Forty Under 40: Andrea Ritchie

When Andrea Ritchie was growing up, she voraciously consumed the news. Ritchie served as the sports editor for her high school newspaper. She liked media so much that she planned to major in journalism when she first got to the University of Arkansas.

During this time, she discovered new loves: marketing and advertising. This led her to form AM Group with her business partner, Mary Mickel, in 2023.

“I more or less just soaked up the news and the weather … I thought I was going to be a journalist, and then I watched the show ‘Mad Men,’” she said. “I knew then I was meant to do something different.”

Ritchie graduated with an advertising and public relations degree in 2011 

and earned a master’s degree in 2016. One of her first jobs was with Bike Bentonville. Then, she went on to work as a marketing manager for Visit Bentonville.

She was offered an account executive position with the CJRW advertising agency in Little Rock. There, she worked with multiple clients on multiple platforms.

One person she ran into a lot was Mickel. At the time, Mickel was working at a different agency, and the two women shared several clients.

The two decided to take a chance and formed a business partnership. AM Group was opened in Fayetteville.

One thing Ritchie noticed is that many large, national agencies cater to large corporations but ignore many of the smaller businesses in Northwest Arkansas. AM Group focuses on those types of businesses, she added.

In her free time, Ritchie said she likes to spend time with her husband Jacob, and their 2-year-old daughter Allie. The family also enjoys spending time with their two cats and two dogs.