Spotlight: John Ketchum, CEO
Markers:
Ironically, one picture that says a great deal about John isn’t even of him. It’s the shot of his office wall of Reds’ great Ted Kluszewski: the same kind of fiery competitor that John has always been.
His career arc has illuminated many of the most respected advertising and communications agencies in the Southeastern renaissance, including Cargill Wilson & Acree, Lawler Ballard, McKinney & Silver and LKM, where he is CEO. From the outset as a Product Manager at Hanes, John’s career has been characterized by active strategic thinking – a drive to uncover the compelling position – combined with the pragmatism of serving clients who are often outspent but refuse to be outthought in the drive to bring a better quality product to market.
John has served on the Executive Committee of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, was vice president of the Chamber’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, and has been on the board of directors of the Tour and Travel Research Association and the North Carolina Humanities Foundation and the North Carolina Zoological Park.
Family:
Wife Debbie realizes a lifelong dream of creating a home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Son Matthew is currently establishing his own career arc through a two-year design and copywriting program at Creative Circus in Atlanta, Georgia. Their other four children are spread from Meadow Of Dan, VA to London.
Passions:
Mystery and intrigue fiction (LeCarre and P.D. James, please.) The elusive but worthy quarry of the perfect golf outing. The state of North Carolina in all of its infinite variety. The baseball Reds and the football Panthers. Coaching kids on the diamond.
Words:
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” (Okay, that’s Twain. But also John.)
