Work / Culture Pilot-Led Brand
Culture Pilot
Culture Pilot is a Houston-based growth strategy firm with built-in brand and marketing execution. Founded in 2003, the firm connects business goals, cultural insight, and creative practice to help organizations define their direction, develop distinctive brands, and build systems for sustained growth.
Overview
Primary Industry
Industry / Market Segment
- Growth Strategy, Brand Development & Marketing
Services
Brand & Practice
Culture Pilot’s own brand is an ongoing expression of the practice: strategic positioning, naming and voice, visual identity, digital experiences, content, and operational systems evolve together.
The firm combines advisory and go-to-market planning with integrated execution, embedded leadership, and ongoing brand stewardship. Its work spans client organizations, original ventures, and cultural and community initiatives.
Culture Pilot is also its own ongoing client; a brand shaped through the same strategic thinking, creative development, and sustained stewardship it brings to others.
History & Evolution
Founded by Tim DeSilva and Kara Gray in 2003, Culture Pilot’s practice spans brand strategy and marketing, event curation and production, retail and ecommerce, and applied technology. Its distributed operating model dates to 2014. Javier Fadul became a principal partner in 2008, followed by Erma Tijerina in 2023. Susan Renaud and Geoff Nelson joined the principal partnership in July 2026.
Principal Partners
- Tim DeSilva — CEO / Account Executive
- Kara Gray — VP / Creative Director
- Javier Fadul — Innovation Officer
- Erma Tijerina — Principal / Senior Designer
- Geoff Nelson — Principal / Chief Strategist
- Susan Renaud — Principal / Data Analyst / Digital Lead