Greater Raleigh Chamber Blog

​If you have a conversation with Natalie Perkins and Jeremy Holden about advertising, you’ll find they are a team that works hand-in-hand to ensure their company’s success. But, if you have a conversation with them about fishing, throw that teamwork out the window.

“She always catches more fish than me,” said Holden. “She doesn’t have the best fly fishing technique but somehow it happens.”

“We do well fishing together until you get grumpy,” Perkins responded.

For the married couple, fishing is how they unwind. Advertising and branding is where they shine.

They run Clean, an integrated branding agency in Raleigh. Together, they stopped by the Raleigh Chamber to take part in the latest discussion in our Coffee with Leaders series.

Perkins, the CEO of Clean, previously served as the president of Trone Advertising and the chief marketing officer at Brunner. She has more than 25 years of industry experience.

Holden, Clean’s president, chief strategy officer, and partner, previously was the chief strategy officer at Publicis Kaplan Thaler in New York and the head of strategy at McKinney. He also was the strategic leader for Audi of America and was a member of Audi’s global marketing council. Holden has more than 30 years of industry experience.

“When I joined Clean, we had about 12-15 people,” said Perkins. “We were a small, little design shop in 2007. We had some big name clients, but it was right before the recession. A lot of our clients went away during the recession and we had to rebuild the agency. We became a more strategic agency and more creative than a boutique design shop.”

Perkins shared how Clean rebuild itself after the recession.

“We went out and we hustled,” she said. “We showed people how creative we are and how good we could be for them. We hustled up a lot of small accounts. We didn’t make a lot of money off of them, but we were willing to do things to prove our worth.”

Now, Clean employs more than 60 people. Most of them, Perkins and Holden said, are women.

“While it’s not intentional, it is a side effect of our culture,” said Perkins. “We are a values-driven agency and we wanted to create a very family-friendly environment. Advertising is a hard business and I’ve seen too many women run away because they’ve had to choose between work and children.”

“We tell our clients you are not the most important people to us,” she added. “Our staff is and you should be happy about that because if she is happy, she’s doing better work for you.”

With the agency being values-driven, Perkins said it does a lot of work with nonprofits and also with tourism clients. Charlottesville, Va. is one of Clean’s clients. Prior to the anniversary of the violence that happened in Charlottesville in Aug. 2017, Clean came up with a campaign for Charlottesville called Joined in Strength.

“No community wants to see hatred,” said Holden. “It just shows what you can do if you start to build a groundswell of a movement.”

As for their leadership dynamic, Holden said Perkins runs the business and he keeps his eye on future business.
“There is nobody better at doing what he does,” she said.

Holden said, in the last 10 years, there has been a digital advertising explosion.

“We have to create communications that people want to opt into,” he said. “People will block your ad if they don’t want to see it.”

An audience member asked for advice on how to effectively use social media.

“Know who you are,” said Holden. “Know the nature of your brand and your product. Companies need to figure out the nature of who they are, the nature of who their core audience is, and don’t bombard people with information. If you give me interesting information, I’m more likely to share it.”

Another audience member asked about any regrets they have. Perkins responded, “I only wish that I had done this sooner. I love this. I love having my own place.”

We thank Perkins and Holden for sharing their great insight and stories with us. We also thank our series sponsors, Duke Energy and Duck Donuts.

Our next Coffee with Leaders event at the Chamber will be on Dec. 5 where we will have a conversation with Todd Olson, the CEO and co-founder of Pendo, one of our region’s most promising startups. In five years, Pendo has grown from a five-person team housed inside HQ Raleigh to one of the most well-funded companies in North Carolina with more than 200 employees.
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Coffee with Leaders is a free event, meant for Chamber members with 50 employees or fewer. Space is limited. Register today and we will see you on Dec. 5.

We are excited to announce the 2018/19 participants of Leadership Raleigh, a premier leadership development program. The following professionals are members of the 38th class:
 
