Obsessed with figuring things out, Jonathan felt the need to write a John Le Carré pun for his introduction's headline. And with that obsession he has built creative departments from the ground up, opened an agency satellite office, and founded an unrivaled entertainment creative marketing think-tank and multi-disciplinary production studio for VICE.
He has made a career out of pushing boundaries and building creative teams both large and small, best known for his work on adult swim and Netflix, having expanded the canon of Rick & Morty many times over and developed official Netflix weed. He has also directed a cartel simulator game for NARCOS and a voice-activated cooperative tabletop dungeon crawler for ALIEN. He is the visionary inventor of the Rickstaverse and director of a multi-stage immersive theater experience for Blizzard.
Currently, Jonathan is Principal Creative Director at Riot Games, where he is concentrating his efforts leading all creative for Teamfight Tactics publishing; from short films to key art, branding to partnerships, and most importantly building out the story and rules for TFT lore.
Previously, he was Executive Creative Director of Virtue Worldwide's west coast creative office, and Founder/Studio Head of Virtue PLAY, an award winning entertainment marketing think-tank and production house. Under the Virtue PLAY umbrella, Jonathan also founded and co-wrote the entertainment marketing trade publication, AUX.
Previous to that, he was Executive Creative Director and Managing Director of Carrot Creative's west coast office, a role that initially had him hand-select 9 brilliant-minded strategists, producers, writers and artists to move across the country with him from Brooklyn to open the company's first real satellite office in Los Angeles. Entirely through organic growth, the team doubled in size in less than 2 years time.
Prior to that, he was ECD and Head of Creative globally for Carrot Creative out of Brooklyn, NY. He oversaw all Creative output across dozens of clients that included Cartoon Network, Ubisoft, Warner Bros, Adidas, and Patagonia. He lead a team of 30 Creatives and 15 Artists which he grew from the ground up (starting with just 3 and himself).
Before becoming a Creative Director, Jonathan cut his teeth as a Designer and Multi-Disciplinary Artist at BBDO Worldwide, in New York City. He was able to hone his craft under some of the worlds most creative minds, while working in a multitude of artistic roles such as Photo Retoucher, Digital Painter, Storyboard Artist, and Graphic Designer.
Rick and Morty Rickstaverse:
Cannes Lion - Bronze, Innovation in Branded Gaming, Entertainment
D&AD Pencil - Winner, Creative Excellence
Webby - Excellence in Entertainment
Shorty Award - Most Innovative Use of Technology
Call of Duty Superpower for Hire:
Cannes Lion - Silver, Branded Content, Entertainment
The Netflix Collection and Ruth’s Alternative Caring:
Cannes Lion - SL, Innovation in Branded Content, Entertainment
Clio Awards - Gold, Events/Experiential
Clio Awards - Silver, Partnerships & Collaborations
Clio Awards - Bronze, Innovation
The Dieline - Dieline’s Best Of (Packaging)
Powerpuff Yourself:
Webby Awards - Best Website for Youth
FWA - Site of the Day
Netflix / The OA:
The One Show - Craft, Best Use of Visuals
Target / Halloween Hills:
Contagious X - Best of the Decade, Best on Instagram
Jonathan lives and works in Venice Beach, CA. He was born in Brooklyn, NY. He went to college in Clemson, SC.
His first love is games. But he is an obsessive story consumptionist as well: movies, tv, comics, novels, essays, magazines, podcasts, youtube shows, twitch streams. He consumes them like water. Second would be toys and, ironically, playing outside.