YOUR FOR-HIRE, ALL-FIRE, BAND OF BRAND NAVIGATORS.
YOUR FOR-HIRE, ALL-FIRE, BAND OF BRAND NAVIGATORS.
OUR TEAM
KEVIN DiLORENZO
President / CEO
An upper-echelon business mind who thrives on guiding clients to the mountaintop with integrity and commitment.
Kevin has helped light the way forward for some of the world’s most intriguing brands, including Andersen Windows and Doors, Wagner, BMW, McDonald’s, Target, Capital One, Northwestern Mutual and UnitedHealth Group. Over the years, his landscape savvy and multichannel acumen has earned him multiple Effie awards for effectiveness. Prior to Rise and Shine and Partners, Kevin was CEO at Olson and built the agency to become one of the top 10 full-service independent agencies in North America. He also worked at Carmichael Lynch Spong and Fallon, where the core of his multichannel instincts and client service passions were formed.
MATT BURGESS
Partner / Chief Creative Officer
Believer in the power of creativity to drive change and that great writing can be an unfair business advantage…for you.
A copywriter by trade, Matt helps clients find durable, dynamic brand voices and deliver them to market in consistently original ways. While channel agnostic, Matt is an absolutist for scroll-stopping quality. In the past few years, his work has collected awards from the One Show, Campaign Magazine (Digital AOY), Clios, Webbys Anthem and Graphis International for clients like Honda Powersports, Webex and UNC Chapel Hill. A creative rarity, Burgess is not an agency hopper. Instead, he has learned from a who’s who of incredible mentors. Most recently, the wonderful people of WongDoody, where he worked for the past six years. Prior to that, as a part of the incredible agency that was OLSON.
ANGELA IAZZETTA
Partner / Director of Brand Integration
A literal beacon of brand stewardship, bright enough to show clients how their entire teams can feel at home with even the biggest of brand evolutions.
With more than 15 years of advertising, marketing, consulting and political campaign experience, Angela brings a unique blend of insights, strategy and action-oriented solutions to the table. She cultivates strong and productive client relationships with her positive energy, collaborative spirit and oversight of cross-functional agency teams. The results are powerful ideas, smart campaigns and innovative go-to-market strategies. With a background in both B2C and B2B marketing, she has a wide range of category experience, including: retail, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, food and not-for-profit. Prior to Rise and Shine and Partners, Angela was an account supervisor at Augeo Marketing and a strategic marketing manager for PIMCO in New York (formerly Allianz Global Investors).
JANIE WALDRON
Partner / Director of Project Management
A sage of efficiency and workflow, with a motherlode of experience shepherding campaigns, and clients, to success.
Janie puts her two decades’ experience to work helping clients see that getting to standout creativity and innovative thinking can be smooth, collaborative and rewarding. She has been the Director of Project Management at Rise and Shine and Partners since 2007. Prior to that, she ran project management for Fallon-Intersect and Olson. She has developed and implemented agency systems to ensure efficiency and clear communication both within the agency, and between the agency and client. Her experience includes major initiatives for United Airlines, Dell, Hertz, BMW, Land O’Lakes and Andersen, just to name a few of the brands who have known the pleasure of her calm and collaborative approach.
GRANT SMITH
Creative Director / Senior Copywriter
ISHAN DUMRA
Partner / Director, Strategy & Insights
A next-generation brand strategist with the passion and curiosity to uncover fresh, actionable insights.
With more than a decade of experience crafting smart research, insights, briefs and actionable journey maps for his clients, Ishan combines his strong brand pedigree with a digital-first mindset to help bring progressive campaigns to life. He consistently strives to bring innovative strategies and creative solutions to his clients that engage people and deliver impact. Ishan views businesses and brands holistically and aims to create simplicity from the complex. With a background in both consumer and B2B marketing through cultivated experiences at agencies in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Minneapolis, Ishan has a wide range of category experience, including: CPG, healthcare, food and beverage, financial services, technology and not-for-profit.
AMBER BENSON
Partner / Director of Media & Comms Strategy
A curious mind that combines media, strategy and brand marketing experience to help drive stronger connections between people and brands
Amber is passionate about breaking down the barriers between creative and media to ensure content and experiences are creating the most value for clients. She helps brands embrace new ways to drive greater relevancy and stronger business results. Prior to Rise and Shine, Amber held leadership roles at R/GA and Essence Global, where she oversaw annual planning, strategy and campaign orchestration during years of unprecedented growth. She also experienced industry disruption as a marketer at General Mills, honed her strategy acumen with roles at Naked Communications (NBC Universal), Carmichael Lynch (Subaru, Jack Link’s, US Bank) and Fallon. Amber believes that comms planning, media and creative is most breakthrough, effective and fun when it’s tightly woven together.
