I'm Nick. I believe the best way to move an organization forward is to make the people inside it more capable. I build teams, strengthen brands, and connect strategy to work that matters.
North Shore, Oʻahu • 2023
The way I work
I care about the quality of the work, but I care just as much about what happens to the people making it. I want colleagues to gain confidence, exercise judgment, and become leaders who make everyone around them better.
I don't want a team that needs me for every answer. I explain the why, coach to each person's strengths, create room to make decisions, and hold clear expectations. Support and accountability belong together.
A standard only matters when people understand it. I connect brand decisions to history, audience, commercial needs, and the realities of the teams expected to carry them out.
I came up through hands-on writing, editing, and producing. That experience helps me remove obstacles for creative teams while building the processes and partnerships that make good work sustainable.
What leadership means to me
I measure my work by what the team can do without me in the room: make sound decisions, trust one another, challenge an assumption, and keep improving. The results people see are made possible by the culture and the systems they don't.
See leadership in practiceLeadership in practice
Different challenges, one approach: build trust, understand the business, give people clarity, and make decisions that hold up beyond the launch.
Featured project · Brand development
From first sketch to launch
I sketched the initial FOR SPARTA identity, collaborated with designers to develop the final mark, then animated it and wrote scripts for launch and follow-up films.
I traveled to California to film with Magic Johnson and returned to assemble the launch video within the week before the public introduction. I understood the story from the brand's first line to its last edit.
My 2026 reel, featuring work across advertising, documentary, and athletics.
Organizations and brands I’ve worked with or for
Videos & stories
Commercials, documentaries, and stories from inside the game. A selection of projects I’ve helped bring to life.
A little about me
I came into leadership through the work itself: writing, editing, producing, and learning what it takes to make something good under pressure. That foundation helps me respect the craft without confusing being the person who can do everything with being the leader who should.
At Michigan State, my role grew from hands-on creative production into brand strategy and leadership across content, social media, design, and live production. Today, I serve as Vice President of Strategic Content & Brand Management at Spartan Ventures, helping teams connect institutional priorities with thoughtful creative decisions.
What makes leadership meaningful to me is watching other people grow into their own judgment. I try to make expectations clear, explain difficult decisions, give people room to lead, and stay available when they need help. Caring about people doesn't replace accountability. It makes accountability more human and more effective.
My career spans CBS News, national advertising, documentary work, and athletics. The common thread is helping people and organizations communicate with clarity, build trust, and leave something better than they found it.
Vice President, Strategic Content & Brand ManagementSpartan Ventures · Michigan State Athletics
I developed the initial logo sketches for FOR SPARTA, then collaborated with the design team to refine and vectorize the identity. I animated the mark and wrote multiple scripts used for the launch and subsequent campaign videos.
I traveled to California to film with Magic Johnson, then returned to bring the story, footage, motion design, and edit together within the week before launch.
The project required both individual creative execution and close partnership with designers and organizational stakeholders. Knowing how the identity had been built made it possible to maintain a coherent creative thread through the final introduction.
FOR SPARTA's publicly announced fundraising goal exceeds $1 billion. This description reflects my role in the creative work, not responsibility for fundraising results.
One institutional brand served 23 varsity teams with different traditions, audiences, competitive needs, and design priorities. Consistency couldn't come from insisting every team look the same.
I assessed how uniform and identity decisions were being made, advocated for clearer governance, and helped put a purchasing, design, and approval process in place. I became part of the review of designs, looking not only for guideline alignment but for a representation of Michigan State Athletics that could be both progressive and grounded in tradition.
My approach combines practical brand-management experience with formal training in brand protection through Michigan State University's Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection (A-CAPP). The goal is to protect the institution's identity while allowing teams to develop designs that feel progressive and grounded in tradition.
Leadership and teams gained a more consistent process for evaluating identity decisions before designs moved forward. The work connected institutional brand judgment with the practical needs of individual programs.
Brand standards work when people understand why they exist and have a thoughtful process for applying them, rather than relying on a document that simply tells them what they cannot do.
A small production-centered operation expanded to support creative, social, design, and live-production needs. More output was only one measure of success; the work needed clear roles, sound decisions, and leaders who could help other people grow.
I helped establish leadership responsibilities and cross-functional processes while coaching people individually through honest feedback, delegation, and clear expectations. I wanted colleagues to gain the judgment and confidence to make decisions independently, take ownership of their work, and prepare for opportunities beyond our team, whether at Michigan State or elsewhere.
As our responsibilities grew, I introduced more structured workflows, project tracking, and resource planning to help teams manage competing priorities. I formalized that experience by earning my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2026.
At least five colleagues advanced into roles of greater responsibility within Michigan State. Others I hired, coached, or mentored went on to leadership, creative, and communications roles with organizations including the Columbus Blue Jackets, Green Bay Packers, Consumers Energy, United Aviate Academy, U-Haul, and Big Ten Network. Their accomplishments are their own. I'm proud to have helped create opportunities, build confidence, and support their growth.
Our team also improved cross-functional communication and continued delivering strong work during organizational change. Team members earned three regional Emmy Awards in 2026. In November 2025, I received Michigan State's Spirit of APSA Award after a direct report nominated me for compassionate and equitable leadership, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing.
Good leaders don't make themselves the bottleneck. They build the confidence, relationships, and structure that allow other people to do their best work, even when the leader is not in the room.
A new 10-year uniform-patch partnership between Michigan State Athletics and MSU Federal Credit Union needed an introduction worthy of two institutions with a long shared history.
I worked with a designer as we developed the patch's presentation within existing brand standards. I wrote and helped record the launch video, collaborating with our creative team on a narrative that would make the partnership meaningful beyond the patch itself.
Together, we built the creative elements of a coordinated announcement-day experience around the press conference. The goal was to give audiences a story they could connect to, not simply a logo to notice.
Strong partnership communications respect both the brand and the business. They connect design, people, institutional history, and a public moment into one understandable story.