Our people

Chairman & CEO of Innis Maggiore since 1989, Dick’s top priority is making sure the agency assists clients in achieving measurable results through effective positioning strategy. He is integrally involved in strategy development and thorough creative execution. His involvement in professional circles throughout Northeast Ohio is well known, spanning every account and industry serviced by the agency over its 45-year history.

Under Dick’s leadership, Innis Maggiore has become recognized as the nation’s leading agency in the practice of positioning and was named Ohio’s fastest-growing agency for three years in a row. The agency currently ranks in the top 10 percent of the nation’s AAAA agencies. Dick serves as one of the agency’s primary positioning experts, and often worked with the “Father of Positioning,” Jack Trout.

A noted author and speaker, Dick frequently instructs on positioning, marketing and public relations at area universities, chambers of commerce and professional business organizations.

As chairman and CEO, Dick focuses not only on the agency’s clients, but also places a high priority on maintaining an environment where people can thrive, where procedures bring about teamwork, discipline, efficiency and creativity, and where cutting-edge technology is fully practiced.

Mark’s position is that of marketing strategist and technologist. Mark solves problems and manages data and complex projects with the ability to view the entire strategy, business operation and marketing landscape as a closed-loop system.

He is the architect of the agency’s disciplined process for creating the new web landscape — what he calls a “campus” approach to launching highly focused marketing technology that meets specific market and customer needs. The facile approach Mark brings to mapping a client’s digital assets is as economic as it is strategic. Inspired by his vigilance to self-education, this discipline in our agency represents 40 percent of business.

Kathi is the leading guardian of the agency's profitability and financial position. She is responsible for the financial and operational aspects of the agency, including accounting, finance, human resources and information systems.

An Innis Maggiore associate since 1981, Kathi has worked in virtually all segments of the business, and has held the top financial post since 1989.

Kathi's agency experience and financial acumen enable her to identify and respond to opportunities and problems at an early stage. With the agency support services running smoothly, associates are well equipped to delight and amaze clients.

Kathi has been married since 1982 to Dick Maggiore, the agency's president and CEO.

Jeff is responsible for creating and executing overall advertising strategies for Innis Maggiore clients, supervising all aspects of design, copywriting and production. Jeff knows how brand identity, advertising and all other marketing communications are so much more than surface beauty — relating a brand message, a position, a sell-point as the foreground of his work.

Under Jeff’s guidance, the agency has earned numerous (actually, hundreds of) industry awards, including several “Best of Show” awards, in the Canton Advertising Club’s ADDY Awards competition. The Canton Chapter of the American Advertising Federation named Jeff Ad Person of the Year in 2008. 

Stacie is the veritable “jane-of-all-trades” at Innis Maggiore. In her 21 years at the agency, she has constantly taken the initiative to step up wherever she is needed. She started as a receptionist. Now, her role includes client billing, vendor payables, media billing and support, backup receptionist, backup proofreader, flower planter and more. Wearing as many hats as she does, she’s the true behind-the-scenes hero of the agency. 

Outside work, she enjoys walking, boating and spending time with her grandkids and black lab.

Justin is the bridge between our designers and web developers. He designs for web, mobile and UX in a way that makes the transition to developers smooth and seamless, maximizing productivity and efficiency.

His work is on the cutting edge of design and requires a continual attitude of learning as he first masters then teaches new technologies. This emphasis on expanding what can be achieved, beautifully, results in stunning web assets for clients. In one recent example, the client’s team was so touched by the new website that the entire boardroom opened up on how the visuals and messaging connected to each of them on an emotional level. That’s the power of excellent design in action!

Justin has worked on projects for a range of industries, from financial and food service to industrial and nonprofit. He has spent 20 years in web design, always staying at the forefront of the field.

He has a bachelor of fine arts in visual communication design from Kent State University.

After spending all day on the computer designing next-gen visual messaging for clients, he enjoys getting active and outdoors, preferably as far from a cell signal as possible.

Tony’s gift is building and leading closely-knit teams that drive growth for iconic brands. From his position as Senior VP, Group Account Director at Geometry Global to a volunteer trip he led to rebuild homes and run a medical clinic in Haiti, his passion is inspiring others to bring their best to the table. 

Over his 20 years at previous agencies, Tony has worked on a number of accounts across industries as wide-ranging as automotive, food service, agriculture, industrial and more. His greatest achievement was building a cross-functional team and 16-year client relationship to retain and grow the John Deere business – leading this classic brand to become one of Geometry’s top 10 Global and top 5 North American accounts.

