Andrew Essex

Andrew Essex is Senior Managing Partner of TCS Interactive. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Tribeca Film Festival and founding CEO of Droga5, arguably the most celebrated marketing services agency on the planet, and AdAge and AdWeek “Agency of the Decade.” Droga5 was acquired for a record multiple by William Morris Endeavor in 2013 and sold again to Accenture Interactive in 2019. A highly creative strategic executive with three decades in branding, business development, and M&A, he is a proven entrepreneurial leader and culture builder with multiple exits, high-profile turnaround experience, skilled in recruiting, retaining, and managing talent and overseeing complex P&Ls, and a rainmaker with extensive track record of generating high-margin revenue, crafting compelling narratives and operating complex enterprises in competitive markets. He is a McKinsey Senior Advisor, a frequent public speaker on media, marketing and monetization strategies and sits on the board of MMA Global and Plus Pool. He is the former Chair of the NYC Mayor’s Creative Council, and a former advisor to the White House American Office of Innovation and the Wharton SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management. A frequent angel investor, he serves as an advisor to Glasswing Ventures, a top fund focused on AI, prop tech, enterprise SAAS and cybersecurity, among other platforms. Prior to his role overseeing what The Guardian called “the most exciting agency on the planet,” he was an award-winning journalist and cultural editor at such publications as The New Yorker, Details and Salon.com, among others. He has been a television commentator for ABC, CNN, and CNBC. He is author of “The End of Advertising: Why It Had to Die and the Creative Resurrection to Come” and the co-author of three books: "A Very Public Offering: The Story of the Globe.com,” “Chasing Cool,” with former Barney’s CEO Gene Pressman, and “Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny,” with celebrated producer and musician Nile Rodgers. Essex has an MA and BA from New York University. He lives with his wife and two children in New York.