How Did I Get Here?

Michael Houston

Chief executive officer, Grey North America
  • Education
  • Lawrence High School, Lawrence, Kan., class of 1990
  • University of Kansas at Lawrence, class of 1994
  • Work Experience
  • 1994
    Intern, Chiat/Day
  • 1995–97
    Account coordinator, Young & Rubicam
  • 1997–98
    Director of marketing, Landor Associates
  • 1998–2000
    Vice president for North American business development, Young & Rubicam
  • 2000–01
    President, & Partners
  • 2001–02
    Director of client relations, Elias Arts
  • 2002–07
    Partner, director for business development, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners
  • 2007–12
    Executive VP, global chief marketing officer, managing director, chief operating officer, Grey New York
  • 2013–Present
    CEO, Grey North America
  • Life Lessons
  • “Everything has an expiration date, including organizations and people.”
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  • “Leave the party before the lights come on.”
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  • “Circuitous career routes are not necessarily bad.”
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  • Junior high class photo, 1987
    “I blended into all the cliques. I was editor of the yearbook and newspaper, on the drama team, in track and field, and spent time with the druggie dropouts.”
  • As an intern at Chiat/Day, with a colleague
    “I’ve known I wanted to work in this business since the sixth grade.”
  • “We started our own brand consultancy firm. We thought it was absurd there were so many marketing companies named after founders, even though the partners do all the work.”
  • “My partner and I just weren’t aligned. I sold my portion back to him and went on my merry way.”
  • With a monkey on his head at Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners
  • “We won more than $250 million in billings: BMW, Diageo, Coca-Cola, PBS. I don’t take credit for all of our success, but I do take credit for being the head of business development under which that success happened.”
  • Graduation from the University of Kansas
  • “I loved the high stakes and teamwork and that we could be as creative as needed. All of that was addictive for me.”
  • In his first office at Young & Rubicam
  • “Over the last seven years we’ve doubled our revenue and profitability and gone from 300 employees to more than 1,000.”
  • “I was charged with changing the brand. My thought was, if we can do this, there will be no greater story; if it bombs, everyone will say, ‘That was a tough proposition.’ While I was running new business, we won 65 out of 72 pitches.”