Accountability
Pemberton delivers ROI by driving toward a fiscal goal, and we hold ourselves accountable.
Partnership
Pemberton does not “train in vain.” Rather, we engage in 3–6-month partnerships with our clients to build a solid growth trajectory.
Collaboration
We are not an agency. We collaborate with you to grow yours. We have no interest in your clients or working for your clients.
Proof
What we do works. We have a demonstrated record of successfully growing the agencies with which we partner.
J. Mark Riggs, CEO
Account Growth Strategies |
Agency Profitability |
Change Management
Mark is the founder and CEO of Pemberton which is management consultancy that exists to be the go-to resource for marketing/communications agencies to discover and reveal pathways to organic growth while changing the mindset of an RFP-obsessed industry.
Before starting Pemberton, Mark spent 20 years in the agency world working for IPG’s Mullen Lowe, an Ad Age A-List Agency, Taylor, the Holmes Report’s Consumer Agency of the Decade, MWWPR and French/West/Vaughan, the Southeast’s largest independent agency where on six different occasions he grew small accounts into multi-million-dollar accounts.
Mark has spent a career learning the art of integrated communication developing and executing award-winning consumer programs for brands and companies like Allstate, Honda, Ford, Kimberly-Clark, Polaris, Coke, Diageo, RJ Reynolds, SunTrust Banks, the U.S. Navy, the Atlantic Coast Conference and ESPN, to name a few.
Mark has a reputation as a business-builder and a strategic counselor and has experience in leading client services, insights and planning functions, as well as developing talent. A creative thinker and problem-solver, Mark believes that great thinking can “come from anywhere,” it’s the ability to harness it and leverage it for clients that makes the intellectual property of the agency valuable and an integral part of the marketing mix.
Mark began his career as a journalist learning resourcefulness and the value of filling a window of opportunity with concise communication. Additionally, Mark started his marketing career in the Olympic Movement learning the intricacies of planning and an attention to detail in the development of events as a lifestyle communication tool.
A member of the Business Journal’s 40-Under-40 Business Leadership Hall of Fame, Mark won the first ever PR Week campaign award for a North Carolina-based agency. Mark has walked the plains of Kenya’s Masai Mara, the corridors of the Appalachian Trail, and found Tommy Lasorda sitting in his backseat.
For more than 30 years, Ross has been an account leader at advertising agencies in Boston and New York before moving to Raleigh and running a smaller regional shop. With his extensive background, he serves Pemberton as an Executive Advisor, Advertising Agencies.
Ross brings an incredible combination of major global agency and brand experience combined with smaller regional agency acumen to the team. He has a demonstrated track record of developing strategic marketing plans and award-winning programs for brands like McDonald’s, Lowe’s Home Improvement, I Love NY, priceline.com, Burger King, Sprint and others at large agencies like Arnold, Young & Rubicam, and BBDO. His super-power, however, is building client relationships and growing both the client’s and the agency’s business.
Clients and colleagues know Ross as a smart, strategic, results-oriented partner who cultivates an environment of creativity and excellence. And, he has a proven history of being able to motivate agency and client teams in pursuit of common goals. His category experience ranges from direct-to-consumer retail and retail healthcare, to business-to-business, to e-commerce, and he prides himself on data-driven decision-making balanced by gut instincts honed over three decades in the business.
Ross earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond (Go Spiders!), an MBA from Boston University and is currently an adjunct professor of sales and marketing at High Point University.
Ross O’Donovan
Executive Advisor | Advertising Agencies
David Middleton
Executive Vice President | Chief Operating Officer
David Middleton serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Pemberton. In this role, he oversees day-to-day operations of the company, strategic initiatives, financial management, contracts, and marketing programs. David has been leading entrepreneurial and nonprofit organizations for over three decades. He is a gifted communicator, listener, and strategist who has served as CEO of two firms ultimately acquired by other companies, led strategic planning initiatives, fostered organizational growth, and been a catalyst for change in numerous capacities.
David founded EPCOR Business Centers, a shared workspace firm that grew into the leading provider in North Carolina and central Virginia before being acquired by Office Suites Plus (now Regus). He went on to form Mid-Eye Marketing which was acquired by French/West/Vaughan, and he served as FWV’s chief marketing officer. He has served as vice president of marketing and business development for YourOffice USA, EVP of the international Alliance Business Centers Network, and as a successful commercial real estate executive. His background across the nonprofit and private business landscape runs from local to international. David’s experience includes leading strategic planning for an international event (Special Olympics World Games), rebranding and growth (Global Workspace Association), and strategic plan and executive transition (Nevins Inc.).
David holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Affairs from Wake Forest University and graduate studies in Public Affairs at NC State University.
