Drew McLellan, CEO at Agency Management Institute (AMI)
Biography
Drew McLellan has worked in advertising for 30+ years and started his own agency, McLellan Marketing Group in 1995 after a five-year stint at Y&R and still actively runs the agency.
He spends the lion’s share of his time running Agency Management Institute (AMI), which he also co-owns/runs with his wife Danyel.
AMI serves thousands of agencies small to mid-sized agencies (advertising, digital, marketing, media and PR) every year, so they can increase their AGI, attract better clients and employees, mitigate the risks of being self-employed in a such volatile business and best of all — let the agency owner actually enjoy the perks of agency ownership.
AMI is the only agency network that is run by an active agency owner. It offers:
- Public workshops for agency owners, leaders and account service staff
- Owner peer networks (like a Vistage group or 4A’s forums)
- Private coaching/consulting for agency owners
- Annual primary research with CMOs and client decision makers about their work with agencies
- The highly praised podcast Build A Better Agency
- The only conference built for small to mid-sized agencies – the Build A Better Agency Summit
Drew often appears in publications like Entrepreneur Magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, AdAge, CNN, BusinessWeek, and many others. The Wall Street Journal calls him “one of 10 bloggers every entrepreneur should read.”
He’s also written several books, the most recent being Sell with Authority (January 2020). The latest book has garnered rave reviews and has been the guidebook for agency growth and business development in today’s world.
Drew also speaks at leading agency and marketing conferences like Inbound, Content Marketing World and MAICON and is often cited in agency centric content for his expertise in the industry.
When he’s not hanging out with clients or agency owners and their staff, Drew spends time with his wife, their blended family and following his beloved Dodgers.
Drew has a Master’s Degree from the University of Minnesota but alas, he cannot remember their fight song.