*site best experience on desktop
Chaos is inevitable.
Clarity is crafted.
I'm Dave Vincent, a Creative Leader with over a decade of experience turning ambiguity into brand-defining work, where good ops make good execution possible.
I've built creative departments from the ground up, stewarded legacy brands through growth, and moved at agency speed across dozens of accounts. Every version of that work comes down to the same instinct: find the signal in the noise, then build the system that keeps it there.
CAREER AT A GLANCE
Shady Rays
2024 - Now
Sr. Creative Manager
Creative ops + Leadership
Stepped in to lead the company's first-ever creative department, consolidating every creative function under one roof for the first time. Built the systems, standards, and leadership structure that didn't exist before and drove record-setting performance in year one.
2021-2024
Bass Pro Shops
Led brand-side creative with a three-person team through a stretch of real instability. The creative director departed six months into my tenure with no replacement, and the team began reporting directly to the CMO/COO. Through it, the team kept brand implementation running across 22 separate in-house brands and remained the group the CEO turned to for creative exploration on new business ventures.
Sr. Art Director
Legacy Brand Stewardship + Advancement
2017-2021
Foerstel Design
Intern → Jr. AD → Art Director
Agency speed + range of work
Handled creative for 7-figure accounts and pitched work alongside my creative director before graduation. Due to unexpected circumstances, I adopted the workload of an art-director 20 years my senior before my internship was complete, and began my own tenure as an art-director within two years.
HOW I WORK
Business First.
Brief Second.
Before I touch creative direction, I want to understand what the business is actually trying to solve. Chaos usually isn't a creative problem, it's a clarity problem. Once I know what we're really solving for, I reverse-engineer the creative, then build the systems and structure that let it scale.
Serve the Team.
Foster the Success.
My leadership style is rooted in servant leadership — I stay hands-on, in the work alongside my team, rather than directing from a distance. Coaching and developing people isn't a byproduct of the job; it's one of the main points of it. My job is to make my team better and more capable, not just to make sure the work gets out the door.
Filter the Chaos.
Fuel the Work.
Creative work suffers under noise: shifting priorities, unclear ownership, politics bleeding into the brief. Part of my job is absorbing that so my team doesn't have to. Clarity isn't just a creative principle for me; it's something I actively build around my team, not just in the work itself.
Develop Strategy.
Deliver Creative.
Creative is a strategic partner, not a commodity. Too often it's brought in at the end, handed a brief shaped by everyone else, and judged only on execution. The best teams work differently. Starting with why, shaping the how, and only then creating the what. That's the difference between a team that executes requests and one that shapes outcomes.
Skills & Capabilities
Creative Leadership
Building and leading creative departments from the ground up: team structure, standards, servant leadership.
Brand Strategy & Stewardship
Translating business goals into creative direction: maintaining brand integrity across large, complex portfolios.
Systems & Process
Creating and managing the infrastructure that lets creative scale: workflows, standards, and operating rhythm where none existed.
Cross-Functional Partnership
Operating at the executive level: partnering with CEOs, CMOs, and COOs to shape strategy, not just execute it.
Creative Direction
Brand, campaign, and product creative across retail, DTC, and legacy brand environments.
Team Development
Coaching and growing creative talent, from junior to senior, through direct, hands-on leadership.
My name is Dave, and I like to party
Read fantasy novels
Feed my curiosity
Drink black coffee
Road trip with my family
Camp away from the noise
Listen to screamy music
Most of my interests take me off the beaten path and into nature. As Danielle Bregoli (AKA Bhad Bhabie) once said in a now viral clip, you can “Cash me ousside, how bow dah”