Michael Gross - President

Two-time winner of Adweek's "Creative Media Award," winner of Inside Print's "Perfect Print Plan" competition and winner of a J. Walter Thompson “White Pea Award” for creativity, Mike Gross has held senior-level positions at J. Walter Thompson, NW Ayer, Benton & Bowles and Avrett, Free & Ginsberg.

For three decades, Mike has worked for clients such as Procter & Gamble, Lever Brothers, TWA, General Foods, DeBeers, DuPont, Gillette, Nestle, Crayola, Chesebrough-Ponds, Prodigy, Continental Airlines, Ralston-Purina, Miller Brewing, U.S. Army, Kraft, Pfizer, TV Guide, Warner-Lambert, Schieffelin & Somerset, Miles Laboratories, Burger King, Lorillard Tobacco and many others.

Long before he started Paragon Media, Mike recognized the importance of career education. Of particular interest was the development and management of short-term media training programs designed to deliver long-term benefits. During his ad agency tenure, Mike developed and managed NW Ayer’s training program, created the magazine training modules for the JWT training program and developed seminars for clients such as Pfizer and American Home Products. For the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Mike developed and presented a media seminar designed to improve the performance of small agency media departments. As a consultant, Mike authored the course for Adweek's well-known Media School and produced an interactive media module for marketing software developed by Management Science Associates.

Active in industry affairs, Mike was a member of two American Association of Advertising Agencies media committees (newspaper and ethnic relations) as well as the AAAA’s media seminar faculty. In addition to serving as a spokesman at industry functions, Mike has appeared as a columnist in a number of industry publications and has been interviewed by and quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, CNN, WINS, Advertising Age, Adweek, Mediaweek, Marketing & Media Decisions and Inside Media to name a few.