I started Gray Suit, a boutique Austin-based consulting group, in 1998 in a restored garage in the Venice area of Los Angeles—inspired by The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, a novel about one man’s search for contentment and purpose. I help build and grow brands—from concept to rollout, as part of a campaign and, for select clients, embedded on an ongoing basis.
My work incorporates myriad building blocks into the design of a business as a means of driving a client's objectives and increasing the organization's value—from strategy, tactics, and business practices to communications, development, and graphic and interactive design.
I'm fluent in many sandboxes and related audiences, including start-ups, e-commerce, entertainment, sustainability, renewables, food, expat issues, beverages, philanthropy, politics, and science.
My background includes leading three e-commerce start-ups: an e-commerce shopping network, a private equity platform, a turnaround venture that was acquired that sparked the cold-brewed coffee revolution, and an Austin-based pet food company (Nulo.com). I'm also co-founder and partner of SX Signals, an online platform set to roll out in Q2 2024. I served as a communications volunteer for President Obama's 2008 campaign in St. Louis. I was also an advance communications deputy to the governor of California and director of special projects for a presidential foundation in another lifetime. I started my career in the Los Angeles Dodgers' media relations office.
I've been a long-time, trusted source for subjects, issues, and stories for news organizations such as The New York Times, NPR, National Geographic, NBC Evening News, NPR's Marketplace, and Texas Monthly to CNN, AP, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News, BBC, Houston Chronicle, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and The Washington Post.
As an embedded consultant, I've served as chief communications strategist for one of the U.S.'s preeminent sustainability-focused foundations since 2011. A roster of additional recent work includes Capital One, the Ethiopian Olympic Committee, the San Francisco-based The Philanthropy Workshop, Trelus, Global Endowment Management, Department of Physics at The University of Texas at Austin, Oaxaca, Mexico-based Puente, Rwanda-based The Women's Bakery, Ethiopia-based Nutrion, CoffeeJuice, a high-wealth Vancouver-based family office, and the Juneteenth Legacy Project.
