
Show Notes
Daniel Torres who is a slightly unique person for me to interview as his career has been as a CFO. But the CFO is someone who an in-house creative leader has to regularly convince to invest in either their creative team or the work they want they do for the brand. I met Daniel though one of our members, and he is a seasoned business mentor and finance leader with over 25 years of experience spanning tech, events, and media across multiple countries. Daniel began his career in Silicon Valley, where he was involved in the IPO of a startup hardware company and later played a key role in the sale of a US-listed software business to a UK company, which brought him to London in 2008. Daniel describes himself as “an accountant with a personality: my head is business, but my heart is creative.” Many of his friends are creatives too giving him a deep appreciation for the dynamics of creativity in business. So I thought he would make the perfect CFO to talk to. --- Download our Inside Out® Pathway - A guide to in-house creative leadership development and growth. The Inside Out Pathway is a starting point for in-house creative leaders to be able to navigate themselves and their teams to get creativity closer to the C-Suite. https://theinsideout.community/resources/the-inside-out-pathway
More from The Future of In-House Creative Leadership
This time I'm joined by Dave Brown, Vice President of Creative & Brand at Ethos. Dave is one of those rare creative leaders who has built brands from both sides of the table - founding his own creative agency, Holiday Matinee, and co-founding independent record label Better Looking Records, before stepping into creative leadership roles at some of the world's most recognised companies, including Etsy, Edelman, Microsoft, Amazon, Square and most recently Vimeo. Rooted in a DIY punk-rock ethos and a Sociology degree from Ithaca College, Dave leads with what he calls 'maker energy and executive perspective' - equally energised by directing the work as by setting the vision and coaching teams. He's also a published author, filmmaker, and investor in the beloved Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club in Brooklyn.
This time, I’m joined by Greg Logan, founder of Narrativity and author of Creating a Blockbuster Brand. Greg has had one of those careers that's genuinely difficult to put in a box. He started in advertising, became creative director of Leo Burnett Milan at 25, went on to win a Cannes Lion for advertising, a MIPFormats award for television, and a Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. For over 30 years the world's biggest brands - Adobe, Google, Virgin, Qantas, Diageo, Forbes - have turned to him to build stronger stories. In 2019 he brought all of that together and founded Narrativity, a consultancy that uses Hollywood's proven storytelling formulas to help brands connect, cut through, and grow. And he's just released his book, Creating a Blockbuster Brand. Storytelling is even more important than ever so I am really pleased to have Greg join me to look at storytelling for brands but also storytelling for you to have more creative influence.
This time I'm joined by Kerry Matto, Global Creative Studio Ops Manager at Just Eat. Kerry leads the global in-house creative studio across London, Amsterdam, and vrot-swaaf (Wroclaw) - a team handling around 2,000 briefs a year across brand campaigns, BAU, local market adaptations, and everything in between. With a background spanning fashion, animation, and creative production, and previous stints at Dr. Martens, Ted Baker, and Liberty, Kerry brings a deeply operational lens to in-house creative leadership: how you build the systems, governance, and team culture that let great work happen consistently at scale. Kerry and her team are taking the lead with the implementation of AI so I wanted to get her on the podcast to hear all about that too.
This time I'm joined by Steve Peck, VP of Creative at Comcast. Steve has spent over 20 years building brands people love - from his early days at R/GA on Nike, to BBH New York where he created Google's first-ever national TV campaign, including the 'Dear Sophie' spot named Time Magazine's number-one commercial of the year. He went on to lead creative at agencies including Anomaly, consult in-house at Apple, Meta, and Spotify, and most recently led Pinterest's award-winning House of Creative - a 50-plus-person in-house agency - before taking on his current role building Comcast's in-house creative agency from the ground up.
This time I'm joined by Lara Vandenberg, Founder and CEO at Assemble. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Lara moved to New York and spent a decade leading marketing and communications at some of the world's fastest-growing tech companies. Named to both the Forbes 30 Under 30 and B&T 30 Under 30 lists for innovation in advertising, she went on to found Assemble: an enterprise platform and marketplace of over 50,000 creative, production and marketing professionals that helps Fortune 500 brands operationalise their entire contingent workforce.