Tony’s core competencies range from account leadership and management to brand stewardship and from market research to digital/traditional media. He is a problem solver who inspires and unites his team to overcome complex challenges through strategic and creative solutions.

Tony has a bachelor of science degree from the University of Akron. He lives in Stow with his wife, Christie. Outside of work, he enjoys many outdoor activities, from hunting and fishing to coaching sports, with his four children and six grandchildren. He is also passionate about overseas missions work and has participated in a number of volunteer projects, from Vietnam to Haiti.

Raised by business owners, Carson understands marketing can be an overwhelming demand for companies large and small. As an account executive, he remains focused on building authentic relationships. By extending his industry knowledge and communication skills, he becomes a personal resource to help clients achieve the results they need to grow.

Carson began his career in account management assisting analysts with operating healthcare EHR systems. Bringing his previous experiences to Innis Maggiore, he delivers a thorough perspective that melds an interpersonal approach with strong problem-solving abilities so he can serve client interests as their dedicated and reliable liason.

He graduated from Hillsdale College where he earned a degree in rhetoric and media studies and a minor in politics. Carson resides in Green with his wife Mercedes. Outside of the office, he enjoys fishing, hunting, and rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals.

As PR and content manager, Mercedes enjoys the creative twists and turns of agency life. Every day presents a blank page waiting to be filled with the latest topics and client needs. From technical writing to inventive wordplay, she views every challenge as another opportunity to learn about the different industries, organizations, and people that move our world. 

In a digital world, many forget the communicative power in writing. However, writing has the ability to build compelling bridges in communication between different entities. With layers of nuance and purpose embedded in every aspect of a sentence, it is important to write not just clean, but creative copy. 

Mercedes Bryan received a liberal arts degree from Hillsdale College in 2023. Equipped by her studies in English and economics, she meets each blank page with a well-rounded perspective. 

Joe’s passion is solving client problems. An avid gamer, he uses his problem-solving skills to architect web-based solutions that improve efficiency and user experience while saving time and hassle. In other words, working with him is the cheat code to ‘leveling up’ your web assets.

With over 15 years of experience as a web developer, he has worked with platforms such as Magento, WordPress, SilverStripe, iOS, Laravel and others. His expertise includes a range of programming languages: PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, Obj-C, Swift and C#. He has worked on Business Intelligence software and warehouse management systems in manufacturing settings, including building a system that allowed inventory to be scanned and managed by iOS-powered handheld devices, which automated and streamlined warehouse processes.

At Innis Maggiore, Joe has built marketing websites for a range of clients and industries. A small sampling of these include Goodyear, Aultman Hospital, United Way of Greater Stark County, Smith Dairy and Beese Fulmer. One of the biggest wins he achieved for a client was architecting web solutions for law firm Kobre & Kim. Along with taking over the hosting and management duties for their website, he also deployed an interactive Court Tracker map during the COVID-19 pandemic to help their legal teams stay apprised of the status of courts around the world.

Joe has both an associate of computer science and a bachelor of technology degree from Kent State University. When not spending time with wife, Stephanie, their three dogs, and their flock of chickens, you’ll find him printing on his 3D printer or spending some quality time with his prized Red Special replica guitar signed by the guitarist from the band Queen.

As public relations director, Jim is Innis Maggiore’s resident storyteller. For nearly two decades, he’s made sure employees, investors, community leaders, the media, consumers, and other key audiences are on the receiving end of … and are included in … our clients’ stories.

Jim’s expertise spans the agriculture, construction, distribution, energy, healthcare, housing, manufacturing, technology, and non-profit worlds. He’s counseled organizations including BASF Agricultural Solutions North America, CropLife America, Goodwill Industries, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Nucor Corp., PPG Industries, Republic Steel, and Sandridge Foods in executing strategic communications initiatives.

Jim holds an Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), demonstrating his knowledge of and commitment to the principles of PR. From corporate social responsibility to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and from traditional to digital tactics, he’s well versed in all aspects of the practice of public relations.

Lee-Ann is an award-winning designer with over 30 years of experience working across a broad swathe of industries, from healthcare and food service to financial and nonprofit.

Lee-Ann is a design connoisseur – she loves taking in a wide variety of styles and turning that inspiration into gorgeous client communications. From two weeks on the Amalfi coast of Italy, taking in the colors, culture, food and wine, to volunteering as a judge for regional ADDY competitions, she draws inspiration from the diversity of beauty around her. To her, design is an exploration – one of textures, papers, folds, typography and color palettes. 

