SWAT
I was brought in as President & Partner to help evolve SWAT’s founder-focused agency model, but I naturally approached clients more like an interim Chief Brand Officer than a traditional agency partner, using both my corporate and agency experience to connect business strategy, brand positioning, customer experience, operations, partnerships, and growth into one integrated system.
Venus Williams designed and wore ELEVEN at the highest levels of global tennis matches
1 Hotels merged sustainable hospitality with modern luxury positioning.
The work helped reposition private aviation around membership, accessibility, and modern lifestyle, contributing to Wheels Up’s eventual IPO.
“SWAT operated less like a traditional agency and more like a strategic portfolio of businesses in motion.”
The engagement helped define the strategic positioning that contributed to the eventual launch of Apple Card.
The line combined Sicilian provenance with modern packaged goods positioning.
The 30 E. 31 brand vision brought a modern deco sensibility to Nomad, balancing architectural elegance with contemporary residential living.
The work for BR Guest Restaurants focused heavily on executive alignment, strategic storytelling, and consumer visualization, which led to a major transaction.
The engagement started with brand strategy and resulted in a business initiative that ultimately led to a major transaction.
The launch of SWAT Equity formalized an approach already deeply embedded in the business: partnering with founders, emerging brands, and growth-stage ventures.
“The conversations with clients often start with branding, but the real opportunity mostly sits deeper inside the business itself.”
Re-shaping the brand strategy helped extend Baccarat’s legacy beyond crystal into a fully realized luxury hospitality brand, poised for major growth.
Richard Kirshenbaum originally brought me in to help assess and refine SWAT’s business model. The engagement was initially structured as a short-term consulting assignment, but within days it became clear we were building something much larger. What started as a lean creative agency quickly evolved into a strategic operating platform focused on founders, emerging brands, and innovation-led businesses navigating periods of growth and transition.
THE MODEL EVOLVED My role expanded well beyond traditional marketing. I worked across business strategy, organizational structure, client development, digital ecosystems, positioning, and operational leadership, helping transform SWAT into a more integrated and scalable model. The work spanned hospitality, finance, wellness, aviation, beauty, consumer products, and luxury lifestyle brands, including Marcus by Goldman Sachs, Wheels Up, ELEVEN by Venus Williams, 1 Hotels, Baccarat Hotel, ZEEL, Furtuna Skin, and Greg Norman.
FROM BRAND WORK TO BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION What immediately became clear to me about SWAT was the opportunity to build a model that operated differently from traditional agencies. Throughout my career, on both agency and client sides, my philosophy has always been that the strongest creative work only happens when business strategy, leadership priorities, customer experience, operations, and brand positioning are aligned from the beginning. Instead of treating branding as a layer applied at the end, we built strategy directly into the operating foundation of the business itself.
BUSINESS AND BRAND, BUILT TOGETHER That philosophy fundamentally reshaped how SWAT engaged with clients. In many cases, companies initially came to us looking for creative or brand work, but the deeper opportunity often sat inside the business model, customer journey, growth architecture, or operational structure. Rather than waiting for creative briefs, I often helped define the underlying business priorities first, then built integrated strategic and creative systems around them.
SWAT operated less like a traditional agency roster and more like a strategic portfolio of businesses in motion. My philosophy was that every client deserved the same level of rigor, integration, and business thinking regardless of category or size. We built a deliberately senior and highly collaborative structure designed for speed, execution, and accountability. Small teams. Direct communication. Deep founder involvement. That operating model allowed us to move fluidly across strategy, digital ecosystems, customer experience, partnerships, operational planning, and creative development without the friction that often slows traditional agencies down.
RESULTS BEYOND THE BRIEF Over an 18-month period, agency revenue increased by more than 425% as the business evolved into a broader strategic platform. The work expanded beyond campaigns into larger transformation initiatives that included e-commerce ecosystems, retail strategy, venture positioning, hospitality branding, acquisition preparation, customer segmentation, and integrated growth planning. The momentum behind the model eventually led to the creation of SWAT Equity, an early-stage venture fund connected directly to the strategic platform.
FROM SWAT TO SWAT EQUITY As Managing Director & Partner of SWAT Equity, I helped lead brand-focused diligence, positioning, and portfolio strategy for investments including Supergoop!, Banza, HATCH, NAADAM, and Powerful Yogurt Company. The model reflected the same belief that shaped SWAT from the beginning: business strategy and brand strategy are most powerful when developed together, not separately.
TAKEAWAY SWAT became one of the clearest expressions of how I believe modern businesses should operate. The most effective growth systems are built when strategy, operations, customer experience, and brand positioning move together as one integrated model.
I was never interested in simply marketing businesses. I wanted to help move them forward.