Jul 2025 – Mar 2026 · 8 mos · New York, New York, United States · Hybrid

• Lead global brand strategy and creative execution for a platform serving 300M+ users across 150+ countries. Report to CMO and collaborate with C-suite to shape company positioning during critical growth phase and acquisition.
• Direct team of 25+ FTEs spanning brand strategy, design, in-house production studio, content marketing, creative operations, and marketing engineering, plus management of agency partners and contractor network, raising the bar for creative quality, operational efficiency, and speed-to-market while reducing reliance on costly external agencies.
• Key Impact:
• Immediately elevated creative standards across all customer touchpoints, from Vimeo's annual user conference to campaigns and sales materials that directly supported major enterprise acquisitions including AWS, OpenAI, Starbucks, and Walmart
• Led creative for major product launches and go-to-market initiatives, partnering with product, sales, and executive leadership to align brand storytelling with business priorities
• Served as primary brand spokesperson across customer events, industry conferences, all-hands presentations, and media — representing Vimeo with conviction and passion that inspired employees, clients, and external audiences
• Architected integrated campaigns spanning brand, performance marketing, product marketing, and lifecycle, establishing systems that connected brand awareness directly to business outcomes
• "Dave's one of those rare creative leaders who combines taste, strategic rigor, and real operational leadership. His energy, conviction, and passion for the work were genuinely infectious across the company. He wasn't just executing he was shaping how Vimeo showed up in the world and how creativity functioned as a growth driver inside the business." — Charlie Ungashick, CMO

Dec 2019 – Jul 2025 · 5 yrs 7 mos · New York City Metropolitan Area · Remote

• Led creative across Square's fastest-growing business units, owning every touchpoint from GTM campaigns to digital, social, OOH, performance marketing, CTV, direct mail, and experiential. Personally selected by CEO Jack Dorsey to serve on Block's exclusive Leadership Team.
• Built creative function from the ground up, initially scaling teams across Hardware, Retail, Restaurants, and Health & Beauty verticals before pivoting to lead all creative for Restaurants, the company's highest-priority growth opportunity.
• Key Impact:
• Repositioned and rebranded Square for Restaurants to resonate with core F&B demographic. Work was repeatedly featured in shareholder letters and became the company-wide standard for visual identity, messaging, and marketing strategy
• Conceived and led customer research initiatives generating insights that directly informed brand identity, product roadmap, and customer retention strategy
• Led creative for major campaigns including "Big In Restaurants" and influencer partnerships (Eric Wareheim content series) that drove significant leads and brand awareness
• Embedded with sales as strategic closer, regularly joining client pitches to win new business
• Scaled high-performing teams that achieved highest employee engagement scores in the company
• "He isn't afraid to take big swings and make incredible work that's beyond what's expected and are literally things folks want to hang on their walls." — James Schonzeit, Head of Product Design
• "He has an unparalleled passion and care for our customers. He's the kind of partner and collaborator researchers hope for." — Carol Camilleri, Research Lead

Apr 2019 – Nov 2019 · 7 mos · Seattle & San Francisco

• Led product and marketing design for Alexa's third-party ecosystem across distributed teams in Seattle and San Francisco. Directed creative vision for how global partners including Bose, Facebook, LG, Sonos, and NASA brought voice AI to life, delivering experiences that redefined usability, accessibility, and delight across multiple devices and form factors. The experience shaped how I think about speed, scale, and operational excellence in product development.

Jan 2016 – Jan 2019 · 3 yrs · Greater Seattle Area · On-site

• Brought to Microsoft to build design studio for a highly innovative new B2C product from the ground up. Scaled multidisciplinary team from zero to 25+ FTEs across product design, motion, illustration, research, and creative direction, plus management of agency partners. Our product was selected as the centerpiece of Microsoft's holiday campaign with media buys including primetime TV. Went on to lead design teams touching multiple products used by millions worldwide (Paint, PowerPoint, Excel), partnering closely with engineering, comms, research, and marketing. Gained deep expertise in shipping products at global scale and leading creative inside a Fortune 500 environment where collaboration, vision, and cross-functional partnership are essential.

May 2014 – Jan 2016 · 1 yr 8 mos · Greater New York City Area · On-site

• Recruited to Edelman to build the agency's first experience design studio from the ground up, establishing a new offering that became a significant revenue driver and helped evolve the company beyond its traditional PR foundation. My work and leadership quickly caught the attention of Richard Edelman and executive leadership, who leveraged the studio's elevated creative standards to win new business and compete in the modern agency landscape.
• Scaled multidisciplinary teams delivering award-winning work for major clients including eBay, Unilever, Samsung, Heineken, and Comcast.
• Became go-to speaker for internal all-hands and external industry events, bringing the energy and creative vision that helped Edelman show up differently in market.

Oct 2011 – Apr 2014 · 2 yrs 6 mos · New York, New York, United States · On-site

• Led creative development for experiential campaigns, creating one-of-a-kind experiences for clients including Whole Foods, Delta Air Lines, JP Morgan Chase, Audi, Madison Square Garden, US Open, Samsung, and Heineken. Managed projects from concept through live production, including environmental design, custom build-outs, and real-time event execution.
• Developed high-impact activations like Delta's "Social Soul" experience at the TED Conference, branded installations at Madison Square Garden and US Open, and innovative programs that amplified brand awareness and customer engagement.
• Pitched and sold creative directly to clients while leading a small, high-performing team.
• Gained expertise in what makes in-person experiences resonate and how to stay calm when live events go sideways.

Aug 2010 – Sep 2011 · 1 yr 1 mo · Brooklyn, NY · On-site

• Led all social media marketing and content development as a team of one (later scaled to two), establishing social as a strategic driver for customer engagement, retention, and support. Collaborated cross-functionally with product, design, engineering, legal, communications, and executive leadership to shape how Etsy showed up and connected with its community across social platforms.
• Pioneered use of social media for real-time customer support during site outages and product launches, turning potential friction points into opportunities for transparency and trust-building. Helped leadership understand social's value beyond marketing, as a tool for listening, learning, and strengthening customer relationships at scale.

Mar 2000 – Jul 2010 · 10 yrs 4 mos · Greater Los Angeles Area

• Co-founded Better Looking Records, an independent label representing artists including Jimmy Eat World, The Good Life, The Album Leaf, and Cursive. Expanded the business into music publishing, licensing songs for television, film, and national ad campaigns for brands such as Jeep, Hummer, and Cadillac. Oversaw all aspects of A&R, marketing, and distribution.

Feb 1999 – Jul 2010 · 11 yrs 5 mos · San Diego, California

• In the winter of 1999, somewhere between a Beach Boys song and a big idea, I founded Holiday Matinee, a creative agency named after a family tradition of taking my grandmother to a Christmas Day movie. What began as a one-person PR effort for artists like Jimmy Eat World, Death Cab for Cutie, Sigur Rós, Cat Power, and Bright Eyes quickly grew into a full-service creative agency. Over time, we partnered with brands including Apple, Ford, Zappos, W Hotels, TOMS, and Xbox—helping them connect with culture through storytelling, design, and experience. Along the way, we hosted events, launched a co-working space, wrote a book, built mobile apps, and created our own lifestyle brand, all rooted in the belief that creativity should inspire action and community.