Creativity isn't just thinking outside the box. It's realizing the box was a bad idea to begin with and turning it into something useful, like a jetpack.
Built to Perform. Designed to Protect.
Custody & Agency is a strategic marketing infrastructure firm specializing in high-compliance, high-competition sectors. With over two decades of combined leadership experience, we serve banks, law firms, credit unions, healthcare providers, insurance companies, real estate teams, and pharmaceutical brands—while bringing the same tier of execution to artists, trades, and startups who deserve world-class systems from the start.
We build layered solutions that integrate compliance, security, creative clarity, and human-centered UX into powerful platforms. From OverwatchIQ—our brand intelligence system—to Amplify Creative, our performance-first content division, and ProjectForge, our campaign execution framework, we don't just do marketing. We build ethical engines for scale.
Executive Team
Joshua Gallagher
Founder & Senior Intelligence Analyst
Joshua brings over 15 years of hands-on experience in creative direction, strategic campaign management, and digital compliance infrastructure. In the old world of print journalism, he did everything: wrote the stories, edited the copy, designed the layouts, chased down leads, and convinced businesses to buy ads. When the world shifted digital, Joshua discovered something important: the skills that made him successful in print were exactly what it takes to orchestrate the complex dance of modern marketing teams.
As both strategist and creator, he merges deep knowledge of global SEO optimization and compliance frameworks with an artist's eye for tone, timing, and experience. Joshua leads the development of OverwatchIQ and Platinum Helm Strategies with one mission: to build and participate in an organization that maintains its ethical standards while pushing the envelope of rapidly changing digital communication opportunities.
Justin Deruso
Director of Experience & Fintech Strategy
Justin brings a rare balance of creative intuition and operational discipline. With deep roots in user experience strategy and customer journey optimization, he has guided numerous fintech startups through high-stakes go-to-market moments, where every interaction matters.
At Custody & Agency, Justin is the connective force between product, design, and conversion. He ensures that every touchpoint reflects your brand's intention while aligning with platform limitations, regulatory standards, and emotional resonance. He builds systems people trust and interfaces people want to use.
Stephen Grasso
Technical Director & Lead SEO Architect
Stephen grew up inside a family business, learning the rhythms of service, accountability, and entrepreneurial survival before he could vote. With a formal background in computer science and a career spanning lead SEO roles in the insurance, banking, and education sectors, he understands both the human and technical realities of high-value web infrastructure.
At Custody & Agency, Stephen leads the charge on performance architecture, secure search engine optimization, and systems that scale. He bridges the gap between back-end logic and front-end performance, ensuring our clients dominate in search without violating ethics or compliance.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Julie Alvarez
Project Coordinator
Julie manages PR, reputation management, and inter-vendor coordination across all Custody & Agency operations. With deep industry contacts in tech and media, she ensures that our voice and our clients' voices are represented accurately, ethically, and powerfully. Her experience at Amazon coordinating remote projects across multiple time zones gives her a rare fluency in high-scale logistics.
Erica Sharp
Account Coordinator
Erica ensures that every client is clearly guided through onboarding, project scope, communication preferences, and progress updates. With a background in library science, she brings sharp research skills, documentation expertise, and a gift for uncovering answers and presenting them clearly. Clients appreciate her calm, consistent communication and her ability to explain complex systems without confusion.
Ezra Kim
Data Scientist & Reputation Systems Architect
Ezra leads our work in algorithmic research, quantitative modeling, and real-time reputation defense. With experience at Google, Yext, and Yelp, he brings a deep understanding of digital indexing, feedback loops, and platform bias. He helps translate complex data into predictive trends and campaign safety nets.
What We Build, and Why It Works
OverwatchIQ: Operational Intelligence for Brands
OverwatchIQ is more than reporting—it's awareness. We designed it to monitor the volatile overlap of SEO visibility, social media performance, compliance indicators, ad campaign safety, and reputational anomalies. It draws from both technical infrastructure and human pattern recognition. For institutions that cannot afford to be surprised, OverwatchIQ provides the warning before the breach.
ProjectForge: Tactical Execution at Scale
ProjectForge is the invisible engine behind everything we build. It standardizes quality across builds, integrates compliance steps into the creative process, and ensures that every action—whether a website update or a reputation response—is documented, strategic, and recoverable. It is especially powerful in campaigns that span departments, stakeholders, or jurisdictions.
Amplify Creative: Content Built for Performance and Protection
Amplify Creative exists to solve a specific problem: how to produce beautiful, high-converting creative that doesn't violate legal or ethical constraints. From educational infographics for healthcare to branding for defense contractors or regional law firms, Amplify Creative ensures your message hits hard—without creating risk exposure. It is built for regulated storytelling, where design must survive review.
About Custody & Agency
Welcome to Custody & Agency, where expertise meets reliability in empowering businesses to thrive in compliance-driven, complex industries. With over two decades of experience, we specialize in navigating the unique challenges of financial institutions, credit unions, law firms, insurance providers, real estate ventures, and pharmaceutical companies.
Masters of Compliance and Innovation
Our team of seasoned professionals excels in regulatory compliance, privacy standards, and cybersecurity. From adhering to NCUA and state-level insurance regulations to meeting bar association advertising rules for lawyers and FDA guidelines for pharmaceutical marketing, we ensure that every campaign and strategy complies with industry requirements.
Tailored Solutions for Diverse Industries
We understand the intricate needs of industries where compliance is non-negotiable. Whether optimizing real estate platforms under RESPA rules or developing secure, data-driven strategies for financial institutions and e-commerce, we craft solutions designed for growth and adherence. Our expertise extends to GDPR, CCPA, and cybersecurity protocols, ensuring client and customer data is always protected.
Security and Trust: Our Cornerstones
Custody & Agency prioritizes security by adhering to industry-leading standards, including robust encryption, secure hosting, and rigorous data protection measures. Trust is at the heart of what we do, safeguarding client information while enabling scalable, compliant growth.
Partnering for Success
We don't just offer services. We create partnerships. Our team works closely with clients to develop tailored strategies that address their unique challenges while exceeding expectations. At Custody & Agency, we combine compliance expertise with technological innovation to deliver unmatched results.
Join us in navigating the complexities of compliance-heavy industries and setting new benchmarks in security, growth, and success. Welcome to Custody & Agency, where expertise powers your prosperity.
Our Capabilities and Standards
We operate across critical technical, creative, and compliance verticals, including:
- WCAG, ADA, and accessibility-driven web infrastructure
- HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA-compliant marketing ecosystems
- Bar association and RESPA-compliant content strategy
- NCUA, insurance, and state financial compliance review
- Secure data architecture and performance-first hosting
- SEO and paid media execution in regulated industries
- Email automation, landing pages, and creative governance
We do not apply these standards after the fact. They are part of our architecture from day one.
We solve any funded problem
Whether you are a risk-heavy institution or a small team with a vision, our infrastructure is ready to serve your mission. Speak to a strategist and let us show you what real custody and agency look like.
Request a Strategy Session