The Ray Gillette Pub Quiz
January 9, 2008
Ray Gillette is throwing in the towel as partner of Chicago based advertising firm Downtown Partners. The shop, which is owned by Omnicom, was founded by Ray and CD Jim Schmidt in 2004. Before creating Downtown, Gillette did some time at DDB Chicago and ended up as its president. Schmidt and Joe Stuart remain as partners and will continue to share management of the agency with Chris Tussing.
Just in case you ever find yourself participating in an advertising themed pub quiz, here’s some odds and ends about Ray to help you score some points:
1. He gave $200 in November to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Hey. Chi-town is a Dem-town. Actually, in total, he gave $4225 in 2007. Some to Obama For America; some to the DNC and Democracy For America.
2. Gillette serves on the Board of StreetWise – a newspaper for the homeless – and the SOJ’s Visiting Committee. He is a member of the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and a life member of Trout Unlimited.
3. He graduated from West Virginia University.
4. He’s a little shaky using Linkedin.
5. He’s often called a pioneer for getting DDB to offer integrated services long before it was an industry standard.
Sayonara Ray!
