Butler/Till founders named first joint female recipients of Vanden Brul award

Entrepreneurs Sue Butler and Tracy Till, who co-founded Butler/Till, a media and communications agency, have been named co-recipients of the 2020 Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award. They are the first joint female recipients in the award’s 35-year history.

Founded in 1998, Butler/Till, a media and communications agency headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., with an additional office in New York City, was created in a living room, with three employees. Under the leadership of Butler and Till, the company quickly grew into a world renowned marketing agency and, today, has more than 170 employees and $180 million in annual billing. Sixty-five percent of the workforce is female.

Before co-founding the company, Butler worked in advertising, media buying and media sales. She also operated Butler Marketing and Media. After leaving her role as Butler/Till CEO in 2015, she served for five years as chairperson of the Board of Directors and served on the Board of Directors and Board of Governors for The ESOP Association. She was on the Board of Directors of Synergy Global Solutions. She also completed RIT’s Executive Education Program in Strategic Planning.

Till serves as chairperson of Butler/Till’s Board of Directors and is president of T4 Verge Inc., a boutique business and leadership consultancy geared toward women-owned businesses and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) companies.

Butler and Till have said that they are most proud of their dedication and commitment to their hometown of Rochester. Butler/Till, which is 100 percent employee owned, will soon move to downtown Rochester in the heart of the Downtown Innovation Zone.

Due to COVID-19, Butler and Till will be formally recognized for their entrepreneurial and community achievements and impact at a ceremony next year.The Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award is presented by Rochester Institute of Technology’s Saunders College of Business.