Flynn Wright’s tagline is “one step ahead” — and that applies to their work for clients as well as the vision for the business and its leadership. 

The Des Moines-based advertising agency announced this week it is welcoming its fourth generation of leadership as it enters its fourth decade in business.

Effective Feb. 2, Aaron Kennedy moved from the role of CEO to chairman; Paul Schlueter is the company’s new CEO and Sarah DeKock the new president, the first woman to serve in the role.

Other changes to the executive leadership team include the following promotions: Kyle Prendergast to chief operating officer; Bridget Proctor to chief creative officer; and Jeff White to executive vice president and partner. Kiersten Maertens was also named a partner of the firm in July 2025.

This iteration of Flynn Wright’s succession plan is a “natural path of evolution” for the business as it grows to meet new demands in the industry, Schlueter told the Business Record. These transitions have been a decade in the making as leaders grew and prepared for their new roles.

“I think to give young, energetic, brilliant minds opportunities you need to have succession in mind all the time,” Schlueter said. “It takes a long time to do it right, and we owe it to our clients and we owe it to everybody working here to be ahead of the game and do it well.”

Always keeping a pulse on succession and the future has allowed Flynn Wright to define the company by its culture and mission rather than the people currently in leadership, Schlueter said.

“A long time ago, we identified a goal of creating something that exists beyond our individual tenure, and that is a very challenging thing for an advertising agency or any professional services firm that relies on the strong personalities of a few individuals,” he said. “We have made this about something bigger than a few personalities. We’ve made this about an entire culture of expertise and accountability and exceptional individuals.”

Developing talent and culture from the ground up

Formed in 1984 by the merger of Peter Flynn Sr.’s Flynn Advertising Agency and Celia Wright Advertising, Flynn Wright today is a full-service advertising and public relations agency with over 100 employees and two new offices in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Portland, Ore., that opened in recent years. 

Schlueter and DeKock said selecting and growing like-minded talent each time they hire plays a crucial role in the agency’s ability to execute its growth strategy.

“If you’re looking top down, I think you’re making a mistake,” Schlueter said. “I think you need to look at your organization from the roots, the ground up, to make sure that your culture, the quality of individuals that you’re hiring are your primary focus from day one.” 

DeKock said she, along with Schlueter and other partners, have grown from entry-level positions to leadership roles over their 20-plus year tenures, showing what is possible for each new hire.

“We’re always trying to hire people that are better than we are so that we’re planning for people [who] are going to come in and run this business. … So I’ve got my eye on that even now, knowing that that’s maybe 10 years away but we have to be thinking about it now,” she said.

DeKock said the company takes their time on the hiring process to ensure every new hire is a clear fit with Flynn Wright’s culture characterized by meeting high expectations for clients while also caring for each other. 

She said a competitive spirit is common among their employees, but they are competitive for their clients rather than with each other. 

“We often say we hire a lot of very kind, type-A personalities, and that works for us,” Schlueter said. “They understand that this business is about doing something great, and that means being great to one another.”

They also emphasize collaboration, in part by having employees in the office full time, which DeKock said is unique among advertising agencies and businesses in general.

“That’s something that we felt is very important to what we do, and we’re finding that people really love it,” she said. 

Schlueter said in planning for the future, employees have to be given opportunities to show their strengths and what they bring to the business.

“We have the kind of energy in house that the next succession plan is here, there’s just a lot to happen between now and then to see who rises and what kind of talent develops. … The lesson is this is something that you need to be thinking about all the time, and you can’t make snap decisions or rash judgment on individuals. You need to see how they develop over time and you need to give them a lot of opportunity and a lot of freedom to shine,” he said.

Setting the pace for future growth

In their new roles, DeKock will oversee all client services and be responsible for monitoring the quality and performance of work across the agency while Schlueter will shift more toward evaluating the advertising industry and competitive environment to “set a pace” for the company’s growth and goals.

Schlueter said providing continuity during the leadership transition is important. 

“It’s not just one change, but there’s a series of changes that we see going forward that are going to provide great opportunity for our team, that are going to provide great opportunity for growth in our agency and all of that is inherent in how you vision the succession plan of [the] business,” he said. 

He said Flynn Wright will work on diversification in three areas: target industries, geography and the types of expertise they bring to clients.

