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.
