I’ve spent over a decade leading & building great creative and design teams.

I’ve spent over a decade leading & building great creative and design teams.

I’m a strategic creative leader who makes high-performing creative, integrates sharper processes, and ties every creative decision to business outcomes. Deep experience with Fortune 500 brands across healthcare, technology, consumer, and industrial markets.

Portrait of Michael Stark.

Hi, I'm Michael Stark. I make successful creative repeatable.

Hi, I'm Michael Stark. I make successful creative repeatable.

Hi, I'm Michael Stark. I make successful creative repeatable.

I’ve held director-level roles across agency and in-house environments, scaling multidisciplinary teams and reshaping how they work, including integrating AI-enabled workflows that raise both quality and speed. Leading with creative first, my approach to great design is one where I lead by example, get my hands dirty and drive better work through collaboration.

+70%

+70%

Revenue & AGI growth

+70%

Revenue & AGI growth

team scaled in 3 yrs

team scaled in 3 yrs

$6M+

$6M+

new business influenced

$6M+

new business influenced

35+

35+

35+

awards

Recent roles

Experience

2019 — Now

2019 — Now

Creative Director: NDA, a marketing and communications agency

Creative Director: NDA, a marketing and communications agency

Transformed an internal communications and marketing agency’s creative organization through operational redesign, creative quality improvements, AI-enabled workflows, and talent development, increasing revenue and AGI by 70% while doubling team size within three years.

+70% Revenue / AGI

+70% Revenue / AGI

2021 — 2025

2021 — 2025

Design Director & Partner: Protagonist, a creative strategy studio

Design Director & Partner: Protagonist, a creative strategy studio

Built and scaled an agile strategy-led creative agency, integrating multidisciplinary talent, AI-enabled workflows, and senior client partnerships to deliver brand, marketing, UX/UI, and growth strategy for executive-level clients.

3.9m client
revenue growth

3.9m client
revenue growth

2016 —2019

2016 —2019

Creative Director: Matchbook, a branding and ad agency

Creative Director: Matchbook, a branding and ad agency

Art directed integrated campaigns for Fortune 500 clients across industrial, healthcare, and consumer categories — building the team and process behind award-winning work.

35+ Awards To Date

35+ Awards To Date

A way of building better teams and better outcomes.

A way of building better teams and better outcomes.

A way of building better teams and better outcomes.

01

Inspire teams

Develop, creatively lead, recruit and scale multidisciplinary creative teams of visual designers, UX/UI designers, developers, writers, animators and videographers.

02

Integrate process

Redesign and optimize creative operations and AI-enabled workflows that raise quality, hit deadlines and improve employee morale.

03

Lead by example

Be a hands-on creative, with design and creative chops to work in the grind each day. Tie every creative decision to strategy and measurable business results.

Trusted by the teams behind

3M logo
Anthem logo
Nike logo
Cummins logo
Endangered Species Chocolate logo
Detroit Zoo logo
Caltech logo
USA Track & Field logo