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Eclectic Career Leads Nodelman to Stone Ward

3 min read

Larry Stone wasn’t looking for a new creative chieftain at Little Rock advertising agency Stone Ward, but he embraced an unexpected opportunity in the case of Jeffrey Nodelman.

Nodelman started at Stone Ward last week in a position created specifically for him, director of creative services and executive creative director, reporting directly to Stone, the firm’s CEO.

The rest of Stone Ward’s award-winning creative team will report to Nodelman, whose eclectic career in art, animation and marketing has taken him from MTV to Disney to the ATA International in Little Rock, the taekwondo association where he has been vice president of marketing and and media productions since 2012.

Before coming to Arkansas, Nodelman spent nearly two decades in creative and entrepreneurial jobs, creating award-winning work in television, feature films, Broadway productions and advertising. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York, his signature work for Disney, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, Miramax and a number of national advertising agencies has been seen by millions.

He even helped bring “Beavis and Butt-Head” to life.

“He’s had a very unusual, highly creative career,” said Millie Ward, Stone Ward’s president. “The position was created just for him.”

Stone said Nodelman impressed him not only with his credentials and body of work, but also with his love for Little Rock. “Over months of meeting with Jeff and thinking about the future, I put him to a secret test,” Stone said. “After he went home to New Jersey for Thanksgiving, I asked him if his mom and the relatives had pressed him to come home for a new phase of his career. He said they had, but it hadn’t swayed him. He was staying in Little Rock.”

Nodelman interjected, “I actually said I am at home. Home is Little Rock.”

Stone said Nodelman would work with him to lead the agency’s creative teams and video production group, 360 Filmworks. “Jeffrey brings to Stone Ward talents as a master storyteller and artist and creative director on a national stage, coupled with 20 years of successful business experience in working with clients at all levels to accomplish their creative and business goals.”

That was the press release language. In his office, telling Nodelman to close his ears, Stone said, “Actually, we’re overjoyed to have him.”

In addition to his work in animation and advertising, Nodelman has been a writer and illustrator on books for Disney Press, Tokyopop and Rodale. He also founded and built up one of New York’s top boutique animation studios, Noodlesoup Productions, which grew from five animators to 100 and was featured in Entrepreneur magazine and Fortune Small Business. Another project, Capt. Noodles LLC, produced projects for the Cartoon Network and for Disney.

“Stone Ward is truly a team of enthusiastic and passionate professionals, and I’m honored to be part of the team,” Nodelman said. “I look forward to working with some of Little Rock and Chicago’s most talented creative leaders.” Along with its 47 employees in Little Rock, Stone Ward has an office and a team of 5 employees working in Chicago.

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