Dru DeSantis
Dru leads creative strategy, brand identity and design for clients across industries, including the Fortune 500 and the next Fortune 500. She has stewarded engagements for clients such as Morgan Stanley, Aetna, Deutsche Bank, Lilly, Interactive Data and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Dru founded a design firm that grew to become a recognized leader in creative strategy for corporate and marketing communications. DeSantis Design was later sold to Visual Communications Group, a subsidiary of the Grey Global Group. There, Dru partnered with Howard Breindel to build the business into one of the most profitable Grey Global Group marketing communications subsidiaries. Together, Howard and Dru co-founded Directors Desk, a revolutionary internet-based collaboration platform for corporate boards. They built the company into a market leader with clients such as Microsoft, Kodak, American Century and Union Pacific, leading to the company’s sale to NASDAQ. Dru’s creative leadership at DeSantis Breindel has built the firm’s reputation for design innovation. She has also led the development of the firm’s foundation and non-profit branding and marketing business, as well as an award-winning corporate and documentary filmmaking business.
Dru serves as a board member of Playworks, a national organization that supports learning by providing healthy and inclusive play to 300 schools in 22 cities nationwide at recess and throughout the entire day.
Howard S. Breindel
Howard leads branding and marketing strategy for the firm, spearheading engagements for companies in financial services, technology, professional services, life sciences, real estate and energy. He has worked with clients such as Pfizer, CIT, Honeywell, AON, Royal Bank of Scotland and American Bankers Association.
Howard has a long-standing track record of building businesses that draw on his expertise in marketing and leverage pioneering technology. He began his marketing career at PCI Corporation, a start-up computer graphics design and production company focused on providing high-profile corporate presentations. Howard led PCI’s rapid growth among financial services and Fortune 500 companies, establishing the firm as the go-to resource for C-Suite presentations. As founder and CEO of the Visual Communications Group (VCG), a Grey Global Group company, Howard was a pioneer in deploying interactive multimedia and internet communications in branding and marketing. Following the acquisition of DeSantis Design by VCG, Howard partnered with Dru DeSantis to build the business into one of the most profitable Grey Global Group subsidiaries. Together, Howard and Dru co-founded Directors Desk, a revolutionary internet-based collaboration platform for corporate boards. They built the company into a market leader with clients such as Microsoft, Kodak, American Century and Union Pacific, leading to the company’s sale to NASDAQ. Howard brought this business building experience to DeSantis Breindel, which continues to break new ground in branding and synchronized marketing programs, including digital, social and mobile platforms.
Howard is active in philanthropic and community endeavors, serving on the boards of two local non-profits that act as spiritual, recreational and cultural hubs of the community.
