Lexington, KY - They do hold titles at Lexington’s Group CJ Agency - but you won’t find them in any textbook on formal corporate hierarchy.
And when self-annointed “Chick-in-Charge” (and agency owner) Connie Jo Miller recently came up with a new one, “Next-Chick-in-Charge,” it was about more than position. It was about the future of the Lexington ad agency she founded 25 years ago.
Miller, looking to highlight the “success” in succession, is preparing to pass the torch to a pair of dynamic young women. In addition to grooming Creative Director Nancy Diedrichs who has been with the agency for close to a decade, Miller has recruited Robbie Morgan, a rising star in Lexington’s arts community, to sign-on as Vice President (“Next-Chick-in-Charge”) of the agency with the goal of a gradual buyout.
“Any smart business owner knows that selling their business is not the way to retire. We make our money while we work.” said Miller. “I have attended industry seminars in Chicago on the variety of ways to pass a commercial arts firm to the next generation. There are a number of ways to structure this financially. It is a process that will likely take a few years.”
Miller anticipates “moving out of the day to day – the agency traffic – the quality control of every communication that goes out of the firm in then next year or two. That leaves me free to have a ‘helicopter view’, focus on the big picture, new business and community involvement.”
“Connie Jo mentioned about six months ago that she was thinking about me coming over here,” Morgan recalled, “and I was thinking, ‘wouldn’t that be hilarious? Wouldn’t that be a fated circumstance?’”
Fate? Read on.
“I think it was ’94,” said Miller, searching her memory. “We had just moved into Old Vine (the firm’s present location in Lexington.) And Robbie’s daddy, Jimmie Morgan at Countryside Motors was one of my very first clients and dear friend and supporter.”
Morgan picked it up from there. “I have worked for my dad’s car dealership, in the parts department, and in the service department as a service writer and I loved it,” she said, recalling her introduction to the world of employment at her father’s Lawrenceburg business which closed upon his retirement several years ago. “I loved working back there with those mechanics. They were hilarious. I loved working with the customers. It was a great environment. But I wasn’t going to take over a car dealership. I just wasn’t.”
Instead, Morgan landed her first “big city” job working for Miller at what was then known as CJ Advertising in Lexington, where she would occupy a tiny office as Traffic Manager/Intern. “So, I walk into this space and it’s like ‘wow! I have really hit the big time! This is the sexiest office I’ve ever been in!”
It wasn’t long before Morgan continued along this path of taking ever bolder steps, first relocating to Louisville, then on to Chicago to engage in performing and non-profit work, honing writing and communications skills both on and off stage. The Windy City became the springboard for a huge leap for this Anderson County, Kentucky girl: packing her bags -and her visa- and heading across the border into Canada and to the University of Toronto.
More than a decade after leaving Lexington, Morgan returned in 2009, working briefly at the University of Kentucky while quickly establishing a presence in the city’s arts community. Within a year, she co-founded the public art advocacy and fundraising program Change for Art.
Using outdated parking meters donated by the city, the project connects sponsoring businesses with local arts production, while essentially constructing an outdoor art gallery independent of additional funding.
Morgan moved on to LexArts in 2010, tasked with building relationships in the community and promoting the value of the arts. Following a conversation with staff about a need to improve local appreciation for visual arts, she took an idea for a weekly arts gathering to Bob Estes, owner of the recently opened Short Street bar and restaurant, Parlay Social. Estes had been looking for ways to boost the restaurant's typically lagging business on Monday nights, and both agreed that an artfully entertaining happy hour could meet both the needs of the restaurant and the art community. Debuting in January, ”21 Nights,” based on the Peabody Award-winning PBS series Art 21, was an instant hit, hosting packed-house screenings of the program produced in New York by Susan Sollins and the nonprofit group Art 21.
These experiences, said Morgan, have provided her with a unique perspective that she now brings full circle, to Group CJ. “Travel, coming out of a university background, coming out of the theatre world, coming out of the not-for-profit world - all of those things give me a variety of places to pull from,” she said.
Morgan plans to draw from the network she has developed as she has become immersed in the Lexington arts community. “I’ve been so connected to the grass roots - what’s happening in little tiny spots in Lexington, things that may get missed. ...You look around our city and you see this visual style that’s there. So how do we take what people are familiar with and then push it to the next level, use that lexicon as a way to pitch our city, as a way to reference ourselves but also make a common language for people to understand?”
She acknowledges that her new role has its less-exciting, day-to-day routines, responsibilities and demands. What seems to most excite Robbie Morgan about her new job is an opportunity to influence how Lexington is perceived, both externally and by its own people. “It’s how we take these big ideas and really, really challenge where they go, how we think of ourselves, how we brand ourselves and how we promote that and package that so that when people leave here they’re speaking the language about our city that we want them to speak.”
Succession is now in motion at Group CJ as Miller gives thought to how she wants to spend the rest of her life. “My husband Lynn Cravens is a retired architect – meaning he no longer accepts clients, yet works on his own projects. I’d like to join him in this semi-retirement before I am 60. In other words in the next 5 years.”
Yesterday was Morgan’s first day on the job at Group CJ, beginning the process of learning the ropes and becoming the firm’s NCIC - Next Chick in Charge.