Bio & Resume

Career Bio

As an Art Director with deep experience, I have been helping companies of various size achieve brand recognition, capture market share and increase sales for over 10 years. My aptitude spans multiple disciplines of design and I have worked from both studio and client sides. Currently, I am the Senior Art Director at Fortunoff Backyard Store, a well known brand which has 29 retail locations in the US.

Throughout my career I have been entrusted with creating identity for both product and company as well as evolving existing brands. Through strategic planning, budgeting and teamwork, I have supported products utilizing all forms of marketing in the digital and print spaces. I'm adept at both B2B and B2C marketing, driving the creative process, developing concepts and applying them to integrated campaigns to meet business and promotional needs.

As a manager I've hired and directed staff from intern to art director, mentoring with insight and stressing best practices in concept development and production. I have organized and built in-house creative studios and staffed them from the ground up, managing small to large teams. .

I produce and direct photo shoots, both product and model, on a regular basis, managing all creative, choosing location and vendors. I have extensive experience reviewing and hiring outside creative agencies and personnel and a passion for working and collaborating in photographic settings.

Educated in New York City at the School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design in Graphic Design, I've also benefitted from an internship at Photo Lettering, Inc. under the tutelage of Ed Benguiat. Additionally, as a result of working my way through college at a commercial offset print house, I have expert knowledge in numerous forms of commercial print production, including web and sheet-fed offset, pad, gravure and silk screen. These skills have complemented my creative and production expertise utilizing numerous software and hardware tools of the creative trade.

Lastly, I consider myself a versatile, creative person who, when not designing or directing, finds endless satisfaction through daily drawing and photography.

I reside with my family in Melville, New York.

Resume

EMPLOYMENT
10/12 to Present    Senior Art Director
Fortunoff Backyard Store, Garden City, NY
> National leader in luxury outdoor furnishings and accessories
> Senior creative leader with staff of 3
> > Direct and execute creative concepts across print, interactive, radio and tv
> Manage creative and production for 20+ catalogs per year. 3+MM circulation
> Oversee and produce 20+ promotional email campaigns per year, totaling 100+ emails
> Art Direct and produce 15+ photoshoots per year
> Designed and created workflow and archiving system for in-store display and merchandising signage
> In-store creative support for 29 US stores

08/01 to Present     Art Director & Graphic Designer
Jim Cavanagh Graphic Design
Partsearch Technologies, Numerix Corporation, Misys Corporation, IQ Financial Systems, Mars Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Samson Technologies, Mark Wood Music, Carlexa International,
The Ales Group, USA (Phyto brand), Ladybird Books (Penguin USA), Mark Wood Music,
The Funhouse Discovery Center, Cohn Creative Group

04/09 to 07/10     Senior Art Director
Graphic Image, Inc., Melville, NY
> Senior creative in charge of product development, marketing and ecommerce
> Supporting four high-end luxury brands in the leather goods/gift markets
> Manage a staff of three graphic designers, web developers and production artists
> Manage Korean and Chinese print vendors with annual budget over $3 million
> Clients include Brooks Brothers, Tiffany & Co, Bergdorf-Goodman, Henri Bendel, JCrew,
HBO, Victoria?s Secret, Neiman-Marcus, Holt-Renfrew, Harrods of London, Talbots, Crane & Co. and more
> Plan and execute extensive photo shoots art direction
> Develop and execute marketing initiatives for POS and in-store signage

04/03 to 09/06     Senior Art Director
Samson Technologies Corporation, Hauppauge, NY
> Senior art creative leading a staff of 7 ADs, designers, production, photographer
> Supporting 500 consumer electronic packaged goods
> Strategic creative support to product development and roll-out
> Budgeting for $5-6.5MM annually
> In-store creative support for 50 Sam Ash stores nationwide

06/00 to 09/01     Creative Director
MediaOnDemand.com, NYC
> Senior art creative. Staff of 3 designers
> Brand creation; Establish brand style and guidelines
> Presentation support for national sales staff of 70+
> Key member of client-side team for advertising, PR and design services

09/98 to 06/00     Creative Director
VideoSnap.com, Woodbury, NY and NYC
> Hired to build studio and staff of 6 for internet start-up.
> Create corporate and product brand and style guide
> Strategic creative product development and rollout
> Client-side lead for external creative services

09/91 to 06/98     Senior Art Director
Goodman Media Group, NYC
> National newsstand magazine publisher

07/93 to 09/98     Freelance Graphic Designer
Pluzynski Associates, NYC
> Catalogs and DM
Accounts: American Express, AT&T, Avon, Chanel, Coach, Spiegel, Herman's

06/91 to 07/93     Art Director
Drake Publishing, NYC
> National newsstand magazine publisher

09/89 to 06/91     Graphic Designer
SC Publications, Jericho, NY
> Catalogs and Direct Mail design
Accounts: Roosevelt Field Mall, Trumbull Shopping Plaza

EDUCATION
06/85 to 05/89     School of Visual Arts, NYC
Major: Graphic Design     Minor: Fine Art / Art History

01/83 to 05/85     Parsons School of Design, NYC
Major: Fine Art     Minor: Graphic Design

11/88     Internship: Photo Lettering, Inc. (PLINC)
Interned under the tutelage of Ed Benguiat

01/83 to 05/89     Student of Commercial Printing Processes
Worked my way through college in a commercial offset printing plant
Major: prepress     Minor: Production; Intangibles of the lithographic offset process; Finishing techniques

TECHNOLOGY
> MAC OS (1989)
> Adobe CS
> Quark
> Adobe Flash and Dreamweaver
> MS Office suite
> Apple production tools
> PC / Windows OS