Steve won his first ad award at the age of eight in a competition for kids of Chicago advertising executives. It was only much later in life that he realized advertising would be a good career. So, after earning a bachelor's in fine arts from the University of Colorado and dabbling in a variety of pseudo-artistic pursuits, Steve reconnected with his advertising roots as a copywriter and, later, associate creative director at DDB Needham, Chicago. In ten glorious and productive years there, he created campaigns for McDonald's, Ruffles Potato Chips, Michelob, Bud Dry, Liquid-Plumr, and Wheaties. From there, Steve moved to Foote, Cone & Belding, Chicago as creative director, creating award-winning advertising for DiGiorno Rising Crust Pizza, Kraft Parmesan Cheese, and Coors Light (the "John Wayne" spots). His campaign "It's Not Delivery, It's DiGiorno" introduced the most successful new product in Kraft history, a $500 million brand today. It also led to his first association with Sterling-Rice Group, who did all the concept development and positioning for DiGiorno and resulted in Steve being lured back to Boulder as Sterling-Rice Group's creative director.