Get to know Skedulo – David Wabel – Senior Director, Growth Marketing

I’ve always been inspired by creative works, and often entertained the thought of becoming a poet in my younger years. But, being extremely difficult to make a living, I opted instead for a career in advertising – a choice where I felt I could combine my love for creativity with the potential for a good living. 

Since then my work has taken me many places, across a huge variety of sectors including banking, insurance, law and healthcare (to name a few). 

Most recently I worked as a self-employed Growth Marketing Strategist, where my goal was to engage with as many clients as possible so I could pinpoint an area that I was truly passionate about. In that time, I discovered an affinity for technology. More importantly though, I developed a strong sense that important work meant doing things that have a much bigger impact than I alone can achieve. 

So when the opportunity came up to join Skedulo in 2020, it ticked all the right boxes for me: right stage, right people, right culture, and with a leader I knew I could work for. 

I was also excited about the company’s burgeoning global presence – which ultimately meant I could live locally, but see the rewards of our work on a global scale.

Learning to curve my sharp elbows

Having spent over 15 years in marketing, I’d had no choice but to develop a thick skin. Advertising can be as cut-throat as they say (I see a lot of truth in the Mad Men series), and I’m also incredibly process driven which stems back to my childhood. 

I grew up in the midwest and my father was an engineer who made parts for vehicles. A lot of precision goes into that type of work because any errors can be fatal. 

I’ll never forget one particular summer…I was 14 and the latest round of parts didn’t fit. My parents put me on a truck to Kentucky with a WW2 veteran and 6 pallets of metal parts, and then I sat in the factory for 2 weeks re-machining them so the production line could go on. 

I hated it at the time, but looking back you think about how experiences like this shape you as an adult. Being very process-driven, and having developed sharp elbows from decades in marketing, I know I can come off as a bit adversarial. 

It was a bit of a shock to the system to find that Skedulo is not like this at all.