HOW ONE ENTREPRENEUR RODE OUT THE DOT-COM BUST AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE

As Founder and CEO of Closerlook Inc., David Ormesher leads an entrepreneurial technology, marketing and communications agency that serves some of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies. He’s a role model for marketers who want to be more entrepreneurial—either within organizations, or in marketers’ own firms—because he has managed to migrate and morph his company from 1987 to today with deftness and finesse while maintaining a commitment to sound operating principles.

His 120-person firm has served companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis and Astra-Zeneca. And Ormesher now splits his time between serving such clients and coaching entrepreneurs in Rwanda, as chairman of the board of Bigger Future, a nonprofit humanitarian consulting agency that builds the capacity of high-potential entrepreneurs in emerging economies.