Angie Arrington, Evolve, LLC
Bryan Bachelder, North Carolina FC Youth
Holly Bradicich, Duke Raleigh Hospital
Amanda Brooks, Summer Consultants, Inc.
Andrew Bullard, Smith Debnam Law
Jed Byrne, Capital Associates
Tara Cho, Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP
Tom Coker, South State Bank
Toby Coleman, Smith Anderson Law Firm
Keoni Denison, Capital Wraps
Beret Dickson, JDavis Architects
Melanie Doerner, North Carolina Theatre
Suzanne Epps, TradeMark Properties
Curry Gaskins, Umicore USA, Inc.
Robert Gibson, Local Government Federal Credit Union
Greg Harbison, Centerline Digital
Barbara Harsha, PNC
Kamika Henderson, Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities
Kathleen Henry, Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
Chuck Hoffman, Mid-Atlantic Associates, Inc.
Ben Horn, RATIO
Caren House, Wells Fargo
Jonathan Kalleberg, Coastal Federal Credit Union
Ethan Long, IBM Corporation
Chloe Madsen, North Carolina Chamber
Ramon Martinez, Hughes Pittman & Gupton, LLP
Colin McGrath, Poyner Spruill LLP
Greg Michalek, CresCom Bank
Tom Miller, Leaders Building Leaders
Tara Mistretta, North State Bank
Will Morgan, Manning Fulton & Skinner, PA
Hunter Murray, First Citizens Bank
Beth Nash, Clean
Candis Parker, Balfour Beatty Construction
Madeleine Pfefferle, Young Moore and Henderson, PA
Sam Pierce, Monteith Construction
Julie Ploscyca, Fidelity Investments
Travis Post, Barringer Construction
Jeane Powers, Gilbane Building Company
Collette Ramirez, Lynch Mykins
Janie Richardson, Parker Poe Law Firm
John Rumsey, Merrill Lynch
Will Salisbury, Jones Insurance Agency, Inc.
John Samuel, LC Industries
Adrian Savic, KPMG LLP
Yelena Sharonina, Citrix
Dan Shields, SunTrust Bank
John Reid Sidebotham, The Nautical Group
Ashley Stallings, Kane Realty Corporation
Nanci Washington, NC State University
McKenzie Wilson, Grubb Ventures, LLC
Michal Yarborough, Merz North America, Inc.
Charlie Yowell, Bohler Engineering
Amanda Ziegler, Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP
 
“We are thrilled to welcome this incredibly talented group to Leadership Raleigh,” said Casey Atwater, chair of the new class and graduate of Leadership Raleigh 36. “This program’s application process is very competitive and we had a highly qualified group of applicants. We have no doubt that these leaders will be phenomenal additions to the Leadership Raleigh family. They will gain a deep understanding of our community’s needs and will use what they learn to enhance our community’s already-wonderful quality of life.”
 
Leadership Raleigh is a nine-month program consisting of eight one-day sessions held in the greater Raleigh area with an opening weekend retreat. The program emphasizes three overall components: community orientation, community engagement, and leadership skill development.

We are excited to announce the 2018/19 participants of Leadership Raleigh, a premier leadership development program. The following professionals are members of the 37th class:
 
John Alemanni, Kilpatrick Townsend
Tiffany Barrier, CBRE | Raleigh
Sara Boshart, Paragon Bank
Marisa Bryant, Junior League of Raleigh, Inc.
Chris Caldwell, Capital Bank
Patricia Cardoso, Haven House Services
Matt Chambers, Clancy & Theys Construction Company
Catherine Clodfelter, Parker Poe Law Firm
Sarah Core, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP
Jenni Danai, Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina
Susan Edwards, Merrill Lynch
Bruce Elder, CresCom Bank
Tonita Few, Easter Seals UCP North Carolina & Virginia
Brooke Hanford, York Properties
Kendall Harris, YMCA of the Triangle Area, Inc.
Katelyn Hokenberg, Merz North America, Inc.
Mark Hutchins, MetLife
Sarah Justice, Wake County Bar Association
Harrison Kaylor, First National Bank
Thomas Kenna, Colliers International
John Kivus, Morningstar Law Group
Jonathan Knaus, Hill Chesson & Woody Employee Benefit Services, LLC
Brian Kubis, Citrix
Sandy Kuntz, Triangle Springs Hospital
Justin Kurkiewicz, PNC
Tiffany Long, Ronald McDonald House of Durham and Wake
Lori McClaren, William Peace University
Katie McGhee, Special Olympics North Carolina
John Menasce, Thomas, Judy & Tucker, PA
James Miller, LGBT Center of Raleigh
Beau Minnick, Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
Heather Mumaw, Duke Energy
Amanda Murphy, Dewberry Engineers, Inc.
Patrick Nerz, Empire Properties
Emma Norman, Local Government Federal Credit Union
Walt Parker, First Bank
Sejal Patel
Amanda Powell, Greene Resources
Perry Ann Reed, WakeMed Health & Hospitals
Rachel Richardson, RSM US LLP
Cindy Roberts, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices York Simpson Underwood Realty
Michael Romanus, South State Bank
Bryan Roof, Cumming Corporation
Sarah Roth, Meredith College
Jessie Rumbley, Marbles Kids Museum
Drew Shores, Williams Mullen
Marshall Stein, Elliott Davis, LLC
Henry Stewart, OneDigital Health and Benefits
John Swindell, First Citizens Bank
Alexa Tesoriero, Clean
Anna Townsend, Cherry Bekaert LLP
John Underhill, Edward Jones
Anna Velleggia, NC State Alumni Association
Chase Wellford, BB&T
Drew Yates, Kane Realty Corporation
 
“We are excited to welcome such an outstanding class to our Leadership Raleigh program,” said David Bohm, chair of the new class and graduate of Leadership Raleigh 35. “We received great interest in this year’s program and a highly qualified pool of applicants. This group will continue the program’s tradition of fostering talented, dynamic, and engaging leaders whose hard work and dedication helps make our community an incredible place to call home.”
 
