Trent Walters
Brand Management Principal, The Richards Group
Trent Walters is a Brand Management Principal at The Richards Group in Dallas, Texas. He attended the University of North Texas and majored in journalism with a concentration in advertising. During his senior year at UNT, he was named one of the American Advertising Federation’s Top 25 Most Promising Minority Students, which led to his job at The Richards Group immediately following graduation in 1997.
Over the course of his years at The Richards Group, Trent has helped manage and grow a number of brands. These include Nokia Mobile Phones, Starz Encore Media Group, AT&T Broadband, PGA TOUR Superstores, and one of the agency’s long-standing brands, Motel 6. For the last 11 years he’s headed up the Gander Mountain account the nation’s largest chain of outdoor gear and apparel.
He is also in charge of the work the agency does for Scotts, the nation’s leading fertilizer brand. He was part of the development of the current Scott for Scotts campaign and the tagline, “Feed your lawn. Feed it.”
Trent also manages the pro bono work the agency does with the Ad Council and their Child Passenger Safety Campaign. He is now also directing the agency’s African-American marketing division, Shift, and helping to expand its current roster of clients.
Trent is passionate about encouraging young minority students to consider advertising as a career. He is involved in a number of groups and organizations to help make this happen. One of the most fulfilling is the work he does with Dallas’s Zan Wesley Holmes Middle School to educate the students on advertising as a profession. He not only wants to encourage them to go to college, but hopes that some will eventually join him at the agency.
When Trent isn’t on the job he’s an active member of his church. He also likes going to the gym, reading, and keeping up with high school football and gymnastics. (His son plays on a high school football team and his daughter aspires to be the next Gabby Douglas.) But his favorite activity is spending time with his family, which includes his wife, Sandra and his two children, Brendan and Kensley.