It’s hard to imagine a more demanding training ground than IBM, in terms of the creation of totally disciplined brand design, architecture, art direction and general creative and marketing professionalism. They virtually “wrote the book” on U.S. – and international – brand marketing. This is the furnace in which Tom’s skills were forged before embarking on a 30-year-plus career at BD&H.
In those 30 years, Tom has become the “complete” advertising CEO, totally immersed in every phase of the agency’s business – from overall management, including creative and executive decisions, to overseeing the agency’s financial health and client relationships. If that describes “well rounded,” then Tom is a perfect circle.
There is virtually no segment that Tom’s talents have left untouched, from healthcare to real estate, to national consumer brands to public service. His duties have taken him from coast to coast, putting into practice his dedicated “live local, act global” philosophy.
Besides nurturing all of us at BD&H, Tom has nurtured 5 adopted special-needs boys – now well on their way to a bright adulthood.
If there’s a “down side” to Tom, it could be his modesty.
Call him up. Get to know him. You should find his modesty a breath of fresh air in a business where modesty is an all too rare commodity.

In her role as our Senior Vice President of Account Services, Alaine does a masterful job of “steering the ship” on a day-to-day basis. The scope of her activities is nearly universal. No job is too big or too small. From high-level strategic decision making in the process of rebranding clients to “in the trenches” participation at the Focus Group research level when helping determine new strategies, design directions and brand images for our many CPG clients. Alaine serves as the gatekeeper for BD&H work flow, both from and to our clients. There is no aspect of BD&H that she doesn’t put her unique brand on, in some fashion.
And, there is virtually no business segment she hasn’t touched in her tenure at BD&H. Her expertise runs the gamut from telecom to high-level corporate consulting clients, textiles, service industries, general manufacturing, commercial food products, banking, real estate and everything in between.
We’re particularly proud of her Public Service oriented work, both with the American Heart Association (for which she was instrumental in achieving record level donations at the AHA’s most recent Heart Ball) and as Chair, Regional Advisory Board of the Navy SEALS NSW Family Foundation, managing their Regional Fundraising Events.
Alaine is a native Michigander with adopted Southern style. She’d be the first to tell you that the hectic pace of agency life comes in second to the pace required to keep up with her son!
Call her today. She makes our lives easier and she can do the same for you.

A connector by nature, Ashley considers communication and building relationships at the core of who he is, believing implicitly that these two traits go hand in hand and one is not possible without the other. It’s no wonder then that he serves as our Director of Client Development effortlessly. He knows how to connect, and how to translate what he discovers into defining and driving business goals.

Ashley was in the agency space for the first 15 years of his career as a copywriter then went on to manage creative services on the client side for Time Warner Cable Media and their partners. At Time Warner, his duties included advertising supervision as well as overall marketing, logistical and operational management, marketing technologies, and culminated in his serving as vice president of operations. In his 13 years at TWC, he witnessed firsthand the transformation of media and technology with his finger always on the pulse of the ever-changing digital evolution.

Ashley attributes his strength in communication and relationships to his parents and grandparents, and even penned an acclaimed memoir, “A Life Through Letters,” a moving tribute to the memory of his father as well as a testament to the power of the personally written communique. Devoted to community and charity, Ashley volunteers extensively and finds great joy in his role as husband and father of two boys. He lives a bridge away from NYC in New Jersey.

They say the gods are in the details. We say the gods and Laurey McElroy are in the details. As Vice President of Account Services, she keeps every single one of us (not to mention our clients) focused and on track, being the proverbial “here” at which the “buck stops.”
Laurey’s more than 20 years of agency experience have covered just about every category there is (telecom, real estate, banking, etc., etc.), with a heavy emphasis these days on CPG. Although she is not a production manager, her production expertise on everything from TV to SEO is prodigious. Although she is not a copywriter, she keeps us honest and grammatically correct. Although she is not a research director, she has an unerring sense for the right way to establish and develop branding campaigns for every type for client imaginable.
Besides the terrific job she does for our clients and us, although she is not a veterinarian, she has been more than a friend – literally, a lifesaver – to dozens of our needy canine brothers and sisters. It’s hard to imagine a luckier dog – or client – who wouldn’t be better off under Laurey’s guardianship.