PEGGY SNOOK
Director of Communications
SELENA THOR
Brand Integration Supervisor
GINA NACEY
Director of Creative Strategy
ED BENNETT
Executive Design Director
Solving clients’ business problems with the power of design.
A trained designer and fine artist, Ed never follows the fads. Instead, believing that trends and personal aesthetics have no place in strategic design, Ed fuses the relationship between design, advertising and PR by calculating what solution is best needed for a client. Prior to RSP, Ed founded and directed 10 Thousand Design, the design offering of Colle McVoy. There he created brand identities, packaging, retail experiences and integrated campaigns for Caribou Coffee, Target, CHS, The Minnesota Star Tribune, La-Z-Boy, AnyTime Fitness, Indian Motorcycle, Grain Belt and Invisalign.
MITCH KOCH
Brand Integration Director
A proven cross-functional leader with more than a decade of experience across the advertising and PR spectrum.
Leaning on his strengths as a perceptive listener, relator and deliberative decision maker, Mitch has led integrated campaigns and content development efforts for big-name brands like The Coca-Cola Company, Heineken and Land O’Lakes, while spanning several categories including food and beverage, health and wellness, agriculture, home improvement and commercial architecture. A wordsmith at heart, Mitch loves a creative messaging challenge and the search for a tighter, more compelling way to tell a story.
CATHERINE DAY
Brand Integration Director
ANNETTE KMITCH
Senior Operations Manager
TIFFANY HAHNFELDT
Project Management Director
KRISTINE BAUMGARDNER
Creative Director
MATT CERAR
Associate Brand Integration Director
BIRDIE
Security Bitch
TAYLOR SNYDER
Creative Director / Art Director
Brilliant, Scary, Stand-Out Creative Drives Profits, Period.
With an education equally weighted on conceptual ideas as it was on polished design, Taylor started his career with the goal of ending up in the fashion industry. His journey brought him from his native Minnesota to the deep south of Arkansas and up the mountains of Colorado until he landed in the dense city of New York where he achieved his goal. Yet along the way he found that the most fun he had, and the best work he made, was for everyday products like the launch of the “We Have the Meats” campaign for Arby’s, the lauded “It Takes Two” rewrite for Target’s Grammys ad break, and the weirdest chili spot ever made that one viewer queried “what acid trip is this?” Now he’s bringing his experience from Mother, Fallon, BBDO, Chandelier, and Target to RSP. It’s scary to think how good this will be.
CASSANDRA FENELON
Brand Integration Supervisor
A tenacious go-getter who always treats new people like old friends and never loses sight of the big picture.
Cassandra is an energetic, collaborative, client-focused pro with a proven track record of cultivating long-lasting relationships, developing innovative campaigns and driving sustainable growth. With over 15 years of experience in community engagement, partnership development, and integrated marketing, she is known as a resourceful, trusted and strategic connector and passionate advocate. Before joining Rise and Shine, Cassandra worked at Twin Cities PBS (TPT), one of the preeminent PBS affiliate stations in the country.
KY ANDERSON
Brand Integration Director
A dedicated client management professional with a tenacious devotion to curiosity, creativity and promoting social good.
Ky ardently believes that when you mix insightful strategy with brave, bold creativity, the alchemy has incredible power to move culture and transform brands. For more than 15 years, he has helped bring transformation to clients across a broad set of categories including beverage alcohol, CPG, financial services, home goods and powersports—and to big-name brands like Jack Daniel’s, Indian Motorcycle and Bell’s Two Hearted IPA. A social good warrior at heart, Ky is a passionate champion of brand purpose, and diversity, equity and inclusion. He’s built relationships with several pro-bono and nonprofit clients, leveraging the agency’s creative firepower and resources to support their admirable missions.
RACHEL ZLEBEK
Senior Project Manager
NICOLE CUSTER
Art Director / Designer
A pixel-potent perfectionist who prides herself on branded visions that both shine like diamonds and speak like megaphones.
Throughout the last 4 years at Rise and Shine and Partners, Nicole has worked to create visual designs that inspire, inform, and captivate consumers through print and digital. From concept to design to production, she has worked on a wide range of clients like Land O’Lakes, Thrivent, Element, Hertz, M Health, University of Minnesota, Sunset Marquis, and Andersen Windows & Doors. Prior to her time at Rise and Shine and Partners, Nicole worked at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. While there, her client list included Infiniti, PayPal, Jose Cuervo, Dominos, Hotels.com, Fruit of the Loom, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and new business.
