Michael Gass

Bio

An Alabama native, I studied communications as an undergraduate and went on to earn two master's degrees. A decade has passed since I made a career change into advertising that would eventually lead me to develop my own new business consultancy for small to midsize ad agencies. At my first agency, I was an account executive. The agency had gone through several persons hired to lead new business. I was asked to give it a try. I quickly discovered that I have a natural gift and passion for soliciting new business. Within two months, I led in the acquisition of two significant accounts: Olan Mills Portrait Studios, an industry leader with hundreds of portrait studios throughout the U.S., and Moore-Handley, a $178 million national hardware distributor — the second largest in the country. I soon discovered there was a demand for good new business executives. Means Advertising, in Birmingham, Alabama, asked me to lead their new business efforts. During my first year with the agency, I was able to solicit 51 prospective client meetings, amazingly through cold calls. That year I also secured 11 agency pitches, which included a $20 million account. Lewis Communications, asked me to lead new business for the corporate office in Birmingham and their full service offices in Mobile, Alabama and Nashville, Tennessee. Lewis was the agency that launched HGTV and created the Dream Home Giveaway campaign. I was part of the pitch team that landed the MasterCraft Boats account, the most recognized boat brand in the country. Acquired an offer to help launch The Water Channel network and led in the development of a healthcare division at Lewis which now includes eight prestigious and highly profitable academic medical center accounts. BOHAN Advertising | Marketing is a large regional agency in Nashville, Tennessee. BOHAN recruited me to be Vice President of Business Development. During my first year, the new business unit secured 42 prospective client meetings; 17 presentatio