Brad Davis has a doctorate in law and a track record for building high-growth brands and award-winning communication strategies. He was named one of the top 50 Marketers in America (Ad Age).
He has served in executive leadership positions for national brands in retail, financial services, and renewable energy successfully launching new markets both nationally and internationally.
He was inducted into the U.S. Retail Marketing Hall of Fame following a nationwide brand launch which included the unprecedented buyout of every seat on Broadway for New York’s teachers — propelling the brand to #2 position in the market after only 90 days and receiving an Effie from the American Marketing Association, New York for business results.
NPR’s Weekend Edition interviewed him about breaking through the clutter by focusing on people first — not products, or services, but people — both inside and outside of the company. His philosophy: “everyone is part of the marketing team.”
In 2010, he was retained to create the brand positioning for a newly formed commercial bank following a $460 million capital raise. By engaging business leaders and communities, his team positioned the bank as a partner for business growth. Six years later Opus Bank exceeded $9 billion in assets and had completed a successful IPO.
In 2016, Davis was invited to keynote the World Retail Congress in Dubai and to speak with the Congress about how to create genuine value. The U.K.’s Campaign magazine interviewed him about how to deliver marketing which is both effective and efficient.
Davis was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Washington Mutual following 14 years in traditional retail with Target Corporation. Entering half of the nation’s top 50 markets, his teams’ strategies were commended by the Chairman of Columbia Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox for messaging which resonates with the community. He was named to the #1 position in the industry’s annual selection of leading marketing executives (full story).
The brand’s successful engagement of the nation’s most competitive markets was the subject of a 2004 Kellogg School of Management case study. He departed the bank the following year—after nearly a decade of leadership. Consumers named it one of the top 10 financial services firms in the nation. Four years later, the bank would collapse—the result, he said “of the industry building products for the company instead of the customer.” The U.S. retail industry inducted Davis into the Retail Marketing Hall of Fame in Chicago.
He served as Chairman of the Board of the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association from 2004-2006. He has been a guest speaker in London, Dublin, Madrid, Toronto, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Johannesburg, South Africa and was invited to China as part of a U.S. delegation on marketing, visiting Beijing and Shanghai.
He served on the executive committee of the Seattle Art Museum during their $200 million dollar expansion which included transforming a 10-acre waterfront sculpture park Time magazine called one of “The 10 Best New and Upcoming Architectural Marvels.”
In 2009, he was among 100 global business, social and philanthropic leaders invited to join the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the 2009 Vancouver Peace Summit’s “Connecting for Change.” He serves as a communication adviser to the former President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Today, he is Co-Founder, CMO at Omnidian where he’s helping lead a team focused on protecting and accelerating investments in solar energy. Omnidian has been named one of the nation’s Most Innovative Energy Companies, a Top 10 Solar Tech Service Company, and has ranked among the Top 100 Places To Work by Seattle Business Magazine for 4 consecutive years.