Hi, I'm Michael.

Michael Hogenmiller

Hanging out at our family farm in La Vernia, Texas. December 26, 2011

“Michael is a quick study who loves new challenges. His media savvy, versatility, and strong communications skills make him wise beyond his years.”

~ Catherine Cuellar
Communications Manager, Oncor

Work Experience

Positions:

  • Art Director
  • Creative Director
  • Chief Operating Officer

What's With All of the Job Titles?

At a small media company like Cheri Media, it’s a real all-hands-on-deck atmosphere. When I first joined the company, my key responsibility was to revamp our products.

With my prior experiences in Advertising and Politics, I was able to point out a collection of untapped strategic opportunities that soon led to my new role as the company’s #2 executive.

Cheri Media February 2010 to present

Cheri Media owns and operates a collection of online music magazines that reach over 3 million readers each month.

As the Art Director at Cheri Media, I executed all artwork, web design, and front-end programming for all of Cheri Media’s publications, including a complete redesign of their flagship website, www.hiphopdx.com.

As the Creative Director, I oversaw all aspects of our publications’ designs, including their branding, communications strategy, marketing, content strategy, and user-experience. Specific projects included:

  • Design updates to the company's flagship publication
  • The development of a project management system to increase productivity and fuel collaboration between remote teams spread across four cities in two countries
  • A redesign of the website's content management system
  • A revamp of the company's email marketing program
  • An audit and analysis of the website's online retail store performance
  • The development of new advertising revenue streams and monetization strategies

As the Chief Operating Officer, I oversaw the development of our core business strategies for 2010, the expansion of our workforce by 25%, and created and executed key strategic shifts within the company that made 2010 the most successful year to date for Cheri Media.

Cheri Camp - 2011

In early 2010, I organized our annual Cheri Camp, a 3 day conference where our staff can collaborate, brainstorm, and strategize together for the upcoming year.

With management and ad sales in Los Angeles, Editorial in Nashville and New York City, and our development team near Toronto, getting actual facetime together for collaboration is crucial.

Position:

  • Graphic Designer

That's Alot of Code for a Designer

When I first joined AdMarketers, they’d never had a Web Designer on staff proficient in HTML and CSS. Once I learned that our development team was in Maryland, I pushed to shift our front-end coding responsibilities to the design team.

We were able to drastically reduce our website development time once designers and programmers weren’t having to collaborate across 600 miles.

AdMarketers July 2008 to November 2009

Admarketers is a global digital creative group that specializes in Internet advertising, online marketing, and online media buying.

As a Graphic Designer, I created logos and identities for a variety of consumer financial products and business startups, designed B2B print materials for conferences, created email marketing campaigns, and designed online direct-response, e-commerce, financial publication, and consumer info websites for an international client list in the finance, education, consumer-health and insurance categories.

Specific web & technology responsibilities included:

  • Website Design: Photoshop + HTML/CSS (web-standards, w3c compliant)
  • Javascript (jQuery)
  • PHP
  • Information Architecture, Content Strategy & User-Experience Design
  • A/B Testing & Landing-Page Conversion-Rate Optimization
3 Generations at the Falcons' game (2011)

My position at AdMarketers gave me my first opportunity to live in Atlanta. I became a loyal Falcons fan and now—every year—my father, grandfather and I go see the Falcons play on Thanksgiving weekend.

“Michael always brings fresh, thoughtful ideas to the table. He’s always tuning me into the latest in design and is incredibly customer-focused when thinking about the user. Working with him is a lot of fun and I always come away from each project with new ideas and creative inspiration.”

~ Ahava Leibtag
Principal, Aha Media

Position:

  • Political Consultant

James Howard Group October 2007 to June 2008

The James Howard Group is a boutique political consulting firm specializing in campaign fundraising and new political candidate development.

As a Political Consultant, I provided branding, social networking, online media, public image, and fundraising consulting services to U.S. Senate, Texas Senate, Texas House, and municipal political campaigns as well as state-wide and national PACs.

Notable campaigns/clients:

  • State Senator Wendy Davis
  • Rep. Rafael Anchia
  • Rep. Robert Miklos
  • Rep. Rick Noriega
  • Rep. Paula Pierson
  • Rep. Chris Turner
  • Mayor Joe Jaworski
  • City Councilman Joel Burns
  • City Councilman Chris Hightower
  • City Councilman Reed Williams
  • Texas Democratic Party
  • Texas League of Conservation Voters
  • Texas Values In Action Commitee
  • Tyson Organization
At the Texas Democratic Convention (2007)

Hard at work between sessions at the Texas Democratic Convention. Austin, Texas (2008)

Positions:

  • Office Production Assistant
  • Field Production Assistant
  • On-Set Location Assistant
  • Camera Production Assistant
  • Second Assistant Camera
  • First Assistant Camera
  • Best Boy Electric
  • Best Boy Grip

Fox Television Studios,
NBC Universal, MTV September 2006 to September 2007

Production credits include Prison Break, Friday Night Lights, Beauty & the Geek, MTV's Making the Band, Deion & Pilar: Primetime Love, and various independent films.

As a Production Assistant on my first TV show, I knew nothing about TV & film. Zilch. Nada. There was a lot of terminology I had to pick up quickly, and the equipment is finicky and expensive. Add to that the long hours and high-stress work environment and it's a wonder that I didn't royally screw something up.

You're probably asking, "How'd you manage?" It wasn't easy, but I thrived by sticking to a rule: when I didn't know how to do something, I asked for help. Sure, I bothered a lot of people who had a lot of their own work to do, but I also learned.

There were no training manuals, video-tutorials or workshops, so I had to learn by doing. Camera Assistants showed me how to change lenses in parking lots, and gaffers ordered me through lighting setups while I climbed ladders. My willingness to ask questions and learn was all that mattered, and that'll stick with me forever.

On the Set of Prison Break (2006)

On the set of the Fox television show, "Prison Break." (2006)

Education

Studies:

  • Political Science
  • History
  • Music Performance

Southern Methodist UniversityAugust 2002 to May 2006

University Honors Student, SMU Academic Scholar, Meadows Artistic Scholarship Recipient

I was accepted in to SMU on a jazz performance scholarship (saxophone) in the Meadows School of the Arts. Despite a busy rehearsal schedule, I majored in Political Science, minored in History, was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, represented the university as an AARO Leader, and toured the UK with the Meadows Wind Ensemble.

SMU Graduation (2006)

Graduation day at SMU. Spring 2006.