George Chalekian

George Chalekian is a reforming ad agency creative director who has been paid extravagantly (but not, unfortunately, ski chalet in Val d’Isère extravagantly) to write ads for American Express, Disney, Mattel, Microsoft, Toyota and the Wall Street Journal, among other noteworthy clients. 

His work often elicits strong responses. Once, the newspaper office at which he worked was firebombed after the publication of a particularly blistering expose. On a happier note, his ads have appeared on the Super Bowl and won regional, national, and international acclaim. He has run creative departments in San Francisco, Hawaii and Chicago for the last two decades before a stint at Salesforce. 

George is passionate about the art of branding and the increasingly volatile intersection of humanity and technology where martech, adtech, CX, EX and AI collide. He resides in Chicago where he is currently developing a TV pilot, training for a bicycle ride across the state of Iowa, and trying to get a very early-stage startup off the ground.