Her approach to design as a journey of discovery emerges in her client work. She particularly enjoys pro-bono and brand identity projects, where she strives to create an emotional connection with the viewer through the beauty of design.

The results are stunning: enough so that some of her designs have gone on to achieve national awards. She won a Gold award for one client’s package design and took a National Gold ADDY for another project while at Innis Maggiore.

She lives in Canton with her husband, Bob, son, Antonio, and two cats (her daughter, Isabella, lives nearby). She enjoys gardening, cooking, traveling, interior design and going to the gym. She loves spending time with friends and family (especially when a glass of fine wine is involved). 

She has an associate degree in visual communications from the Art Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she graduated with honors. 

Over nearly 35 years of experience managing and directing creative services, 30 of those on the agency side, Scott has developed a genius for developing and recognizing creative ideas. He drives his team to push through creative barriers, unleashing their best potential, while developing award-winning campaigns for clients.

Scott expresses his creative output through copywriting, creative strategy and producing broadcast/video (along with a few instances of doing voiceover). He has worked across a broad range of industries, including casual dining, automotive, consumer packaging, healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing, nonprofit, energy and many more. His work is award-winning – one radio campaign for Flower Factory Wholesale Superstore earned multiple Gold ADDYs and Judge’s Choice awards at Cleveland’s Advertising Federation ceremony.

Before joining Innis Maggiore, he helped grow the smallest satellite office of Doner Advertising into a full-service agency with many of its own clients, making it the second largest location. And during a period of working for his own creative agency, he produced a major Pepsi Summit event, as a media launch for all brands, in Chicago and Las Vegas. (He wrote and produced radio spots for all promotional campaigns and directed both live events.)

When not creating new client campaigns, Scott pursues a diverse range of hobbies. He is a published author, feeding his passion for film by writing Quintessential Jack: The Art of Jack Nicholson on Screen, the definitive guide to all of his films as actor, screenwriter and director. He has also performed as an amateur musician and has been an avid space enthusiast since childhood. At home, he continues a 20-year-long trend of adopting and raising rabbits from the Buckeye House Rabbit Society, an organization that saves and rescues pets.

He has a bachelor of arts degree in communications from the University of Pennsylvania as well as a master of business administration in marketing from New York University.  

Cheryl has a history of overcoming odds. From being a cancer-survivor to leveraging her self-taught graphic design skills to land a job with Innis Maggiore and climb to the position of Creative Director, Cheryl truly characterizes the attitude of seeing obstacles as opportunities. She brings this same creatively-driven dedication to every client project she tackles.

A creative whirlwind, she has seemingly unlimited talents. For clients, she is a graphic designer, social media content creator, video producer/editor, photographer and creative writer. She has run internal fundraising campaigns for multiple organizations for over a decade. And she was recently a finalist on the Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge.

It comes as no surprise that Cheryl has won numerous awards in her 25 years working across a range of industries, such as retail, healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, building products and nonprofits. Specific clients include Goodyear, Aultman, GuideStone Financial Resources, BellStores, Midwest Industrial Supply, Smith’s Dairy, Baird Brother’s Fine Hardwood, Urban League and more.

She has a bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Kent State University (where she graduated Valedictorian out of a class of 1,500). She lives in North Canton with her husband, Mark, dog, Jasmine and three cats (Sushi, Churro and Padre).

Outside of work, she is a Disney fanatic, baker, musical theatre enthusiast and cat lover. In her own words, “I bring a sprinkle of pixie dust, sugar and joy – and maybe some incidental cat fur – to all of my design projects.”

Anna Hjerpyn has a proven track record for delivering high-quality websites that meet project requirements on time and within budgetary constraints. A mindful team leader, she brings a refined ability to conduct website audits, generate visually and semantically representative content and optimizes website performance to create an improved user experience and search engine ranking.

An exceptionally dedicated professional, Anna possesses keen interpersonal and organizational skills that make her an advantageous resource to her team. She leverages her talents for collaboration and design realization to provide clients web design and development that will capture the attention of users.

She attended the Ohio State University where she received a degree in computer science and engineering. When she’s not hanging out with her cat Fig, Anna spends her free time playing guitar, bouldering, camping under the stars, and going to concerts with friends.

Ashley is an organizational mastermind, brilliantly ensuring every detail is always in place. This allows her to run a well-oiled machine, managing people and projects to get client work done on strategy, on time and on budget. Her secret superpower is her ability to match her communication style to the personalities and work styles of those around her. A skilled listener, Ashley knows how to ask the right questions to discover solutions to problems before they can affect budgets and deadlines.

