SW Virginia company's owner to be guest at tonight's Obama jobs speech

When President Barack Obama addresses the nation tonight with his long-awaited jobs speech, David Catalano, co-owner of up-and-coming Blacksburg digital ad agency Modea, will be sitting in the box as a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama.

Jeff Sturgeon of the Roanoke Times noted:

Catalano said he and his wife will attend a White House reception in the afternoon before he heads to the Capitol for the speech. She will stay at the White House and watch on TV.

"It's a huge honor to be invited to be a guest of the first lady," Catalano said. "I'm just going to enjoy it."

Modea received statewide recognition earlier this year when Governor Bob McDonnell announced the planned $10 million expansion that would create new jobs in the southwestern Virginia college town. That was after they were featured by Inc. Magazine in 2010 who ranked the company 221st among the 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies in the country with revenues growing 1,335% ($3.3 million) the past three years.

Within the advertising and marketing industry, Modea ranks 27th in the country. In August, they won Advertising Age's "Small Agency Best Culture of the Year" award at the small agency conference in Denver, Colorado.

In tough economic times, Modea is a shining example of a company that is not only surviving but thriving, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the White House. Aneesh Chopra, the chief technology officer for Obama, visited the company at its headquarters on a recent trip to meet with business leaders in southwestern Virginia.


Unconventional, hip, and cutting edge, Modea is proud to be tucked away from the big city-bright lights of other advertising agencies. Read more about this young, growing company here and here. To paraphrase Chevrolet, they're not your father's ad agency.

Cross-posted at Bearing Drift