Michael Chaney
Serial Entrepreneur and Investor focussing on marketing and alcoholic beverage companies. and Former Founder & CEO, Piston Agency
Kappa Sigma Alumni, Graduated in 1981
Michael Chaney is the former founder and CEO of Piston, a digital marketing agency with offices in San Diego and New York. Piston served global clients such as L’Oreal, Lancome, Giorgio Armani, Nokia, Cars.com, Del Monte, Oakley, Ray-Ban, Universal Studios, The Body Shop, and Sunglass Hut. Michael recently sold the agency to Team Lewis, a global communications firm with offices in 46 countries.
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Before Piston, Michael was CEO of World Medical Leaders, an Omnicom-backed firm that developed professional web education for physicians. Earlier, Michael was CEO of Illusion Fusion, an NYC-based firm with four US offices that created advertising, internet, film, and television content.
During the late nineties, Michael co-founded US Interactive, one of the first digital advertising agencies. He and his partners took US Interactive public via NASDAQ in 1999.
Michael spent his first 15 years after college on the traditional side of the advertising business in Manhattan. At firms such as Ayer and MVBMS/Euro, he worked with Folgers Coffee, Ramada Hotels, A&W Soft Drinks, and Johnnie Walker Scotch.
He attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, and majored in advertising. Michael subsequently established a merit scholarship for graduate students at the VCU BrandCenter and currently serves on the board.
Michael is currently an independent investor focusing on the beverage alcohol businesses, including Sephina Cognac and Compass Box Scotch. He lives with his wife Larissa, an advertising creative director, and his two young wannabe rapper sons in a converted convent. The same convent where Mother Teresa once stayed on her visit to Manhattan. (We’re not kidding.)
CREDENTIALS
• President & COO, Sephina Spirits
• Director’s Council Member, VCU Brandcenter
• Former Founder & CEO, Piston Agency
LinkedIn Profile
VCU Brandcenter
Brandcenter YouTube Channel
Sephina Spirits
THE EVENING's AGENDA
Intro / Spotlight on Michael
• Background
• Education
• Career Path
Q&A