Charles is a business storyteller and SME whisperer, who creates high-impact, B2C-flavored creative work for B2B organizations. His signature approach delivers compelling language that rests upon an underlying chassis of business logic and identifiable components with jobs to do. The resulting styles can range from “deeply thoughtful” to “pithy and clever.”
During the past 20 years, his client sweet spot has been large, blue-chip organizations where he finds creative solutions that can shine within the rules of highly regulated businesses. They include KPMG, Accenture, PNC, American Express, Bank of America, and UBS Americas. Charles has also collaborated with the country’s top creative agencies. Both rosters mean experience with every kind of team configuration, platform, and assignment.
His working style is characterized by close listening to what is said — and what is not said. Over the course of more than 3,000 executive interviews, Charles has refined a conversational style that establishes trust and draws out insights. Subject matter experts are often delighted with the unexpected questions, and with their own thoughts reflected back in organized, beautiful language. Interview subjects ask, “I said that?”, and hear, “Yes, you said that!”
Charles believes in passing on what he knows: At BMCC, CUNY’s largest two-year college, he taught fundamentals of thinking, language and writing to incoming freshman, using a fast-paced, immersive format that drew from varied, counter-intuitive sources including canon literature, comics, political advertising, Film Noir, and pop culture.
Charles began his communications career as a newspaper reporter with the Morristown, New Jersey Daily Record. He holds an MA in journalism and a BA in English from Columbia University. He works and lives in New York City.
And, oh yes, he loves to garden.
What’s with the quill and ink?
“It’s an ode to the craftsmanship that underlies strategic writing. Especially now, in the age of AI, human ingenuity and practiced skill are still required to produce great creative.”