Building Organizations That Reward Talent, Not Burn It Out
Most marketing organizations grow by adding people, tools, and complexity. Over time, that approach creates strain instead of leverage. HITL Strategies exists to help leadership teams redesign the systems beneath the work so growth supports both performance and people.
Top Talent Absorbs the Load
Too often, the most capable people carry growing complexity instead of being supported by better systems.
The Cost Compounds Over Time
Burnout, inefficiency, and missed opportunities quietly erode outcomes, margin, and momentum.
HITL Strategies Exists to Change That
We help leadership teams re-engineer how work gets done so talent is supported by infrastructure, not buried under it.
The Founders
Experienced Operators. Complementary Strengths.
HITL Strategies is led by two seasoned executives who’ve spent decades inside agencies, platforms, and technology, scaling teams, owning P&Ls, and navigating the realities of growth firsthand. Together, they bring a rare blend of operational rigor, strategic perspective, and revenue accountability.
Partner
Sean McDonald
Sean is a veteran executive leader with more than 20 years of P&L ownership experience, specializing in integrating AI and machine learning into modern media practices to drive sustainable growth.
His work focuses on institutionalizing governance, eliminating operational friction, and translating digital complexity into measurable margin expansion for agencies and in-house teams.
Prior to co-founding HITL Strategies, Sean held executive leadership roles including Managing Director (and former COO) at Black Propeller & Solutions8 (Pixis), VP of Global Client Management at Jellyfish, and US Managing Director at Reprise Media — where he led a $36M P&L and doubled practice revenue.
Partner
Scott Sullivan
Scott is a growth-oriented executive with more than 20 years of experience across digital media and advertising technology, with deep expertise in building revenue-generating partnerships and leading high-performance teams.
He specializes in working directly with C-suite leaders to align strategy, execution, and growth — helping organizations scale without losing focus or momentum.
Prior to co-founding HITL Strategies, Scott served as Chief Partnerships Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at Adswerve, Google’s leading Google Marketing Platform provider. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at Google, Microsoft, and Mapquest, overseeing relationships with some of the world’s largest agency organizations.
Why Did We Start HITL Strategies?
After decades inside organizations and platforms, we saw the same pattern repeat. Growth was achieved by adding complexity, more tools, more people, more pressure, instead of designing better systems. HITL Strategies was founded to challenge that model. We believe organizations scale best when infrastructure supports people, not the other way around.