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Jesse Derris
CSO of Orchestra; founder/chair of Derris; founder/managing member of Amity Supply
Jesse Derris is the Chief Strategy Officer at Orchestra, a communications company formed from the rebranding of BerlinRosen Holdings. He is also the founder and chair of Derris, a brand consultancy he co-founded with Lisa Frank in 2013.12346 Derris has transitioned from his previous role as CEO of Derris to a chairman position while continuing his strategic role at Orchestra.2 He is based in New York, NY, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Political Science.5 Orchestra is a network of agency partners providing strategic communications services across various industries, and Jesse Derris plays a key role in shaping its strategy.134
Highlights
If you've ever had a great idea but no idea how to execute it, you'll know just how I felt before I met Lisa Frank (hat tip to Neil Blumenthal, who introduced us!).
Lisa started Derris with me in a small co-working space on 55th Street in 2013, and more than any other person is responsible for helping our company become what is today. She is my partner and my friend, and she's also a generational talent and someone who deserves every bit of recognition she gets.
I've been asked by a bunch of folks about why I stepped aside, and the answer is simple: Lisa and the entirely homegrown leadership team she's built (in alphabetical order: Abby Dixon, Julie (Wiencek) Brown, Lena Griffin, Lindsey Gilchrist and Samantha Weiss) were more than ready to lead Derris, and it was their time. They are a powerful group leading a business we're all incredibly proud to call our own.
And I'm not actually going anywhere. I'm moving into the Chair role at Derris and don't plan to change anything about the fortunate role I get to play advising our clients or the time I get to spend with our team.
My new role at Orchestra has me energized, engaged, and excited. We're building a new model readymade for the future. We're large enough now to affect significant change (600+ incredibly capable humans!), but nimble enough to evolve quickly as the world continues to change dramatically in real time. More than anything, we're advisors and thought partners to our clients, because it turns out that everything is communications, and communications is everything.
The founding idea of Derris 11 years ago was to build a new brand of communications agency that puts strategy and storytelling at the center of everything we do. We joined Berlin Rosen Holdings nearly two years ago to further that mission and expand our horizons. Today, Berlin Rosen Holdings becomes Orchestra!
The Orchestra network is made up of our incredible partners at BerlinRosen, Brightmode Talent, Derris, Glen Echo Group, LLC, Inkhouse , M18 Public Relations, Message Lab and Onward at BerlinRosen, and is built around the idea of helping companies and brands earn and retain audience attention in this incredible era of information overload.
On a more personal note, today marks the end of my time as CEO of Derris. I am excited to move into a new role as Chief Strategy Officer of Orchestra, working alongside Jonathan Rosen, Valerie Berlin and an incredible team of executives that will help us set a course for the future. I am not leaving Derris – far from it, as I’ll still be deeply involved with the company! – but I am thrilled to be passing the CEO job to the best possible person to take the company into its second decade. More on that in the days to come!
