Wedding Party Bio: Officiant Thiel

Moving on to the next groomsman in alphabetical order we have Rob Thiel.  Rob is also our Officiant, and you're about to learn why.  I'll start with the story of how I met Rob, which actually happened over a year before I met Jay.


While I was working in the New York office of Gorilla Nation, Rob joined the company as my counterpart in the Chicago office and headed up Midwest Ad Sales, or what he so elegantly referred to as Monkey Nation.  While Rob and I did not work with the same clients, we both did a lot of work within the CPG sector and would oftentimes call each other to chat strategy or discuss each other’s campaigns. We became work buddies and would go out for drinks with each other’s friends whenever I was home in Chicago or he was visiting New York.  And on a few occasions we were in LA together at the same time and got to hang out with our fellow Gorillas and good friends Ryan, Jess, and JR.


As you may remember from one of my previous posts, I first met Jay at a party held at his apartment on the Upper East Side.  I was invited to that party by Rob.  While that particular night did not end up in romance for Jay and I, Rob brought us together again two years later in February of 2008 and this time around the timing was right.


What you may not know about mine and Jay’s second meeting is that afterwards, Jay decided that he wanted to see me again and reached out to Rob for my phone number.  As any true friend would do to protect a friend, Rob said to back off and no way would he give Jay my contact details because we worked together and that was dangerous territory. Anyone who knows Jay well knows that he is persistent, and he did continue emailing and hassling Rob for my info.  This turned into an embarrassing email string for Jay as their mutual friends were cc’d and he was continually shot down.  But then he got resourceful and found me on facebook, much to Rob’s dismay.


But even after Jay and I started dating, my friendship with Rob didn’t change.  Instead it was the opposite.  Thru Rob I got to meet his amazing girlfriend (now wife) Lizzy and attend their beautiful wedding in Grosse Pointe. 


About Rob:


Jay and Rob first met at St Paul's Elementary in the 5th Grade, much to their parents' dismay as they very quickly became partners in crime.  Conveniently, they both went to college in Chicago and got to hang out together quite a bit between studying.  And most important to both of them, they worked at Glascott’s Pub together on Halsted and Webster in Lincoln Park.  I am not going to talk about how they worked there after forgetting to let the owner know that they were underage and got “let go” while intelligently celebrating their 21^st birthday at the pub.  You can ask them about that.


Rob grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, same as Jay, Nick, and another Groomsman you will soon learn about named Tarik.  Rob is a digital advertising guru who has worked at companies such as AOL, Monkey Nation, and is currently at Pandora. 

Ten Words That Make Jay & I Think Of Rob:

* Monkey Nation
* Long Walks in LA
* Glascott’s
* Redwings
* Michael Collins
* Puppet Shows
* Donkey
* Mr. Novak
* Stretch
* Bryant Collins