Matt Doud

Planit

Early in Matt Doud’s college studies, he asked his father for advice on what specific career path he should follow.

“He said, ‘Look, no matter what you do, if you can communicate well, write well, end up in front of a room and speak well, you are two steps ahead of the next guy because too often that’s just a skill that a lot of people don’t have,’” Doud said. “‘So no matter what you do, whatever career path you choose, being able to communicate and articulate your ideas well is important.'”

Doud took his father’s advice. In 1994, two years after graduating college, he co-founded Planit, a marketing, branding and advertising agency with Ed Callahan.

“What is interesting about the advertising world is you have to come up with a new idea on almost a daily basis,” Doud said. “Every day is a fresh, different adventure.”

Both men agree to having similar personalities but Doud is known as the rudder to Callahan’s sail. “If he’s the guy who is full steam ahead, I’m the guy just making sure we are going in the right direction,” Doud said.

Planit’s reputation as a hardworking company that helps its clients succeed is Doud’s proudest professional accomplishment to date. It’s a feat he would not have been able to achieve, he said, without his wife, Sylvia, and kids, Henry and Charlie.

A graduate of Loyola Blakefield, he has served on the school’s board of trustees since 2012. “Education is a gift,” he said. “[The school] has made me a little bit of who I am. It is nice to help them continue that legacy for the next generation of people.”