Jennifer Appleby

Jennifer Appleby joined Wray Ward, an independently-owned creative marketing communications firm based in Charlotte, N.C., in 1993 as senior art director. She was promoted to executive creative director in 1995 and senior vice president in 1998. In early 2001, she was named president and chief creative officer and today is majority partner of the company.

Since then, Appleby has helped lead Wray Ward to become Charlotte’s leading marketing communications firm, with a client portfolio that includes Carolinas Healthcare System, Crescent Resources, Springs Global and its Wamsutta and Springmaid brands, Glen Raven and its Sunbrella fabrics brand, the North Carolina Education Lottery, VELUX America and WIX Filters.  Under Appleby’s direction the agency continues to grow in size, talent and services, including expanding discipline expertise from advertising and public relations to also include interactive and direct marketing.

Appleby’s creative work has earned wide recognition and has been highlighted in regional and national award show publications such ShowSouth, Print’s Regional Design Annual, Creativity, Graphis, The New York Art Director’s Club, The One Show and Communication Arts. She has served as a judge for both local and regional ADDYs and has juried the American Advertising Federation’s national student advertising competition.

Appleby has contributed time to a number of community issues, and her particular passion for helping to create a more vibrant cultural community can be seen through numerous leadership positions and initiatives that have helped many of the city’s non-profit cultural organizations.

She is past chair of the board of directors for the Arts & Science Council (ASC), one of the country’s largest cultural arts agencies, for whom she served as the co-chair for the 2007 annual fund drive. During her board tenure, she helped instigate a major marketing initiative for ASC, including redefining its brand identity, helping launch the online cultural community event calendar CharlotteCultureGuide.com, and developing multiple fund drive campaign themes.

As board chair for Charlotte ArtsFest, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote cultural events in Uptown Charlotte, Appleby helped bring back First Night to Charlotte for the first time in 12 years. A family-friendly cultural celebration, First Night Charlotte featured musicians, dancers, actors and artists on sidewalks, streets and indoors on New Year’s Eve day with a traditional New Year’s Eve celebration in the center of Uptown at midnight.

She also is a member of the Women’s Impact Fund and the Wachovia Charlotte Metro Advisory Board, and she is on the executive committee of the board of directors of the Charlotte Chamber, for which she chairs the Member Value committee. In addition, she serves on the marketing committee of the Campaign for Cultural Facilities and is a member of the Spirit Square Task Force as well as the North Tryon Visioning Task Force.

Appleby’s community support extends to include the donation of significant time and energy to many pro-bono clients. As a board member of Goodwill of the Southern Piedmont, she worked hand in hand with the organization to develop the effective campaign, “You Give Stuff, We Put People To Work.”  She also has provided pro-bono services for Mint Museum, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Discovery Place, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, the American Red Cross, Junior Achievement, Communities in Schools and more.

She has received awards and recognition for her community and business leadership, including the Mint Museum of Art’s Spirit Award, the Charlotte Ad Club’s Silver Medal Award, Women in Communications’ ACE Award and the Arts & Science Council’s Mary B.A. Howell Award. Recently recognized by Charlotte Magazine on its 50 Most Powerful People in Charlotte list, Appleby has been a  finalist for the Queen’s College BusinessWoman of the Year Award and has received the Charlotte Business Journal’s Women In Business Achievement and 40 Under 40 awards.

A participant of both the Charlotte Chamber Leadership School and the Innovation Institute at the McColl Center, Appleby is a graduate of Penn State University. She lives with her husband and two young daughters in Charlotte.