The agency currently has a strong client base in energy, internet cable and senior living industries and it is moving into more work in agriculture and commercial and industrial sectors as well as strengthening its business-to-business expertise.

DeKock said that new clients often start with a small project that earns their business and snowballs into bigger projects.

“That has happened time and time again with a lot of our clients and even our industries. Once we get into [an industry], we have the knowledge, we do a little bit of research. It’s really fun to be able to watch that grow,” she said.

Expanding the agency’s footprint in South Dakota and Oregon is meant to “put an anchor down” in key areas where there is a diversity of clients to expand to as well as new and diverse talent pools to attract, Schlueter said. At the same time, Flynn Wright’s flagship Des Moines office has grown to the point where last year it was feeling “a little tight,” DeKock said.

They looked to the building next door at 1312 Locust St. where they opened a design studio last summer that houses their creative team.

DeKock said the company moved to its current location across from the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in 2012 and wanted to maintain that as its central hub.

“We’re really cementing ourselves here in the downtown part of Des Moines, and we love it,” she said. “It is really an important piece of that talent attraction too. They love being downtown, they love being able to walk to places.”

She said the expansion gives them space to grow their team in the studio and the existing space. 

“So you might see a couple of empty seats there, but that’s the idea there. We know that we have a plan to grow in the future,” she said.

As the company looks to grow the expertise it provides clients whether it’s video, content marketing or research, they will maintain the standard that everyone in leadership is connected to the work to stay in tune with industry changes.

“You have to have people that are understanding what’s going on in it because two years ago, our digital media team [didn’t] have the same sort of tools that they do now,” DeKock said. “It’s changed a lot, so we have to be up to speed on all of that otherwise we’re not able to give our clients the right advice.”

Like in other industries, technology is driving change in the advertising industry. Schlueter said one of the biggest client needs right now is “balancing the emergence of technology with the fragmentation of delivery vehicles.”

He said clients need a partner to understand how to balance using the tools to support the business while keeping the focus on “human-centered creativity.”

“As much as platforms help elevate our efficiency and the manner in which we can deliver, they don’t solve many of the fundamental challenges that take human experience and perspective, and the kind of expertise that we need to bring to clients and their problems day-to-day,” he said.

DeKock said new tools help as the way people consume media and advertising grows more fragmented, but Flynn Wright’s team closely manages their use and focuses on analyzing results so clients can understand how they performed.

“We’re using those tools … but we’re using a lot of human strategy alongside it to make sure that we’re giving the best information to our clients so that their product can perform,” she said.

Energizing young leaders in Central Iowa 

As a changing of the guard happens both at Flynn Wright and in the broader Central Iowa community, Schlueter said a personal goal is his continued involvement in “what drives this community and what is making it successful.”

A lot of the leaders he met when he was involved with the first iteration of the Capital Crossroads initiative are no longer in the local business community.

“Replacing that kind of experience, it leaves a hole that you’re not going to be able to fill the same way, it has to be filled differently,” he said. “So there’s a lot of energizing young talent here. It needs to be brought together in a different way. … That is a big shift for the Des Moines business community. That is a big shift in the individuals who are providing vision for how this community will grow and excel.”

DeKock said she wants to be one of the leaders stepping up as part of that vision and working with like-minded people in the community. As she becomes the first woman president of Flynn Wright, where 70% of the staff is women, she said it’s important for Central Iowa to have more women as part of the next generation of emerging leaders.

Schlueter said there is great female leadership across Greater Des Moines and “Sarah is an example of how that kind of leadership can create patterns of success within a small business.”

He said Central Iowa’s business community is interconnected and every company has responsibility in shaping and executing a vision for the region. 

“No business in this community exists in a vacuum. … It is important for us to know our success is a part of that larger economic ecosystem,” he said. “That is where leadership and talent attraction and having a vision for how we are going to create a positive, dynamic and inclusive business environment is absolutely critical.”

For Flynn Wright, it means providing opportunities for new people to make an impact in its fourth generation and beyond. 

“Our younger partners like Sarah and Kyle and Bridget and Kiersten really exemplify what that fourth generation looks like: It is prepared. It is homegrown talent. That team and those individuals are ready to take this agency into the future and we are one step ahead there,” he said.