Gay Gaddis is president and CEO of T3 (The Think Tank). She started her company in 1989 with a cashed-in IRA and two employees. Today, T3 is the largest independent advertising agency owned by a woman in the country, with offices in Austin, New York and San Francisco and over $300 million in capitalized billings. Organized as a marketing and creative think tank, T3 works with clients including Marriott, JCPenney, JPMorgan Chase, Cisco, UPS, Microsoft, ConocoPhillips Lubricants, John Deere, Universal, Valero, Ingenix, Spheris and Robbins Bros.

She is an active industry spokesperson and entrepreneurial advocate. Gay blogs for PINK magazine, is a columnist for iMedia Communications, an interactive media and marketing trade publisher, and recently participated in the Global Summit of Women in Vietnam, The New York Times Small Business Summit, the Harvard Business School's Dynamic Women in Business conference and ad:tech Chicago. In addition, she's a member of the Texas Governor's Business Council's executive board, the Women's Leadership Exchange (WLE) national advisory board and the Committee of 200 (C200).

Gay's dynamic business acumen and corporate culture has led to national recognition. She has been recognized as one of Fast Company's "Top 25 Women Business Builders," Inc. magazine's "Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the Year" and 25 Advertising Working Mothers of the Year by Working Mother magazine. T3's family-friendly workplace programs have been recognized by the White House, "Good Morning America," BBC World Service radio, USA Today and most recently, "Nightline."

Before founding T3, Gay started her career as a copywriter with The Richards Group. She then served as public relations director for Baylor University Medical Center; marketing director for Leadership Dynamics, a national management consulting firm; and a full partner at an Austin advertising agency. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.

Gay and her husband Lee are parents to three: Sam, a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, Rebecca, a graduate of the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising in New York, New York, and Ben, a graduate of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. Together, Gay and Lee, who is also the COO for T3, run the Double Heart Ranch where they raise Texas Longhorns and endangered Madrone trees.