John E. Chapman
Chief Executive Officer
As a founding partner and President, Joe shaped and built Sandbox with his passion for every aspect of the agency’s offerings—strategy and thinking, a service-oriented spirit, and a creative mindset throughout. What began as single agency of less than 50 people in 2001 evolved and grew to a $70 million business with over 300 employees in 2020 when Sandbox itself was acquired by Keystone Capital and now operates as MERGE.
Prior to leading GA and building Sandbox, Joe spent seven years within the Omnicom Network of Healthcare agencies [Corbett Accel Healthcare Group], serving in a role of Creative Director. Before jumping to the agency side, Joe spent five years client side with a Fortune 100 global healthcare firm [Abbott Laboratories] as an Advertising and Product Manager, and, earned a BS in Advertising & Communications from the University of Illinois Urban-Champaign.
His unique business and creative acumen have been honed over the years in many forms. He is a proud member of his Vistage CEO Group, a graduate of the Players Workshop at Second City and a 2015 inductee in the UIC Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.
Joe has served on the boards of the Illinois Biotech Innovation Organization [iBIO], CG Life [a life-science focused agency] and is currently Board President of the Cancer Support Center of Chicago.
When he is not helping companies navigate growth, acquisition and integration efforts, not training C-suite and marketing professionals to be excellent communicators, and not travelling to some of the world’s most exotic and beautiful places with his wife of 40+ years, he spends his time in the south suburbs of Chicago keeping insanely busy with their four children and seven, yes, seven grandchildren.