DAPPERSMITH - Key Persons
People lean on Daniel. They trust him to understand them, to see not just their challenges, but the best ways forward. As a business and brand strategist, he works with senior executives to achieve transformative change, resolving thorny brand and marketing problems often resulting from an M&A, market disruption, or a change in vision.
He lives to find out how companies work, and is never happier than when he's up to his elbows in the nuts and bolts of operation, culture and organization, figuring out the dynamics - and the directions to take. His background with McKinsey & Company affords a consultant's acuity, but what offers clients the greatest value is his vast experience with branding in the financial and professional services sectors, and particularly health care - where his numerous skiing and running injuries have given him a uniquely insightful perspective.
Dave makes the alchemy happen in that rarified space between business, strategy and design. It's his understanding of the relationship between the three that enables him to find and express the stories clients have long wanted to tell, the imagistic vocabularies they yearned to use, but never knew how.
Versed in all creative disciplines from print to digital to environmental, his passion for solving branding, marketing and communication problems across a spectrum of industries make him a profoundly talented and successful creative director and designer - his shelves are groaning with items reflecting the recognition and acclaim of his peers and contemporaries. But, knowing him, he's probably proudest of the current project he's tackling, and presently deep in that magical world of graphics, type and color palettes, exploring ideas. Because, luckily for us and our clients, he just wants to make outstanding work that works: to articulate and to attract.
We all need someone who knows the media game. Whose appreciation of nuance, niche and networking ensures communications and channels complement each other to produce messaging that's on-brand, on-target, and lands with optimum impact. Enter Edwina, our sage on all such matters.
With over 20 years deep experience in the UK, Europe and the Americas for Citigroup and BNP Paribas, she's as adept at conducting media relations for IPOs and M&As, as she is comfortable with crisis management, ad campaigns, sponsorships, business reputation building and enhancement. An appealing blend of Celtic charm, strategic acuity and steely conviction, Edwina doesn't simply "deal with the press;" she quickly sees the direction you need to take, and oversees every detail to ensure your brand is represented consistently and effectively.
Edwina was educated at the Limerick Institute of Technology and University of London, and continues to educate us on this critical dimension in brand-building.
Eric brings the beauty. He blows life into brand strategy by making design that wins not just awards but the confidence and approval of clients. His Nordic cool engenders a thoughtfulness, rigor and creative invention which are always grounded in business strategy and goals.
Emerging from the Rhode Island School of Design by way of Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, he's had a storied career. Sadly, most of the stories are unprintable, but he is inclined to share them after several attitude-adjusters during happy hour. Eric has built creative departments and produced wonderful work for global multinationals and agile boutiques alike. We're delighted he's in charge of our big box of crayons.
Jackson wants you to get to the &#@*?$% point. He has no time for corporate- and marketing-speak. He just wants to arm you with tools that plainly express your view and advantages to all audiences.
His reporter's eye picks out the arguments and propositions while his expertise in data visualization inspires materials, collateral and presentations that connect, convince and grow the brand experience. Bottom line: they look and sound like you, and they make sense.
There's nothing more empowering than having a gentle bully on your side. He'll show you how to say what you mean and, more important, mean what you say.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Food Education Fund Junior Board
Liz makes things happen. One of life's doers and connectors, she puts her formidable energies into building brand and community partnerships, especially in the non-profit area. With a quiet confidence and clear-eyed practicality, she leverages social media activation and develops CSR strategies that keep Dappersmith clients top of mind.
Her drive and relationship-building skills were honed in the food industry, where she co-founded an agency committed to a better food future for all, and was the youngest Executive Director of a national association representing East Coast independent grocers. This meant liaising with the White House over critical bills, and persuading Centene Corp, Lyft, Coca-Cola, and others, to partner and help the most vulnerable New Yorkers - efforts for which she was named to the "City and State NY Power 100 List".
She's also worked for several museums in New York City and Washington D.C., most notably helping to inaugurate the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
In her spare time, Liz serves as the Chair of the Food Education Fund Junior Board, empowering students to be the F&B leaders of tomorrow. And she's kind enough not to pass judgment on the quality of the brew or biscuits during our occasional afternoon tea-breaks.
Mina is the calm at the heart of the storm. As our Project Manager, her preternatural ability to juggle, organize, co-ordinate, know where everyone and everything is, keeps Dappersmith humming along. From deadlines to deliverables, timelines to tracking progress, staffing and scheduling, Mina balances it all with characteristic serenity. She's used to dealing with the likes of us, having cultivated a sound marketing perspective along with her management skills. She's managed social media branding initiatives and collaborated on print and digital advertising with designers, developers, videographers and strategists, as well as managing cross-functional (and her fair share of dysfunctional) teams.
Although we know she'd much rather be indulging her passion for photography, traveling somewhere or sampling something exotic, we appreciate her patience and perpetual good humor in keeping us all on the same page.
Monica is the sorceress, blessed with a supernatural ability to read us, the ask, and see and shape something else that nobody else has. Her versatility and innate ability to help corporate clients push creative boundaries makes her a valuable addition to the Dappersmith team. She consistently brings a range of inspired expressiveness to projects, always underpinned by understanding of and adherence to established strategic principles.
It's an approach that enables her to deploy all the tools in her arsenal concepting, typography, logo and wordmarks, art direction, architecture, multimedia experience and touchpoint design to visualize the voice and purpose of organizations across all industries, ensuring each client has a potent, sustainable identity. We're fortunate to have her as a colleague and collaborator. It's a most rewarding relationship: she always listens and we always learn something new.
Nick will help identify your voice and the best ways to express it. A versatile writer who's traversed journalism, PR, advertising and branding, he ensures your messages remain consistent and compelling across all media.
Complementing the distinctiveness of your visual identity, he sees to it that the verbal and textual counterparts have similar power and authenticity. So that when it's time to open your mouth, the right people listen and respond.
Meet our empath. P feels your pain: change is never easy. That's why she's uniquely equipped to find client sore spots and obstacles, negotiating them adeptly in the path toward transformation and progress. She has the gift of seeing and absorbing all the viewpoints, and integrating them into strategy, tactics and expressions that invite not just consensus but enthusiastic buy-in.
Will draws clients out of themselves. Literally: one of his many skills is a draftsman's speed with his trusty pencils at interpreting and articulating scenarios, what-ifs and where-tos, a feature which regularly unblocks and progresses even the most challenging of strategy sessions with leadership.
Bringing a nuanced understanding of creative's purpose and expression from both sides of the client/agency fence, Will helps guide all parties through the tactics, actions and initiatives that complement and realize business and brand strategy. A workshop with Will, whether visualizing a future state or mapping and bettering the customer experience, is frequently the tipping point (and many clients' favorite part) of any engagement. He'll even autograph the sketches for an extra fee.