Donell Creech :: Principal and CEO
Creech brings over 18 years of experience in marketing communications, community building, event management and fundraising in both the public and private sectors to the corporation. He got his start in the marketing industry by planning the Martin Luther King celebration in 1991 while still a student at the University of Texas. In June of 1995, he formed the Austin Area Heritage Council as a 501(c)(3) to oversee the planning of Austin's official MLK Celebration.

During his leadership as the Board Chair, attendance at the MLK March grew from 500 the first year, to an estimated 20,000 in attendance at the 2002 March. Fundraising efforts increased from $17,000 for the first year to $250,000 for the 2002 Celebration. In 2000, the Heritage Council received the Austin Area Urban League’s “Community Service Organization of the Year” award.

In February of 1998, he founded soulciti, a list serv with a subscription base over 12,000 which serves as a multi-media outlet for news and events of particular interest to black consumers in the greater Austin area.

He has held sales and marketing positions at local high tech firms in the Austin area. In addition, he has operated as a freelance graphic and web designer with an extensively developed portfolio and client roster.

In 2006, he was one of the founding principals of the Urban Music Festival.

Additional highlights include:

  • chosen as a Black Male Role Model in 1998 by The Villager newspaper
  • board member of the Peace Council since 1999; the Peace Council’s mission is to create high-profile PSA ad campaigns and use them as leverage to champion different social and civic causes such as child abuse, racism, land mines, poverty, etc.
  • voted as one of “30 People Who Will Have a Future Impact on Austin’s African-American Community” by the Capitol Times newspaper in 1999
  • completed Leadership Austin Class for 2001-02
  • 2002 Member of the City of Austin’s Creative Economy and Cultural Vitality Task Force
  • in 2003, nominated for an Austin Under 40 Award, which honors men and women under the age of 40 who have excelled in their field of endeavor and demonstrated service to the community
  • 2005 Member of the City of Austins’ African American Quality of Life Task Force 
  • 2007 Member of the City of Austin's Create Austin Task Force
 
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