Squeak E. Clean Studios Names Chris Clark and Michael Gross as Co-Managing Directors
Global creative audio network Squeak E. Clean Studios has named executive creative producers, music supervisors Michael Gross (MG) and Chris Clark as co-managing Directors overseeing US operations. Hamish Macdonald, who has served as Squeak E. Clean’s global managing director since the company merged with Nylon Studios in 2019, will be stepping aside to continue to oversee Squeak E. Clean Studios’ Australian operations. The leadership shift will allow the cross-Pacific company to expand its US and Australian footprints while continuing to offer its clients best-in-class music and sound solutions for projects of all scopes and sizes.
Chris joined the Squeak team in Chicago in 2020 from his former post as director of music at Leo Burnett, with MG joining on the West Coast in 2021 from Google. Bringing backgrounds on both the agency and brand sides of the industry, the pair will continue to expand the company’s brand direct and non-traditional work, including experiential and long-form, while overseeing growth with the company’s core commercial work rooted in cultural relevance.
Notes Hamish, “Am so proud of this announcement. It is such an incredibly exciting next stage in Squeak E’s growth and a much deserved promotion to two great leaders. Both Chris and MG have all the talent, skills and drive to handle the role of MD independently, but as they both bring insights steeped by equally impressive backgrounds from different sides of the industry, they are the dynamic duo to lead this incredibly talented team into the stratosphere."
“Firstly, a thank you to Hamish for being such a fearless leader and mentor these past few years. I’m honoured to step into the MD role and to partner with Chris on building an exciting and innovative future for the company, in and alongside the immense talent that we have here at Squeak E. Clean Studios,” notes MG.
Adds Chris, “MG and I are lucky to have this wildly talented team of creative directors, composers, producers and audio engineers. We have a family mentality which extends to all the artists and musicians we collaborate with, so it’s a privilege to lead with that passion and togetherness already in place as we dedicate ourselves to building out the creative vision of our clients.
A highly accomplished director and music supervisor, Chris joined Squeak E. Clean following 11 years as global music lead at Leo Burnett Chicago. His expertise spans original music production, music strategy, artist partnerships, deal negotiation, and licensing. His work at Squeak has included leading marquee campaigns, including original music for numerous Super Bowl spots for brands like State Farm and Dexcom, a global Samsung holiday spot covering Elvis’ 'If I Can Dream,' as well as multiple campaigns for Beats by Dre, Bank of America, Campbell’s, Jeep, RAM and the US Army. He has also led the original music treatment for Leo Burnett on Nintendo’s numerous celebrity-driven spots over the past three years featuring Serena Williams, Jessica Alba, Kenan Thompson, and Christina Aguilera. In 2023, he partnered with Droga5 to create a scientifically engineered audio track with one goal: to exterminate the aggravating earworm” for software company Atlassian.
MG’s diverse experience across agency, client and freelance posts informs a holistic approach to creative audio and music solutions at the intersection of media arts, technology and advertising. He cut his teeth as agency music supervisor for TBWA\Chiat\Day and Omelet, before serving as head of music for All Saints. Before Squeak, he served as Senior Creative Producer at Google, overseeing the launch of the cloud-gaming platform Stadia, and held freelance posts as music creative director of Twitter, and music director for Droga5’s D5X Festival. In his time at Squeak, he has led ambitious projects that break traditional formats and inform culture, including a collaboration with Anderson .Paak and Wieden+Kennedy for Budweiser and partnering with rock band The Linda Lindas to remake the classic, iconic “I Want it Now” track from Willy Wonka. He led the Squeak team on the massive undertaking of fully scoring the keynote presentation for Meta Connect, featuring over 30 original tracks and end-to-end keynote audio. MG led the original music, sound design and mix for the heartfelt short film 'Gender Outlaw' profiling trans surfer Tiler Wilde. He also recently spearheaded the production of the original music and sound for the recent art film 'Dream Academy' with K-Pop leaders HYBE x Geffen to launch their competition show of the same name.