ABBY STAVIG
Director of Production
Always on the lookout for fresh, relevant and nearly impossible ways to bring powerful creative ideas to life.
From pre to post, Abby knows her way through a successful production. She’s been a force in the industry for more than 20 years, having overseen productions for music videos, documentaries and fully integrated creative campaigns. Abby treats each project uniquely to deliver one-of-a-kind work for clients. In her role, she also oversees our in-house Golden Hour Productions studio and cutting-edge Black Rabbit A.I. platform. Over the years, she’s produced work for Arctic Cat, Bush’s Baked Beans, Papa Murphy’s, Bissell, Invisalign, Edward Jones and General Mills. Oh, and her love language is tacos.
RANDY KRAMER
Senior Creative Editor
SETH THOMPSON
Director of Finance & Operations
A detail-oriented financial mind with a focus on operational excellence to optimize performance for our agency and clients.
With over a decade of agency experience, Seth believes that a successful business is one built on a solid financial and operational foundation. From agency revenues to cash flows to strategic investments, Seth’s passion is in the numbers. He believes that strong financial and operational oversight allows us to focus on what truly matters most: delivering amazing work for our clients. He brings a wealth of financial expertise across a broad range of clients including work with Target, Walmart, MolsonCoors, Google and Sherwin-Williams.
MENG YANG
Digital & Social Strategy Supervisor
An enthusiastic digital strategist who brings brands to life with data, research, creativity and empathy.
Meng’s marketing origins are in social media where he created content, campaigns, and interactive events in the hospitality industry. Since then, he’s leveraged his curiosity and entrepreneurial spirit to sharpen his skills across the digital marketing landscape — including media planning, digital and social strategy, SEO, and data analysis. Throughout his career, Meng has created, developed, and executed digital strategies for start-ups and Fortune 100 companies.
CORY McLEOD
Creative Technologist
LAURA LEISTIKOW
Resource Management Director
ASHLEY BARANOWSKI
Senior Project Manager
A client-focused team player who brings curiosity, smart thinking and good energy to every conversation.
With more than a decade of B2B and consumer marketing experience, Ashley brings a unique blend of branding, engagement, e-commerce and production knowledge to Rise and Shine and Partners. Her focus on client service, strategic collaboration and attention to detail build strong relationships and deliver results. Prior to joining RSP, Ashley led the Account Management team at BIG. Over the years, she’s worked with world-class brands, including Cargill, Andersen Windows, Best Buy, Microsoft, and Polaris.
LISA BRODY
Senior Project Manager
An accomplished leader who's happiest (legit!) when managing multiple priorities, budgets, resources and timelines for clients.
With decades of experience in collaborative project management, Lisa’s an accomplished team leader, mentor and communicator who makes sure projects, from conception to completion, are on time, on budget and exceed client expectations. She provides process guidance, empathetic leadership and humor, while playing a pivotal role in creating a positive culture. Previously, Lisa worked at Carmichael Lynch where she managed integrated campaigns for Subaru, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, Amstel Light, GNC, Steak ‘n Shake, Tempur-Pedic, Truvia Sweeteners and BJ’s Restaurants.
LISA NEWPORT
Office Coordinator
JESSICA ANDERSON
Senior Project Manager
A project manager of all things – budgets, people, timelines and life in general – and does it with a laugh!
If you’ve got a project that needs to be managed, give it to Jess and it’ll be in good hands. Web development? Advertising campaign? Content creation? Other? Check. Check, Check. And check. For the past 20 years, she’s pretty much managed every kind of project that’s ever needed a project manager. Jess loves to run a good process and knows how to adapt to keep things moving forward efficiently. That must be how she finds the extra time to travel, work out and unplug to soak up life.
MOLLY JACKMAN
Senior Project Manager
ELINOR BELK
Senior Project Manager
ASHLEY TANEY
Senior Project Manager
NATASHA CARLSON
Project Manager / Associate Producer
A detail-oriented project driver who keeps an upbeat personality and a velvet hammer to ensure everyone's feeling good and delivering work on-time and on-budget
BETSY JOHNSON
Project Manager
BROOKE FUCHS
Project Manager
JAMES PROESCHOLDT
Project Manager
TABITHA EVANS
Art Director
GENEVIEVE LOCKE
Senior Strategist
BEN ENGEN
Art Director
A next-gen, triple-threat talent who skillfully blends strategy, copy and visuals into compelling creative content.
