Justin Mathews

Justin Mathews is Managing Director of Tonic Design Co., a teaching agency in Philadelphia focused on cutting-edge, emerging technologies. Tonic educates and empowers some of the world's biggest brands to create thoughtful and meaningful experiences that improve lives and build worthwhile relationships for their end users. They are teachers, researchers, and students learning to apply their crafts through real world practices.

He is an agency veteran with an innovative spirit and a passion for digital marketing and all things tech. His career client list includes work for elite brands such as Victoria's Secret, Pfizer, AT&T, Campbell Soup Co., Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, and many more. He continues to push the envelope with projects from mobile apps to website redesigns and everything in between.

Justin’s first foray into the industry occurred while attending Drexel University. In 2001, he co-founded an online advertising agency, Karizma Media Solutions, conducting media advertising placements and marketing campaigns for companies all over the Philadelphia area. As a principal owner of Karizma, Justin cultivated valuable partnerships and sharpened his managerial chops, eventually shepherding the agency through an acquisition by one of its largest clients. After his entrepreneurial adventure with Karizma, he moved on to another Philadelphia-based interactive agency, Refinery Inc., where he was in a client service role executing e-business strategies and solutions for Merck & Co.

Justin considers himself to be a mentor in the industry he loves. He's participated in countless panels at various conferences over the years, lending his strategic guidance to veterans and young professionals alike. He's incubated and actively invested in a few successfully acquired companies, and also currently serves on the Board of Advisors for two start-ups: Aetho, a San Francisco and Greater Atlanta based venture making it easy for anyone to capture, edit, and share cinematic quality video, and Village Defense, a company that allows neighbors to communicate easily with each other in real-time.

Justin's work has received quite a few notable awards, including MM&M Magazine's Silver & Gold Awards in Pharma advertising, Webby Awards (a 3-time winner), Internet Advertising Competition Awards (5-time winner in the Pharma space), and the W3 Silver Award for Best Integrated Marketing Campaign. He himself has been recognized in the "30 under 30" of Philadelphia's top startup leaders and has received multiple Philadelphia Community Service Awards. He also played a part in the merger between Drexel University and MCP Hahnemann Hospital.

His remarkable drive and industry insight help him to conceptualize and create product experiences that solve big problems for his clients and, more importantly, their customers. In working with a top-tier firm and building best-in-class solutions at Tonic, Justin aims to continue to turn Philly into a well-known hub for the technology and design industries.