Michelle Connley-Gore is a marketing expert with 23 years of experience in the areas of marketing strategy, communications planning, brand identity, advertising, creative/design process management, digital content management, BIPOC-targeted marketing, community relations, and event design & management.
Michelle earned her chops at global ad agency Leo Burnett Worldwide in Chicago on the U.S. Army national advertising business. Michelle then went on to hone her skills at national agency, Carol H. Williams Advertising, working on the General Motors, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Disney accounts. Working in the areas of account and event management, Michelle managed TV and print productions, the media planning process, public relations strategy, inter-agency campaign management, and integrated media campaigns.
Following her advertising career, Michelle decided to pursue her passion for supporting underserved communities of color by taking a national brand management role at the KIPP Foundation, working in both their Chicago and San Francisco offices. As the Senior Marketing Communications Manager at KIPP, she led the work in creating KIPP's brand guidelines, national messaging, annual Report Card, affiliate branding and collateral materials, and collaborated across KIPP's 30+ regions to provide guidance and tools to hundreds of staff who now serve 200,000+ students and alumni nationwide.
In 2015, Connley-Gore founded MDC Marketing Group, a strategic marketing and communications firm based in Charlotte focused on ensuring that businesses, government entities, and nonprofit organizations thrive. MDC’s clients include: Mecklenburg County, Charlotte Works, Care Ring, The Belk Foundation, Mecklenburg County ABC Board, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Carolina Small Business Development Fund, Foundation For The Carolinas, University of California San Francisco/The LOOP, Steve Smith Family Foundation, Read Charlotte, KIPP North Carolina, and more.
Michelle holds both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has also participated in Columbia Business School's Executive Education program "Developing Leaders for Nonprofit Professionals."