ron castaldo
Executive Creative Director
I build brands and the in-house teams that scale them. At Mr. Cooper I led the brand launch, the five-year refresh and the transition through acquisition, while building the 15-person in-house agency that made it all possible.
$12M+ annual savings · 1M to 7M customers · 15x stock growth
What I do:
BRAND TRANSFORMATION
I take brands through change: a full launch, a mid-life refresh, or a transition through acquisition. Mr. Cooper went through all three under my leadership.
IN-HOUSE AGENCY LEADERSHIP
I build the internal teams that make outside agencies unnecessary. 15 people, 5,000+ assets a year, $12M+ saved annually at Mr. Cooper.
CREATIVE LEADERSHIP & CULTURE
I develop talent and build cultures where ambitious thinking and operational discipline reinforce each other. Six consecutive Great Place to Work certifications at Mr. Cooper.
Featured Work:
The Mr. Cooper Brand, 2015–2026
Act One: The Launch
In 2017, Nationstar Mortgage became Mr. Cooper. I led the launch of the new brand across customer experience, marketing, communications, employee culture and 10+ US and global office environments, then built the in-house agency to sustain it: strategy, design, copy, content, video, social, email development and project management under one roof.
Act Two: The Refresh
Five years in, I led a refresh of the brand system based on how it had actually performed at scale, evolving the guidelines, identity and expression as the business grew from roughly 1 million to 7 million customers.
Act Three: The Transition
In 2025, Mr. Cooper was acquired by Rocket Companies. I led the brand transition work, uniting the Rocket and Mr. Cooper identities to signal the change to millions of customers while keeping the day-to-day brand experience steady through the handoff.
Selected Brands
Currently
I run Nice Italian Boy, a creative studio bringing big-brand thinking to growing companies without agency overhead. I'm also open to executive creative leadership roles.
