About Me

Proven storyteller.
Pop culture geek.
Digital neurotic.
Diet Dr. Pepper addict. 

Michael Ruby is a creative/content director, brand strategist, writer, and “recovering” stage performer dedicated to elevating complex B2B storytelling and brand experiences. He’s positioned and activated brands with award-winning campaigns and content experiences for organizations such as Boeing, ADP, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Merck, Korn Ferry, Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and Citrix Online, as well as growth-stage companies that have since been acquired by the likes of IBM, HP Enterprise, and UnitedHealth Group.

Michael is currently Chief Creative Officer at Retina, a leading global marketing and technology services company and both ANA’s 2020 B2B Agency of The Year and The Drum’s 2020 B2B Martech Agency of the Year. In his hybrid role, Michael is the company’s head of global creative and content services, as well as a key leader in client strategy, client engagement, and business development for Retina’s Demand and Brand Marketing, Digital Experience, Digital Transformation, and Data Science services. 

 In 2018, Michael was named to DMN’s 40under40 and tapped by Flexport, the SoftBank-backed, San Francisco-based unicorn, to build its internal creative and content marketing agency. Michael spearheaded Flexport’s brand story development and global rebrand; led and managed global brand advertising, thought leadership, and social media; and broadly supported the business creatively, from multichannel lead gen and corporate comms to employer branding, Flexport.org and FORWARD, its inaugural customer conference. As a result, Flexport was named to Interbrand’s Breakthrough Brands 2020.

Prior to Flexport, Michael was pivotal to the growth of global B2B specialist agency Stein IAS. Rising from temp receptionist in 2003 all the way to Executive Creative Director and then the firm’s first Chief Content and Experience Officer in 2015, Michael founded MADE by Stein IAS, the agency’s creative technology and content studio – introducing VR, long-form video, gamification, mobile, social and experiential storytelling to clients of all kinds. In the process, he helped lead Stein IAS to ANA Business Marketing Agency of the Year honors five consecutive years, as well recognition as an Ad Age A-List Agency to Watch.

Michael first honed his storytelling skills as a musical theater performer and award-winning librettist. His musicals and songs have been performed across the United States, and in England and South America. He workshopped his latest collaboration with composer/lyricist Rob Rokicki (Broadway’s The Lightning Thief) at the University of Southern California in late 2018.

He holds a degree in Film/Communications from Boston University. Most importantly, he’s Ben and Viv’s dad.