That’s right. As a Content Creative, Ben combines three jobs into one. He finds joy in bringing ideas to life through strategy, copywriting and design. It’s a smarter way to create more turnkey, high-quality content to feed today’s modern marketing ecosystems. Ben believes the best content has to cut through highly-cluttered channels, stop the scroll, earn attention, and create action. Easy, right?
BRETT BACON
Senior Art Director/Designer
BRANDON PERSHERN
Associate Creative Director/Designer
ROSS STANGLER
IT Manager
JENNA LALLEY
Creative Director
JUSTIN VANG
Designer
MADESYN WINSLOW
Associate Creative Director/Art Director
Kim is more than just good with numbers. She’s good with people. Since 1994, Kim has built strong client partnerships by combining her buttoned-up accounting practices with natural client service skills. Her collaborative and transparent process helps keep agency and client business running smoothly and moving forward. Over the course of her career, Kim has managed client accounting for Andersen Windows & Doors, BMW, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Hertz, M Health and Thrivent.
HARRY DEGROOD
Senior Copywriter
A curious creative who believes that good writing is just good thinking.
Harry is a real writer’s writer. Someone who thinks big, researches deeply, and knows that the best write is the rewrite. He’s one of the lucky few who knew he wanted to write words for a living from a young age. He’s just considerably better at it now. Throughout his career, he’s been lucky enough to lend his brain to big brands like Dunkin’, Marriott and BFGoodrich tires, small brands like Lake Louie Brewing Co., and even brands that don’t even exist yet. Who knows, maybe yours is next?
AUSTIN SELNESS
Senior Copywriter
LAUREN SMITH
Copywriter
BLAKE DEGERSTROM
Associate Media Director
ANDREA SUEKER
Senior Project Manager
KATE BEACOM
Brand Integration Supervisor
BEN GILBERTSON
Brand Integration Manager
JODY ESTENSEN
Brand Integration Director
DEB MORRILL
Senior Production Artist
JAY LARSON
Production Artist
ABBY LILJEQUIST
Creative Director
KATIE BYRD
Production Artist
WALLY PREISSING
Production Artist
KATRYNA BECK
Production Artist
SHANE MALAND
Associate Creative Director
TIM HIRSCHEY
Production Artist
JHOSELIN DOMINGUEZ
Production Artist
LISA ANDERSON
Brand Integration Director
BREEANNA LINDGREN
Production Artist/Animator
JENNY RADACK
Associate Creative Director
JAMIE GOLDBERG
Production Artist
GABE SOJKA
Senior Production Artist
NOAH ISAACS
Assistant Media Planner
MARY SHAW
Proofreader
KIM SCHMITT
Accounting Supervisor
A transparent financial partner who creates trusting, long-standing relationships with clients.
VERONICA GREGERSON
Executive Assistant/Office Manager
THAO HABECK
Senior Human Resources Manager
Our inspiration man and co-founder, Bob’s roots lie in the advertising lore that was Fallon, and has created famous campaigns for brands like TIME, Porsche, Jim Beam, Best Buy, Wagner, Hertz and Nikon. His work has been some of the most awarded in history—including over 40 One Show Pencils. Bob’s “red border” campaign for TIME was named “Print Campaign of the Decade” by The One Club. Recently, the man himself was named to The One Club for Creativity’s Hall of Fame. Bob is a creative legend.
SAM VOSS
Project Manager
BOB BARRIE
Executive Creative Director Emeritus
An industry Hall of Famer who's globally recognized for crafting campaigns that breakthrough complexity with artful simplicity.
Recognized as a Top Marketer and Top Power Broker by Ad Age, the former General Mills CMO earned a reputation for bringing a powerful mix of entrepreneurial DNA and innovative spirit to everything he touches. He’s been invited to guest lecture at some of the nation’s leading business schools, including Harvard, Tuck and the University of Chicago. At Rise and Shine, Mark shares his passion, insight and expertise with our teams and clients.
SONYA ROBERTS
Advisory Board Member
MARK ADDICKS
Advisory Board Member
A globally renowned brand builder and marketer who brings a powerful pedigree of Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial experience to every conversation.
Recognized as a Top Marketer and Top Power Broker by Ad Age, the former General Mills CMO earned a reputation for bringing a powerful mix of entrepreneurial DNA and innovative spirit to everything he touches. He’s been invited to guest lecture at some of the nation’s leading business schools, including Harvard, Tuck and the University of Chicago. At Rise and Shine, Mark shares his passion, insight and expertise with our teams and clients.