Based in Chicago
Global Executive Creative Director at Leo Burnett Chicago, Sam is the most awarded Executive Creative Director in the world by D&AD, The One Club for Creativity, and The Clios. In just under 2 years, Sam lead Leo Burnett Chicago to Agency of the Year honors at multiple shows, in addition to landing coveted global account wins in Powerade and Maker’s Mark. A two-time D&AD Black Pencil recipient, Emmy-nominee, and 12-time Grand Prix winner, Sam partners with some of the world’s most innovative companies to build their brands and launch industry first ideas. Fluidly moving across every medium, Sam pioneers a new creative approach that blends strategy, technology, and data to fearlessly solve his client's toughest challenges.
Prior to Leo Burnett, Sam and his partner Frank Cartagena were tasked with building 360i New York into one of the US’s most innovative and integrated agencies. Named to Ad Age’s coveted Agency A-List for 8 consecutive years, Sam was responsible for the first Cannes Grand Prix win in the agencies history for his work on HBO’s Westworld “The Maze” activation; creating a first-of-its kind immersive gaming experience with Amazon Alexa.
In 2014, Sam joined Deutsch New York, where in just under 3 years he lead the agency to their first ever Cannes Titanium Lion for his work on ‘Krylon’s Pinterest Yardsale’, a project that paved new ground for brand partnerships and emerging platform functionality with the launch of Pinterest’s buyable pin feature. During this time, Sam was named a two-time Business Insider 30-under-30 winner.
Sam started his career at DDB New York, where his work for the charity WaterIsLife helped win the agencies’ first Cannes Lions in over 10 years and his work on ‘The Drinkable Book’ was named to TIME Magazine’s best inventions of the year.
In addition to his love for advertising, Sam shares a passion for helping worthy causes. His work for Change the Ref and Water Is Life has helped propel the issues of gun violence and the world water crisis into the global spotlight, garnering awareness and life-saving donations for two of the most important issues facing the world today.
Prior to starting his career in advertising, Sam attended the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in communications and design. As a two-sport division 1 athlete, Sam was an All-Ivy League recipient in Track and field.
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