Jennifer Appleby
President, Chief Creative Officer
Wray Ward
Jennifer Appleby joined Wray Ward, a leading creative marketing communications firm based in Charlotte, NC in 1993 as senior art director. She was promoted to executive creative director in 1995 and senior vice president in 1998. In early 2001, only eight years after joining the firm, 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 Springs Global, the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting, the North Carolina Education Lottery, Rack Room Shoes, 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, Graphics, 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 and talent to a number of community issues. She is the 2006/2007 board chair for the Arts & Science Council, one of the country’s largest cultural arts agencies, and she sits on the boards of Charlotte Center City Partners, Goodwill Industries, and The Charlotte City Club. A former member of the Charlotte regional United Way’s marketing task force, she developed the compelling message, “Without You, There’s No Way.” She also has dedicated significant time and energy to pro bono clients, including the ASC, the Mint Museum, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Discovery Place, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, the American Red Cross, Junior Achievement, Communities in Schools, Charlotte Shout, Southeast Origami Festival, and more.
She was the Charlotte Ad Club’s 2004 Silver Medal Award Winner, was a finalist for the 2003 Queen’s College BusinessWoman of the Year Award, and has won the Women in Communications’ ACE award in recognition of service to the Charlotte community. A graduate of the Charlotte Chamber Leadership School, Appleby also was voted one of the Charlotte Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 and has received the Charlotte Business Journal’s Women In Business Achievement Award.
Appleby is a graduate of Penn State University. She lives with her husband and two young daughters in Charlotte.