Ashley brings nearly twelve years of event planning and project management experience to the table. Before joining Innis Maggiore in 2017, she honed her multitasking and communications skills while specializing in managing multiple events simultaneously, ranging from 15 to 400 people.

At Innis Maggiore, she leads the creative team in developing and delivering on-time, quality client work. She has managed projects for clients as diverse as Aultman Hospital, MID’S, Smith’s, Canton Museum of Art, Advanced Power and Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley.

Ashley graduated cum laude from Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies and a minor in hospitality management. If you happen to catch her outside of work, you’ll find her still planning – from her son’s birthday party to projects for the Domestic Violence Project, Inc., where she is a board member. 

Alicia adds depth to the Innis Maggiore’s creative team with award-winning design and illustration skills driven by her summa cum laude brainpower. From package design to print and digital ads and supersized truck graphics, her experience has netted huge results for her clients.

Alicia also is an accomplished illustrator who excels in hand-lettering, illustrations, custom apparel graphics and greeting cards. Her career has included work on the agency and client sides.

A confident self-starter, Alicia brings fresh thinking and amazing ideas vitalized by her obsession with outdoor fun. She runs great distances, camps in tents and hikes whenever she can. Being busy outdoors helps her keep things in perspective and recharges her creative batteries. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Kent State University, where she earned her bachelor of fine arts in visual communication design.

Digital marketing specialist; helps with SEO, social media monitoring, research, and analytic reports. Worked at DC Graphics, LLC as a production/social media assistant. Helped with large format print and design work as well as monitored social media channels for the company. Also worked as a social media manager for Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County. Graduated from Youngstown State University with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an advertising and public relations major and a marketing minor. I now live in Alliance, Ohio. Outside of work, I love being able to spend quality time with my friends and family.

Emily’s artistic talent translates into a broad range of expression – from stenciling office walls to building her daughter’s doll house and from baking extravagantly decorated premium cookies for her home bakery to creating lush publications for clients.

If she’s not baking beauty into every bite, she’s pouring it onto every page. From newsletters and annual reports to print ads and billboards, she brings the dullest subject to life with the same vivacity she applies to each cookie. She has nearly 10 years of experience, eight of them with Innis Maggiore. During that time, she has won numerous awards, including for a cancer center project for Aultman Hospital and several annual reports for the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority. Her specialty is large publications that require attention to detail and consistency. One of her favorite stories involves how she landed the job here at Innis Maggiore: during high school, she picked up a business card from a networking event that she held onto for five years, before leveraging that connection into a job. She applies the same tenaciousness to every client project, persistently pursuing perfect positioning through design. 

Her client work has included names such as Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley, BellStores, Stark Community Foundation, Goodyear, AultCare, Custom Auto Body, Canton Museum of Art, Guidestone and many others.

She has a bachelor of arts degree in visual communication design, with a minor in photo illustration, from Kent State University. A proud wife and mother to husband Matt and daughter Evelyn (whom she knows for a fact is the sweetest girl on the planet), she is guilty of one too many 2a.m. nights baking cookies for her bakery StarSprinkle Sweets. Her secret addiction is to true crime podcasts (in other words, don’t surprise her during a 2a.m. baking spree).

As a senior account supervisor, Jeff is responsible for advertising and marketing projects for a variety of Innis Maggiore clients such as Aultman Hospital, Goodyear (Aviation, Off-the-Road, Military and Retail divisions), GOJO, TheraBand^® progressive rehabilitation products, BellStores and Cutler Real Estate.

Jeff had been an account supervisor at Marcus Thomas, LLC in Cleveland. Prior to that, he spent nearly 15 years at Hitchcock, Fleming & Associates in Akron, where he rose to the title of senior account manager.

Jeff has gained experience on a number of leading national and regional brands, including ALLTEL Communications, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Verisco Inc., Bendix Braking Systems and the NEC World Series of Golf.

Jeff holds an associate degree in visual communications from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He is a resident of Massillon.

Devon spent 16 years in the trenches on the client side before joining Innis Maggiore. During this time, his development work brought significant results, including a 400 percent in organic traffic increase in organic traffic, healthy conversion rates, a minimal 0.001% fraudulent transaction rate and more.

When he transitioned to Innis Maggiore, he leveraged this background to quickly move from supervising digital accounts to overseeing the entire web development department. Today, his time is divided between managing all web projects and handling accounts for multiple clients across diverse industries.

His industry specialties include automotive (distribution, e-commerce and dealer marketing), legal, building materials and consumer packaged goods.

