About
I was the fourth of five high-energy, high achieving siblings growing up in Briarcliff, New York. Dad took the train to New York to create a life with more than enough, and an educated Mom inspired gifted children. Then off to Williams College, graduating cum laude in 1975 with a major in Religion.
I enjoyed a successful career in the advertising business in New York City, starting at Ogilvy & Mather in 1977, and staying a decade working on major clients American Express and General Foods; leading the agency’s highly regarded management training program in 1981.
In 1987, I joined Ammirati & Puris, a mid-sized New York agency with a strong creative reputation. I led the agency’s work on UPS, Compaq Computer, and for two years worked directly with Steve Jobs on the advertising for NeXT Computer. Ammirati & Puris was merged with Lintas in 1994. I was named President of the agency’s New York Office, then the 8th largest in New York, at the age of 41.
Tom Nelson, a talented copywriter I worked with at Ammirati, and I started our own ad agency, Gardner Nelson & Partners, in 1999. We were known for advertising that was smart, stylish, and crafted to be authentic to each individual client. I was President of the Agency until its sale in 2016. Gardner Nelson’s accounts included Cablevision, Thomson Reuters, National Grid, WebMD, Charter Communications, Garanimals, DHL, Roomba, UBS, and Bank One, where we worked directly with Jamie Dimon.
I was delighted to be asked to serve on the Board of Directors for The New York Oratorio Society from 2015 to 2018. I did volunteer work for the absolutely amazing Gretchen Buchenholz and her wonderful Association to Benefit Children in New York. Tom Nelson and I did pro bono advertising for the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer and The American Ballet Theater.
After turning 50, I began a passionate love affair with running. From 2004 through 2022, I ran 460 races of all distances, including 12 marathons and 62 half-marathons.
In 2012 —while still leading Gardner Nelson— I added a second career as the lead opinion writer for Born To Run The Numbers.com, the nationally ranked political blog.
After retiring in 2017, I moved to Connecticut full time, shortly thereafter joining Not My Problem, a successful bar band as rhythm guitarist, and continued with the band until the pandemic suspended public performances. In the isolation of the covid pandemic, I turned to writing music, and wrote the first draft for ‘Once in a Lifetime, Again’.
I was married for 31 years to an amazing woman, Betsy Means, who passed away in 2013. ‘Once in a Lifetime, Again’ is just a long, overdue love letter to Betsy.
Our three children live in New York City. I am blessed with five utterly amazing and captivating grandchildren. For all the blather above, opportunities to babysit for them are job one, and the only one that matters.
