SUSTENA GROUP - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the View Team
Over the past 20 years, Brenna has guided dozens of B2B companies in building successful brands that raise their enterprise value. She has a knack for ‘seeing' brands and guiding them to realize their strategic growth goals. She has worked with many leading private equity firms and prominent brands such as Accenture, Genpact, Mercer and RiverStone and countless other niche B2B businesses. When she's not in the office, she's almost certainly sailing with her husband on their beloved sailboat ‘Dazzle'.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President of Strategy
Bryan is an award-winning senior brand strategist and creative director able to tell a focused, compelling story across a wide variety of communication channels. He has led many successful national branding and re-branding efforts across multiple sectors including technology, insurance, financial services and construction/building industry. A purveyor of fine craft beef jerky, Bryan calls Brooklyn home where he's either coaching his daughter's champion softball team or "letting" his son score on him on the soccer pitch.
Charlie is a strategist focused on leveraging his past experience as a hedge fund analyst to create original content for marketing and sales functions at Sustena. Having studied Art & Design at Penn State, Charlie pivoted post-graduation to work at a Philadelphia-based investment fund. After a year and a half in Philadelphia, Charlie left the finance lifestyle behind to once again pursue his creative passions. He now lives full-time in his 2009 Toyota Tacoma. When he's not on the road, Charlie can be found in the darkroom developing film and working with a variety of alternative photographic print processes.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Brand Strategist
Dan is a brand strategist with over a decade of experience in business transformation and years of industry experience in quality assurance. With an empathetic compassion for the human experience, and a degree in animation, art, and design, Dan loves working closely with diverse teams to deliver high-quality, thoughtful, and highly creative project deliverables across a variety of industries and their unique business and technology challenges. As a Seattle native, Dan can be found spending his weekends in the rain, wondering why he doesn't live somewhere sunnier.
Coming from a background in advertising operations, Danielle has a mindset for processes and fast turn-around times. Aligned with her upbeat personality, she enjoys event planning, operations and project management. With a natural ability to jump quickly between tasks, she is able to organize herself and her team on all of her projects. Danielle studied at the University at Buffalo where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Business Management with a Supply Chain Operations concentration and discovered her strengths. Whenever she needs to wind-down from a busy week, Danielle likes getting crafty and working with her hands.
Georgiana (Georgii) excels at keeping teams organized, on task and focused on the bigger picture for their brands. With a talent for operations, strategy, and project management, Georgii embraces working with diverse groups in fast-paced environments. She honed her skills for finding and analyzing trends in data in her studies in University at Buffalo's MBA program. As someone who does not like to stay put for too long, Georgii enjoys traveling and spending her free time out in the fresh air - running and staying active.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Creative Services
As Sustena's Senior Director, Creative Services, Jillian's brand work spans strategy, project management, visual brand development, and implementation. A self-described jill-of-all-trades, Jillian's branding superpower is approaching her craft through the dual lens of creativity and meticulous coordination, balancing the strategic and the tactical to ensure project success. She also leads Sustena's Employer Branding efforts, helping companies harness their internal messaging to drive employee engagement, talent acquisition, and retention.
John Bogle changed the face of retail investing through index funds. Today, index funds are a retail investors best way to accumulate wealth over time. I am fierce Boglehead and always advocate for the retail investor to utilize low-cost, no-fee index funds.
John leads sales and delivery for Sustena, bringing 20 years of management consulting experience focused on strategy and execution to solve critical business problems for clients. His work spans digital media, financial/insurance, healthcare, transportation, and the energy industries. John has delivered solutions in business strategy, M&A, product development, technology strategy, process improvement, organizational design, and change management. He earned an MBA from Vanderbilt University and a B.S. in Business Administration from Trinity University in San Antonio. John spends his weekends chasing and driving his three kids to events, using his free time for travel and watching EPL games.
Kepler delivers research, strategy and communications to help technology-based products and services clients create and grow markets. Whether for founders at investor-backed companies or with F500 leaders, he believes all marketing should help create and tell stories that enable growth in capital, customers, and employees. Outside of work, Kepler tries to be of service where he can (teaching, military, non-profits), and today lives with his wife and 2 daughters in North Carolina where likes to ‘farm' (ok, it's a big garden) and fish.