Devon has a Bachelor of Arts in business economics from the College of Wooster. He lives in Sharon Township with his wife, Kim, and sons, Nolan and Nicholas. Outside of work, his interests range from nutrition to investing, and he enjoys writing and listening to podcasts. 

As a media and digital marketing specialist, Lauren leverages traditional and digital media channels to create campaigns that drive awareness and engagement for clients. She bolsters brands across various platforms using applications and skills like SEO optimization, in-depth data analytics reporting, and collaboration to build effective strategies.

Lauren first connected with Innis Maggiore in January of 2023 when she completed an internship with the media department. There, she discovered her enjoyment for the agency life — an environment that presents its own unique challenges every day. So, when the opportunity arose for her to return to the media department full-time, it was an easy decision.

She graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a minor in data analytics from Walsh University where she was also a member of the track and field team. A resident of Green, Lauren enjoys spending time with her cats, Leia and Kylo, going on walks, and sampling different coffee and ice cream shops.

As a web developer at Innis Maggiore, Richard is an important member of a team tasked with delivering high-performance digital assets in an evolving environment where advances in technology and changes in best practices are constant challenges. Richard plays a pivotal role in developing and maintaining software for clients such as GOJO, Baird Brothers and many others. 

Richard graduated from Kent State University. A “full-stack” developer, Richard works from the server side in C# to javascript on the client side. Previously he was lead developer at NCS Solutions.

Josh plays an integral role in Innis Maggiore’s web development department as our PHP programming developer. He enjoys learning new things and watching designs come to life whether he’s helping the team develop client websites and landing pages, renovating existing sites, tackling updates, or fixing server bugs.

Prior to programming, Josh came from an extensive background in manufacturing and enterprise resource planning (ERP). His experience as a buyer/planner allowed him to hone in on his communication skills and adaptability. His curiosity about data retrieval and the user experience drove him to discover SQL and subsequently enroll in a database design course. And from there, the rest is history!

Josh Skelly earned his degree in business administration and management as well as his coding certifications from Stark State College. Outside of work, he enjoys playing disc golf, cooking, swimming, working out, and hiking with his family.

Smith is a lead developer on a variety of critical agency web initiatives. He has a background as a senior level software engineer, having held the position at Cyberlancers in Bradenton, Fla. prior to joining the agency.

Smith started his career as a software engineer at Denver’s Akavit. Smith, of Akron, earned his associate of science in computer science from National Institutes of Technology.

Patrick’s dual role here at Innis Maggiore utilizes his 20 plus years of experience across both design and printing. He is the project manager for a number of clients, including BellStores, Custom Auto Body, Goodyear, Beese-Fulmer Investment Management, Stark County Health Department and more.

He also handles ordering all outside purchases for outdoor (billboards), printing and promotional products, as well as traffic for ad files for newspaper, digital ads and video.

His involvement has led to the success of several ambitious projects. For the Aultman Open Door campaign, he played a part in pulling together a wide range of media channels, from 3D billboards to sidewalk graphics and more. And for the DragonSkin campaign, from Radio Frequency Systems, he coordinated the printing of a brochure that showcased many different printing effects.

Patrick has a bachelor of arts degree in graphic design and drawing from the University of Akron and the Columbus College of Art and Design.

He lives in Canton with wife, Tara, and sons, Sean, Benjamin and Jackson. Beyond spending time with family, he is passionate about coaching kids’ sports and enjoys all things Disney.

Whittington, a web developer, was previously with Passov Branding. A resident of Alliance, Ohio, Whittington earned his bachelor's degree in computer science with a minor in business administration from Malone University.

As an account planner, Denver is dedicated to helping clients develop their brand personalities, uncover new possibilities, and build customer relationships. He maintains a pulse on current market trends and supports the agency’s account leads by providing the latest insights and concept ideations directed at growing client brands in their respective industries. In addition, Denver also serves as a producer and editor of the Brand Shorthand podcast.

His role demands creativity, a strength which Denver has exhibited in every facet of his life. Prior to his full-time position, he completed the agency’s internship program in the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024, where he developed copy across a variety of mediums. Outside of his professional career, he continues to sharpen his artistry through screenplay writing and media analysis.

Denver is a graduate of Malone University with a BA in marketing, digital arts, and professional writing and editing. Outside of work, he enjoys a number of interests, including writing, movies, television, and video games. Looking for adventure, he once embarked on a 4,500-mile solo drive across the country to visit Yellowstone, Arches, Zion, the Grand Canyon, Garden of the Gods, and five national forests.