Leadership Raleigh is a nine-month program consisting of eight one-day sessions held in the greater Raleigh area with an opening weekend retreat. The program emphasizes three overall components: community orientation, community engagement, and leadership skill development.

Picture this. A leading Raleigh business executive, dressed in his nice suit, is a delivering a talk to a conference room full of other business leaders at The Umstead Hotel and Spa. We’ve all seen this before, right? Now picture this. The business executive places a basket on his head and asks for a volunteer from the audience to come up and toss ping pong balls into the net. That’s probably a first for us, isn’t it?

But, as we learned at our latest C-Suite Perspectives, that’s Ed Fritsch. He was the first of his family to graduate college, started small, and worked his way up the corporate ladder to become the president, CEO, and director of Highwoods Properties, Inc.

Fritsch shared his story in a very engaging way. He opened by talking about graduating from UNC in 1981.
“I had a lot of enthusiasm but I had no experience other than this business degree at Chapel Hill,” said Fritsch. “Immediately, I had roadblocks, including paying off my student loans.”

Fritsch said he worked as a shift manager at McDonald’s and then for a textile company in South Carolina. He joined Highwoods in 1982.

“From 1982 to 1986, I did a lot of meaningful tasks,” said Fritsch. “What they wanted me to do was to learn the core of the business. That’s exactly what I did. I learned the business from the ground up.”

Fritsch talked about how those years shaped the leader who he is today.

“It’s so difficult to manage or coach if you haven’t played,” he said. “Know how to do the job before you manage it.”

Fritsch talked about Highwoods going public in 1994. “What we heard from Wall Street was when will you be bigger,” he said. “So, we went to work and we did a lot of closings.”

Highwoods did well for years. Then, in the early 2000s, there was the dot-com bubble burst, the tragedy of September 11, and the impact both had on the economy.

“We huddled up and we put together a strategic plan,” said Fritsch. “We had grown at a very rapid pace and then somebody slammed on the brakes.”

Fritsch then talked about the importance of measuring data for your company. Measuring data may not be an easy topic to keep people’s attention, but that’s where the basket and ping pong balls comes in! Fritsch wore the basket and a volunteer, Elaine Loyack, vice president of community engagement and government relations with Delta Dental of North Carolina, tossed the ping pong balls at his head. It was quite the picture!

From there, Fritsch shared the two mantras of his company. “It’s service, not space,” he said. “And they’re customers, not tenants.”

“Stay ahead of perception by having a specific communication message for a specific audience,” said Fritsch.
Fritsch also talked about the importance of knowing your audience members and speaking to them in a way in which they can relate.

He said he is excited about the future of Raleigh and the Southeast.

“A recession will eventually come, but I think our area will get the sniffles when a lot of other areas will get a bad cold,” said Fritsch. “We also have such a diversified economy and aren’t dependent on any one industry like other areas are.”

He concluded by telling the audience members to remember to have balance in their lives.
“Remember how important time is,” he said. “Parents, the time you have with your children goes by like that.”
We want to thank Fritsch for his great insight at C-Suite Perspectives. We also want to thank our sponsors for making this series possible.

Mark your calendars for Nov. 16 for our next C-Suite Perspectives at The Umstead Hotel and Spa where you will hear from Tim Humphrey, the vice president of IBM’s Chief Data Office. He will tell you about his journey and the leadership lessons he has learned along the way.

Kim Westbrook-MacDonald joined our team of relationship managers in August. Kim helps to grow the Chamber’s membership and also works with current members to increase their participation in Young Professionals Network, Regional Transportation Alliance, Innovate Raleigh, Edge 5, and as Chamber event sponsors.

Originally from Chattanooga, TN, Kim is an advertising veteran, having worked for USA Today, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, and the Hartford Business Journal. She also worked as the national sales manager for Yankee Magazine, based in New England. She’s been in Raleigh for the past decade, most recently working as the associate publisher of The Original Relocation Guide.
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Kim loves Raleigh and says our community is “vibrant, growing, and always feels like home.” She says it is the perfect place to raise a family. Kim lives here with her husband, Scott, and her teenage daughter, Madison.