Kristine is a passionate individual who holds extensive experience in building and growing brands. She has been involved in elevating brands such as: Mario Lopez Fitness, ED by Ellen DeGeneres, and Shell Automotive products. After graduating from SUNY Oneonta and the Fashion Institute of Technology with a Business Management degree she began her career working in the fashion industry where she discovered her love for business and leading teams to achieve their goals through strategic and efficient processes. She continues to apply her knowledge and years of experience in branding at Sustena. On her down time, Kristine volunteers for Make a Wish Foundation as a Wish Grantor. She also always makes sure to find time to go for a run and travel as much as she can.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director
- Brand Strategist
Maggie is a brand strategist and award-winning content creator. With over a decade of experience across retail, tech, design, media, e-commerce, non-profit, and health verticals, she has the unique ability to pinpoint a brand's 'why' and translate it into a compelling brand story. Maggie is currently pursuing her MS in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. A happy resident of Austin, TX, she spends her time hiking, kayaking, and eating migas tacos with her husband and dog.
Ross is a mission-driven strategist with experience in various facets of business, branding, and IT strategy.
By levering 10+ years of experience as an IT consultant across different industries such as life sciences, fleet leasing, automotive, and nonprofits, Ross brings insightful analysis to assist companies' development, growth, GTM, and IT strategy.
On his down time, Ross can be found traveling, gardening, or working on his home.
Ross graduated from Illinois State University, earning a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Philosophy.
Job Titles:
- Creative Director
- Principal
Ryan is a creative director and designer obsessed with creating experiences that make people fall in love with brands. Driven by a passion for beautiful design, he helps express what makes brands unique. Ryan has designed identities and brand systems for Convergency Partners, American Express, Abbott Laboratories, T. Rowe Price, Amyris, Pentair, and Extended Stay America. Ryan and his wife live in Brooklyn, NY.
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Senior Brand Strategist and Writer
Stephen is a senior brand strategist and writer with a talent for cutting through the clutter to hone in on a brand's most differentiated attributes. Stephen leads the research function at Sustena, identifying the key insights that shape a company's brand strategy. Working with national brands, Stephen helps companies find the right path and voice to stand apart in their market.
Taylor excels at organization, multitasking and relationship management by leveraging her past experience in project management. Coming from a background in financial technology and live event management, she thrives in fast-paced environments. She is able to quickly adapt and enjoys working in collaborative environments. Her natural ability to problem solve paired with her warm personality have led to success. Taylor studied Business Administration at the University at Buffalo where she double concentrated in Marketing and Supply Chain Operations. In her down time you will most likely find her traveling, hiking or rolling up her sleeves to take on a DIY.
Taylor is a trusted advisor for executives on mission-critical strategic issues. His experience includes bringing new product offerings to the market, building out product management organizations, strategizing on market position, measuring customer experience, setting corporate strategy, transforming organizations, and managing change. And he has deep expertise in helping organizations leverage whitespace in the market to create differentiated products and services. In his free time Taylor is an avid runner, clay shooter, and cookbook collector.
Tina is a brand strategist and go-to-market specialist with over two decades of success marketing companies and non-profits. Her passion is amplifying messaging through thoughtful touchpoints along the customer journey. Tina leverages her experience within a Fortune 200 to plan through the complexities of bringing a brand to life internally and externally. A Philadelphia native and sports loyalist, Tina spends her weekends at playgrounds with her husband and two children.
Warren's experience in design and interest in brand strategy led him to recently join the Sustena team. With an MFA from SVA in visual essay and bachelor's degree in design, he is a visual storyteller by nature. Warren spent the early part of his career crafting brand narratives and high-impact ad campaigns for both local NYC institutions (Serentipity3 and Chelsea Market) and Fortune 500 companies (Revlon and Disney/Hyperion). Further honing his design and branding skills as an art director, he worked to create branding and advertising for some of the biggest Tony® Award winning shows on Broadway, including: David Byrne's: American Utopia, Beetlejuice, FunHome, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Waitress, The King and I, Little Shop of Horrors and Hamilton.
Warren enjoys working with a talented team of colleagues who are experts in building timeless brands, always pushing the boundaries of what brands are today and what they can be tomorrow.