At BD&H, we place great emphasis on “old learning” – the classic principles of advertising, creative strategy and execution – combined with the latest “new” technology. Our Creative Director Darrel Myers is a perfect embodiment of this philosophy. Darrel has the eye of an artist combined with the tech smarts of an IT professional. He can apply his skills seemingly effortlessly from consumer broadcast and print to highly effective website design – all the while managing the technical and production teams that are often needed to “get it done” – even when they’re halfway around the world. Darrel’s more than 20 years of experience spans categories ranging from finance (VISA, BofA, Wells Fargo) to healthcare, tech and telecom.
At BD&H he has spearheaded creative work for clients in such categories as business-to-business, telecom, industrial services and manufacturing, high-level corporate consulting and more. Recently, he has been involved in intensive design work for our clients in the Consumer Package Goods category, often producing hundreds of designs for brand research, testing and development in a single product category.
Darrel loves the outdoor life and freely acknowledges that it’s more enjoyable (year round) in the Carolinas than it was in his native upstate New York. He loves it here and we love having him here!

In terms of converting the abstract into the concrete, nobody does it better than Tom Morgan. We rely on him to transform strategic concepts into visual statements with unerring taste, style and professionalism. Partly because of his innate talent, partly because of his more than 25-year track record of proven success.
But besides being able to translate sound concepts into brilliant executions, Tom has one other very rare talent – he’s fast. And prolific. In today’s marketing environment, that translates into a major “value added” bonus from our clients’ perspective. Our clients expect great work but they’re often stunned to get great work as fast as Tom can produce it: literally over night, when the situation demands it. This combination of speed with excellence is proving particularly useful as we handle more and more design projects that require multiple executions for multiple clients – all at once, under the pressures of research schedules and launch dates.
Tom’s also speedy in other venues: he’s an active member of the Sports Car and Porsche Clubs of America. We invite you to put his talent to the test. Bring a stopwatch, if you like!

It’s vitally important that a brand presents the same “face” to everyone it touches. We call this “Brand Inclusion” and it means that everyone outside and inside our clients’ brand gets the same brand experience. Brand Inclusion is one of our key precepts at BD&H (along with Strategic Balance).
Environmental Branding is no exception. This is Manning's area of expertise. Manning’s specialty is designing the interiors of company headquarters, workplaces, ateliers and/or customer spaces so that they become integral parts of – and complementary to – client Brands and Brand Strategy as a unified whole.
With this in mind, BD&H works closely with Manning, whereby we can offer his unique talents as a BD&H Consulting Director to our clients who want to cover all the bases in terms of Brand Identification. He works closely with our Creative Director and Account team. As a group, we serve effectively as brand “gatekeepers.”
Manning is a long-standing member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). His 30-year-plus career has touched organizations in Corporate, Public Space, Higher Education, Residential, Real Estate, Food Services, Historic Preservation and Adaptive Re-Use categories. Over the years, he has played a key role in some of our “ground-up” client rebranding efforts. We cannot recommend him more highly.
Share your vision with him and then see what he sees. We’re certain you’ll be impressed.

Bev is our Director of Financial Services. Bev pays the bills. Bev reviews the time sheets. Bev is where the money comes from. As long as all proprieties are observed - all "i's" dotted, all "t's" crossed and all decimal points in their proper places, Bev is happy. Bev has trained dolphins, piloted a glider and skydived. (Skydove?) Bev has made a 10,000-mile road trip and put in lengthy stints managing a restaurant and doing general bookkeeping. In the fall of 1992, she wrestled a rabid grizzly - and won. Also won a coloring contest at the age of five (even then she knew the importance of staying within the lines, which is where she keeps us, thank heavens). On a more serious note, she was a Crisis Center volunteer and her experience on the job enabled her to serve as a Volunteer Trainer.
Bev is a native of Michigan and has been in NC since 1997. She is an avid animal rights supporter and to our knowledge, has never scolded a stray cat for turning in a time sheet late.