Maria Lilly
Maria is Principal and founder of MJ Lilly Associates, LLC, a strategic communications consultancy specializing in the development of branding, integrated marketing and public relations programs. With over 25 years of experience, she has managed a full complement of marketing communications functions from corporate identity and advertising to employee communications and corporate responsibility programs. Before founding MJ Lilly Associates, Maria spent three years as Executive Vice President and General Manager at Edelman Worldwide and two years as Managing Director of the corporate and marketing group at Gavin Anderson & Company. Earlier, she spent seven years in corporate positions first as a Vice President at The First Boston Corporation and then two years as the Director of Communications at Furman Selz Incorporated. Maria is a cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany with a B.A. in Rhetoric and Communications. Active in professional and civic organizations, Maria has served on the Advisory Board to the Ageno Business School at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, the marketing committee of MCC Theater, and has provided pro-bono services to an array of marketing and communications industry non-profits. Maria has also been quoted in several business journals and has been a speaker at Institute for International Research marketing conferences.
Michele Arboit
Michele is an experienced writer and editor specializing in business content with a proven ability to consistently produce outstanding results in a variety of demanding environments. With more than 25 years experience, she is regarded for conveying information clearly and accurately, and for completing projects under tight deadlines. Michele has served as the copy desk editor at Crain’s New York Business focused on refining special reports, columns, and top features. In addition, she has served as a freelance editor for such publications as American Banker (Source Media), Business Week, Business Traveler, and InStyle. During the dot-com boom, Michele also served as the copy chief for Yahoo! Internet Life, increasing efficiencies by crafting the magazine’s first style guide and enhancing staff productivity with regular training. As an undergraduate, Michele attended UC Berkeley and has completed graduate work at George Washington University. Conversant in Italian, she taught business-oriented English to professionals, senior managers, and upper-level university students at the Wall Street Institute near Milan, Italy, during the 2009-2010 academic year.
Susan Barocas
Susan heads Barocas Communications with extensive expertise in initiating, creating and managing lifestyle communications and high profile special events. Susan has been responsible for forging affinity marketing alliances, developing meaningful cause-branding programs and producing major integrated publicity and marketing efforts that resonate with target audiences. Previously, she served as an Executive Vice President at Rowland Worldwide when it was one of the country’s leading marketing communications firms, managing and developing major programs. Susan has experience in working with a wide variety of clients across a bandwidth of industries. Her work has included successful assignments for DuPont, Etienne Aigner, Lincoln Financial Group, Harcourt Publishing Kimberly Clark, Mobil, Mattel, the Robert Mondavi Winery, Canon, Sara Lee and the United States Tennis Association. Susan graduated from Boston University earning a BA in English with a concentration in journalism.
Judith Grossman
Judy offers clients a diversified background in strategic marketing, publicity and promotion. She founded Red Fox Communications after a 20-year career with leading public relations agencies. Creative problem-solving has always been her hallmark, and she has put it to use developing and directing PR campaigns for many of the nation’s most highly recognized brands, including Playtex, Microsoft, Claritin, J&J, Office Depot, GameStop, the YMCA and Merck. Judy excels at helping clients of all sizes achieve their business goals, chief among them is supporting a new product launch with high-impact media and sales outcomes and enhancing a brand’s connection with its target audience. Her passion is particularly ignited by the opportunity to help shape a product or company’s personality through smart marketing public relations. Her experience extends across a range of sectors including, healthcare (Schering Plough, Ortho McNeil, Merck, Tap Pharmaceuticals, Andrx Pharmaceuticals), consumer packaged goods (Playtex, Fruit of the Loom, Cheer detergent), beverage (Canadian Mist, Korbel, Schweppes, Clamato), retail (Office Depot, GameStop, RadioShack), and the not-for-profit sector (YMCA, AICPA, National Center for Learning Disabilities). Prior to launching Red Fox Communications, Judy was with Stanton Crenshaw Communications and for the ten years prior with Edelman.
Veronique Marchal
Veronique has a broad base of experience in corporate communications, community relations and sponsorship in the sports, entertainment and non-profit sectors. Veronique has more than 10 years experience in marketing communications and community programs for the NBA, NHL and WTA Tour. She has managed public relations and philanthropic initiatives for such prominent athletes as Serena and Venus Williams, Martina Hingis and Steffi Graf as well as for such marquee events as The NBA All-Star Weekend, The Stanley Cup Finals and Grand Slam tournaments. Veronique has created and managed numerous grassroots community programs promoting positive character values, computer literacy, financial literacy and tolerance, for such corporate sponsors as Prudential Securities, DreamWorks SKG and Corel. She also has extensive experience with corporate foundations and non-profit organizations, including The World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, The Make A Wish Foundation, St. Baldrick’s Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Veronique has a BA from the George Washington University and is bilingual in French and English and is fluent in Spanish.
