Stacy Durand

Media Design Group
CEO and Co-Founder

Since starting her career in 1990, Stacy Durand has been an industry pioneer running and founding some of the largest agencies in the performance video marketplace. After acting as the Managing Director at Mercury Media, Stacy founded Revenue Frontier in 2004, Media Design Group in 2008 in addition to co-founding SmartMedia Tech in 2019. A serial and successful entrepreneur, As MDG’s CEO since its inception, Stacy’s dynamic leadership continues to drive growth and innovation for the agency’s employees, clients, and the industry as a whole. All of this while sending her first child to college and being actively involved as a volunteer in her hometown. Facing challenges is part of any CEO’s position, but managing a mid-size business during genuinely unprecedented times, especially in the advertising industry, requires ingenuity, leadership, resolve, and focus. During the past two years, Stacy has not only managed to lead Media Design Group out of the pandemic and related recession but actually grown the agency to all-time record billings and nearly doubled the employee count. The pandemic impacted all industries differently, but advertising took a particularly hard hit for a few reasons.

Advertisers needed to adjust their approach to be respectful of the enormous emotional impact on the country, consumers were making and spending less and many large companies stopped spending entirely or went out of business. Many agencies were forced to close their doors based on these dynamics. Because of Stacy’s perseverance and hard work, MDG not only successfully survived these circumstances, the company won two of its largest campaigns and entered 2022 in an unprecedently strong position. Adding clients including ZipRecruiter, Tractor Supply Company, and many more during this timeframe, billings have increased 2.5x and continue to grow. The agency has nearly doubled its staff, and new campaigns are launching faster than ever before. In addition to managing MDG, Stacy is also the co-founder, owner, and board member of SmartMedia Tech, which was formed in 2019 and started scaling just as the pandemic began. SmartMedia Tech focuses on web 3.0 marketing initiatives, including NFTs and cryptocurrency-backed advertising campaigns. In this role, Stacy and her co-founders have partnered with companies including Molson Coors Brewing Company, Avocados from Mexico, Fjällräven, Professional Bull Riding, and many more to launch campaigns leveraging entirely new technology to attract and engage consumers. Stacy is an industry thought leader in this evolving marketing channel, and her leadership is critical to SmartMedia Tech’s ongoing growth. Stacy’s professional success does not distract her from an active and engaged personal life. She earned her Executive MBA from Pepperdine University, is the Head of Hospitality at the National Charity League and is involved in her two children’s academic and athletic organizations. Successful CEOs need to be engaged, nimble, aggressive, forward-thinking and have the ability to handle unexpected situations when they arise. All while balancing a fulfilling home life. Stacy, both in her role at MDG and at SmartMedia Tech, has not only shown these characteristics but also created unprecedented growth for her in circumstances that were beyond challenging. She personifies the CEO Leadership Award and deserves to be recognized.