Susan grew up in the rural South Georgia town of Ocilla. Upon graduating from the University of Georgia, she shot up the ranks at the Coca-Cola Company managing various global projects. After her time at Coke, Susan went on to start multiple world-renowned agencies. Click here to learn more about Susan.
Mark “Dill” Driscoll is an internationally recognized visionary whose unconventional marketing perspectives are fueled by his “passions of the heart.” Dill's entrepreneurial spirit has been the genesis of at least eight major companies in a career bridging decades. Click here to learn more about Dill.
Madeline Hamill
Maddie Hamill has focused her career in creating growth solutions for Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial businesses by aligning strategy, brands and innovation through unique connections. These connections have evolved throughout her diverse career as strategist, P and L business leader, entrepreneur, marketing and media specialist and research scientist. She is currently leading Strategy at The Hamill Network.
Maddie was the VP of Global Strategy at The Coca-Cola Company and and created the plan that turned the company from negative to positive growth in a 2 year timeframe. She was the only woman on the eight person Global Marketing Leadership Team. She founded Venadar, an entrepreneurial innovation consultancy, that set up venturing units in General Mills, Kimberly-Clark and The Coca-Cola Company. By forming relationships with emerging innovative brands, these venture units have delivered on average $1Bn in new revenues to drive profitable growth.
ONE PLUS ONE EQUALS SUCCESS
To begin the next phase of their professional lives after ignition, Susan and Dill became the Co-Deans of the Stafford School of Business at Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College in Tifton, Georgia. They have always wanted to give back. They started giving back early in their life together by establishing their global headquarters of ignition in Osierfield, Georgia. One of their biggest thrills was providing the opportunity for young people from this small town to explore the world.
Academia has been a part of Susan and Dill’s life since they met. For more than seven years, they volunteered every Friday in Athens, GA, at the University of Georgia mentoring the Terry College Business students and helping them to explore their business dreams. Our proudest moments were seeing these young people begin promising careers and come back a few years later to share stories of their successes.
Throughout the years, Susan and Dill have founded several companies, primarily to assist young people in fulfilling their dreams. It all began in 1997 with the founding of McWhorter Driscoll, LLC, a creative business solutions company. This forward-thinking business model went on to establish additional companies, such as The Event Department (Germany), ignition Europe (England), WeGotGear, Click It, Hutto Fabrication, Relay of Heroes, McWhorter Driscoll Farms, Fitzgerald Aviation, plus additional student-led startups.