Joan C. Spivak
Joan brings broad and deep strategic communications experience in the healthcare industry. Most recently, Joan served as President of Prime Medica Inc., devoted to science-driven communications. Previously, she spent 15 years with Edelman Worldwide, where she was Executive Vice President and General Manager of the New York Health practice. She combines a background in medical research and medical journalism, as well as global experience, to provide an invaluable perspective to her work. Joan’s expertise includes medical marketing communications planning, corporate and product positioning and branding, and counseling across a broad range of therapeutic areas. She has been responsible for marketing communications and strategic counsel for some of the world’s most important and well-known pharmaceutical products. In addition, during her tenure with Edelman, Joan created several new services and offerings contributing to the growth of the health practice and the company. She made Edelman synonymous with excellence in written healthcare communications and also founded Bioscience Communications, Edelman’s professional education division. Joan holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Barnard College and a master’s degree in occupational health and toxicology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. She has been published in scientific and trade journals and speaks French. Joan is currently on the board of LeAp (Learning through an Expanded Arts program) and has served as a trustee for other organizations in the arts and social justice.
Jake Wengroff
Jake Wengroff is a social media, marketing and investor relations specialist who has bridged work across the technology and financial services industries. A recognized social media expert, Jake serves as consultant to Frost & Sullivan, the industry research firm, providing clients with social media insights and strategies and has been a frequent contributor to CMO.com. Jake is equally skilled in financial communications having authored E-bonds (Wiley, 2002), a survey of the online fixed income markets and serving as contributing writer to CFO magazine. In the public relations industry, Jake served as a vice president at PR21, and also held account positions at both Edelman Worldwide and G.S. Schwartz where he honed his skills in press relations. He also served as vice president of corporate marketing at Bear Stearns, handling assignments for the structured finance, asset management and investment banking groups. Jake began his career as a sales assistant at Smith Barney and as a market analyst for La Moneda, the capital markets division of Banco Latino of Peru. He holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Miami and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Brandeis University. He is fluent in Spanish and holds Series 7 and Series 63 securities licenses.
Poyi Fung
Poyi is responsible for designing multi-media presentations, websites, and corporate image programs. Previously, Poyi worked at T.Bresner Associates and Russell Design where she worked on a variety of assignments in the healthcare, retail and financial services industries as well as the non-profit world. Earlier in her career, Poyi was Art Director of New Media at Bear Stearns where she developed its corporate internet and intranet sites, as well as several subsidiary websites. A native of Hong Kong, Poyi received a BA from the University of Hong Kong and later earned a graduate degree in Advertising and Communications Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
Robert Barber
Bob is a Senior Associate of Russell Design with extensive branding and project management capabilities. Mr. Barber has been designing marketing communications for over 20 years for a broad array of corporate and not-for-profit clients. He provides diverse, strategic design solutions to assignments of a wide range including: annual reports, promotional materials, recruitment materials and corporate identity. Some of his clients include JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Credit Suisse, NASDAQ, Alliance for Downtown New York and the William J. Clinton Foundation. Prior to joining Russell Design, he ran his own design office and also managed the design department within Hill & Knowlton, the global public relations agency with clients such as Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, and The Baseball Hall of Fame. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati.
David Langton
David is a principal and co-founder of Langton Cherubino Group, providing award-winning design services for businesses, financial service companies and nonprofit organizations. He is responsible for strategic account management and conceptual design for national accounts. This includes Ernst & Young where David is working with the national branding office in developing imagery standards and themes for industry groups, and the Healthy Pfizer Launch in the U.S. and Puerto Rico that features a coordinated campaign of print, web, merchandising and exhibition components. David’s pro bono work for the Northern Westchester Shelter was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Sappi “Ideas That Matter” program that honors design firms that commit resources to non-profit programs in support of communities. He is often quoted in design publications such as Step Inside Design, Graphic Design USA and How Magazine and is a frequent speaker on corporate identity design, employee benefits launches, and integrated Web and printing solutions. David is the former design manager of corporate communications for Home Life Insurance Company and is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design where he earned a BFA in graphic design and took writing and liberal arts at Brown University.