work.
I am thankful to have been a key piece in his team. He gave me the support and confidence to make the next steps in my career. I genuinely look forward to working with Jon again in the future.
Keeping things loose is important to keep a team working together - especially a creative team. I bought my team hazmat suits to keep us safe from germs and infections. They were thrilled to wear them. (I'm the one in the hazmat suit.)
Chris Young - Product Manager
Jon is driven by a singularity of purpose: he consistently delivers and communicates the main values of the product and/or brand in everything he does, period. From brand management to strategy development to the smallest details of a project... delivering value is always his focus. He brings a strong intensity and leadership to every team interaction and never shies away from spirited discussion. These traits, combined with a broad skill set, make him extremely valuable to any organization.
From 2009 - 2011, I coached over 100 sprinters with the Meadowbrook Community Center track team. Keeping track of everyone and helping them improve was almost as difficult as managing practices with that many kids.
"Jon has the uncanny ability to create strategies that make people want to go beyond their daily work routine to help execute." - Todd Lekan - Technical Architect
The Marketing Practice internal TiMPani award nominations
Jon creates an environment where it’s safe to innovate and think differently. He encourages, supports, and guides. And he shows up with positive energy and enthusiasm no matter what’s going on for him behind the scenes. Jon is a calming influence and always a sensible head to have around who knows what good looks like. He’s an outside of the box thinker, honest, and somebody you want to have on your side. Jon understands the importance of rallying his team around shared goals.
Pamela Alexander - Entreprenuer
I’ve known Jon for years and for years he’s been pushing the proverbial envelope: leading teams, sharing insight, testing the limits of his own capabilities. Jon is tenacious, candid, daring, experienced and has a huge dose of common sense. Jon strikes an effective balance between strategic discipline and an action orientation. Jon is well aware of who he is, what he does well and walks it like he talks it. This is a rare combination indeed.
Jakub Kubicka - Results-driven Marketing Leader
Jon is not just a marketer. He does not simply deliver what is asked of him and then clocks out. He does not settle for safe, predictable answers and solutions, just for the sake of pleasing superiors. No; Jon is perhaps one of the greatest marketing leaders because he does exactly the opposite of most. He's bold and pushes creative boundaries with an incredible personable flair. Often with irreverent style & humor. He's... A curator, a maestro, a skilled orchestrator of everything marketing, brand, & storytelling. A high performer, with an ability to deliver high output at a freaky-fast rate. Constantly challenging the status quo to be remarkable and long-term looking. I wouldn't be the marketer I am today without the mentorship and guidance of him. It's for this reason, and many others, I highly recommend Jon for any executive or VP role you're flirting with for him.
Apparently, my team found my consistent wearing of Marvel garb inspiring, because one day I came to work and they were all sporting a t-shirt. It was the most productive day we had all year.