D. SALAMONE

Drew Salamone

Founder and President,
MEDICI + MAESTRO

Serial EntrepreneurBrand Architect

Norristown
Roots

"That kind of work ethic can't be taught. For some of us, it's just in our bones."

Born in 1974, Salamone grew up in a big Italian-American family in Norristown's close-knit Italian community, attending Holy Saviour School and Bishop Kenrick High School. Many of his classmates' parents were immigrants, as were his own grandparents, and watching them build new lives through broken English and odd jobs left its mark.

He had a paper route at 14. By 16 he was DJing school dances for his father's entertainment company, Doctors of Music, soaking up the love of music, and the art of reading a room, that his father passed down.

The family story runs back to Italy and, through his grandmother Rosina Orsini of San Lupo, all the way to Cosimo de' Medici, the Florentine patron who helped spark the Renaissance. Salamone is his 19th great-grandson.

From the
Early Web

to NBCUniversal

After a short run at La Salle University, he left to build. In 1997 he launched his first company, Global Color Design, later Global Media Solutions, designing and developing websites back when most were a single page.

In 1999 he joined NBC, then owned by General Electric. He built NBC10.com, the Philadelphia station's first website, by hand, and grew it into the largest local news portal in the city and the largest among all of NBC's owned-and-operated station websites.

He earned a 2005 Mid-Atlantic Emmy nomination, rose to Director of Digital Media and Social Strategy, and created Dig Philly, a deliberately irreverent entertainment and lifestyle brand that NBC rolled out across its stations as NBC Local. Along the way he trained at GE's Crotonville leadership center, where he met Jack Welch.

Building Agencies

i76 Solutions

After Comcast acquired NBCUniversal, Salamone co-founded i76 Solutions in 2013, one of the earlier Google Partners in the country. It grew from search campaigns into a full-service media agency for clients including AAA Mid-Atlantic, the YMCA, Lundy Law, and, through the branding agency 160over90, the University of Florida.

MEDICI + MAESTRO

In 2024 he founded MEDICI + MAESTRO to put his first love, creative and brand work, at the center. The Medici stand for patronage and the courage to change things; a maestro masters the craft and brings every player into harmony. The agency combines strategy, creative, media and analytics, with an experiential arm, Mx2 Live, and a marketing workflow platform he built, MaestroX Studio.

Beyond the Agency

Salamone has rarely done just one thing. He founded Creamery Creative Group and the Creamery School of Music in Skippack, co-founded the digital products company Grow My Audience, and DJed for two decades at Philadelphia landmarks from the National Constitution Center to Boathouse Row.

He has given keynotes and sat on panels for the Philadelphia Ad Club and the Mobile Marketing Association, and both of his agencies have been recognized by Clutch.

He remains rooted where he started, as a member of the National Italian American Foundation and the M.S.S. Society of Norristown, keeper of a feast tradition dating to 1904. Family, hard work and respect for those who came before still shape everything he builds.