My Goal
Inspire, enable and create innovative and engaging stories and experiences.
Approach
My experience has taught me that innovative creative comes from thoughtful insights and great collaboration. Enabling and cultivating a trusting team culture through respect, empathy and open mindedness helps to ensure innovative ideas have a chance to be communicated and developed. To drive consistency and strategic coherence, a good creative leader helps by shepherding ideas, enabling collaboration and by continuously challenging teammates to make ideas even stronger.
Building strong relationships are a core focus and they are found at the center of any successful culture, team or partnership. Strong relationships enable everything from honing innovative ideas to translating them into tactical, successful deployments. From developing insightful strategies to their continuous evolution by applying insights through testing and learning. Strong relationships help fuel our passion as well as our desire to solve more challenges. Lastly, they help to attract and retain smart, thoughtful and talented people. At the end of the day and when the work is successfully and thoughtfully delivered, the tell tale sign of a relationship-focused culture it that those people still want to be around each other and look forward to tackling the next challenge.
Testimonials
"Gary is an intelligent, forward-thinking leader who can move effortlessly between the strategic and the tactical. His design skills are complimented by a strong business acumen and he brings an enthusiasm to his work (and the workplace) that is contagious. He is talented, hardworking, reliable, and fun—the kind of boss and partner that makes you want to go the extra mile."
Christine Fitzgerald, Design Director, Digital Design
Christine Fitzgerald, Design Director, Digital Design
"Gary is one of the best managers and Creative Directors I have ever worked for. I have been a designer for 20 years and Gary has still taught me so much. He is super talented when it comes to all things digital and is always up-to-date on all of the latest digital practices. He is very passionate about his design work and also his client relationships. He always makes time for his direct reports as well, whether there was a problem or not, he's always there to help and have your back. Thank you, Gary for being such a GREAT manager that I will never forget!"
Andrea Catoia, Digital Art Director and UX/UI Designer
"Gary is a true joy, and amazing talent. After working with him for many years on an array of projects for two different clients, I can say that his is the best in the bunch. He has does his best to drive success, build and deepen client relationships and develop his team. His creative directing skill is top notch, and he has the personality to match it."
Derrick Jackson, Senior Program Engagement Manager
“Gary welcomed me as a copywriter on his team at ECS after a reorg. I feel truly lucky about this, because he both pushed me to be better at my job, and showed me what a real creative lead does.
Gary is laser-focused on collaborating with his team to drive way past client expectations and execute the kind of on-time top-notch work that boosts team reputation and earns repeat clients. He does this by compelling his team to analyze and solve issues in pursuit of solid creative tactics for specific projects. He knows how to collaborate with managers, teammates, accounts supervisors and the clients themselves to deliver effective solutions that perform well and get results.
Key to Gary’s effectivity as a leader is the way he champions his team. He implicitly understands that he play his role best when he motivates and encourages his teammates to see their own talents and deliver against them. And he doesn’t hesitate to congratulate his team when a job’s well done. The man’s a class act.
Gary’s forged a reputation at ECS that epitomizes what a great creative lead can achieve. He contains the kind of qualities that any worthy company would strive to get and keep on a team.”
Ron Nachmann, Senior Copywriter, Journalist, Editor
“I can and am pleased to say without reservation that Gary has been nothing short of an excellent partner to work with, both before and after his recent promotion, which I am certain is very much well deserved.
Gary understands his role with the same depth, respect and passion as he understands his area of expertise and his broad range of talents.
Designing elements in digital space is truly second nature to him, and he remains well in command of such concepts at their core — how design communicates, how it supports its messaging and how that messaging itself fits into the design, often being a design element itself.
But Gary’s skill sets go well beyond design and into impeccable leadership. He is exceptionally adept at analysis, strategy, problem solving and making sound, well-thought-out choices.
He is capable, accountable, reliable and outstanding in working with people. In fact, I have known his proactive manner and remarkable enthusiasm to inspire others to see opportunity in their assigned tasks, which motivates them to a higher level of performance.
Perhaps most importantly, Gary expects the most of himself first. He continually demonstrates that he will contribute in every way – on every level – to ensure quality, on-time production that can and does win against the work of marquis external agencies.
In that light, while Gary exhibits tremendous attention to detail, he never loses focus on the big-picture goal — building an increasingly stronger reputation for ECS by earning additional work, exceeding client expectations and winning new accounts through unwaveringly solid executions, no matter what it takes.
In summary, Gary Yovanovich gets things done with quality and class that are the marks of professionals many years his senior. He has deservedly earned the respect of his peers and subordinates and is an exceptional asset to your team. I consider myself privileged to have worked with him.”
Charles Fote III, Senior Copywriter
Gary is laser-focused on collaborating with his team to drive way past client expectations and execute the kind of on-time top-notch work that boosts team reputation and earns repeat clients. He does this by compelling his team to analyze and solve issues in pursuit of solid creative tactics for specific projects. He knows how to collaborate with managers, teammates, accounts supervisors and the clients themselves to deliver effective solutions that perform well and get results.
Key to Gary’s effectivity as a leader is the way he champions his team. He implicitly understands that he play his role best when he motivates and encourages his teammates to see their own talents and deliver against them. And he doesn’t hesitate to congratulate his team when a job’s well done. The man’s a class act.
Gary’s forged a reputation at ECS that epitomizes what a great creative lead can achieve. He contains the kind of qualities that any worthy company would strive to get and keep on a team.”
Ron Nachmann, Senior Copywriter, Journalist, Editor
“I can and am pleased to say without reservation that Gary has been nothing short of an excellent partner to work with, both before and after his recent promotion, which I am certain is very much well deserved.
Gary understands his role with the same depth, respect and passion as he understands his area of expertise and his broad range of talents.
Designing elements in digital space is truly second nature to him, and he remains well in command of such concepts at their core — how design communicates, how it supports its messaging and how that messaging itself fits into the design, often being a design element itself.
But Gary’s skill sets go well beyond design and into impeccable leadership. He is exceptionally adept at analysis, strategy, problem solving and making sound, well-thought-out choices.
He is capable, accountable, reliable and outstanding in working with people. In fact, I have known his proactive manner and remarkable enthusiasm to inspire others to see opportunity in their assigned tasks, which motivates them to a higher level of performance.
Perhaps most importantly, Gary expects the most of himself first. He continually demonstrates that he will contribute in every way – on every level – to ensure quality, on-time production that can and does win against the work of marquis external agencies.
In that light, while Gary exhibits tremendous attention to detail, he never loses focus on the big-picture goal — building an increasingly stronger reputation for ECS by earning additional work, exceeding client expectations and winning new accounts through unwaveringly solid executions, no matter what it takes.
In summary, Gary Yovanovich gets things done with quality and class that are the marks of professionals many years his senior. He has deservedly earned the respect of his peers and subordinates and is an exceptional asset to your team. I consider myself privileged to have worked with him.”
Charles Fote III, Senior Copywriter
