That is similar to my experience as well. There was always a creative director on the pitch. The Sales/Biz Dev person would do the qualifying up front. All the initial contact, research the people, the company, gather the requirements. Then usually a few designers and a creative director would sit down to develop a POV and a pitch deck and do an in person pitch with he BD person there. Creative Director along with a program manager would write the proposal and draw up the estimates and SOW.