The Judging

Michael Brandt
President and Owner
Marketing Resources, Ltd.
Lakewood, Colorado
BMA Member

A transplanted "cheesehead," Michael T. Brandt is president of Marketing Resources Ltd., Lakewood, Colorado, a business-to-business marketing consulting firm.

His communications background began at his father’s weekly newspaper in central Wisconsin where Mike worked as a photographer and general gopher throughout high school. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, in 1966, Mike began his formal career in the public relations and advertising department of the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association in Madison, Wisconsin, followed by a move to the communications department of  Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. A slight shift in focus towards a career in marketing and advertising motivated a return to Wisconsin where he obtained a master’s degree in communications from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Prior to forming Marketing Resources Ltd. in 1990, he spent 16 years in a variety of marketing functions at Vinyl Plastics, Inc., a Sheboygan, Wisconsin manufacturer of commercial vinyl flooring products and extruded plastic sheet. At VPI, he was responsible for the company's marketing communications programs, market research, market development, and international sales and marketing.

Mike is an active member of the Business Marketing Association, an affiliation that began with the Milwaukee Chapter in the late 1970s. He has served as President of the Colorado Chapter and on many of the Chapter’s committees. He is the recipient of the Colorado Chapter’s President’s Award (2001), Lifetime Achievement Award (2004), and Communicator of the Year Award (2005).

When not involved with BMA, marketing, or client activities, Mike spends his time on the golf course, in the kitchen baking sourdough bread, listening to jazz, or visiting daughter, Sara, and two grandchildren in Syracuse, NY.

Sam Eidson
Partner
90octane
Denver, Colorado

Sam Eidson is a founding partner of 90octane, a conversion-driven marketing agency and BtoB Magazine Top Agency based in Denver. A pioneer in response-based interactive tactics such as search engine marketing, online advertising and microsite design, 90octane integrates these with more traditional channels to deliver custom, optimized programs. B2B sales lead generation for industrial and technology companies is one of the agency’s primary specializations.

Sam has been an active member of the Colorado BMA for seven years, and 90octane has been a trustee sponsor of the chapter for the past five years.

Sam has over 14 years of experience in interactive marketing, integrated marketing strategy and management consulting. He earned his BA in International Relations at Brown University and his MBA at Darden.

Michael Flavin
Marketing and Exhibiting Consultant
Sky-Line MidAmerica
St. Louis, Missouri

Michael Flavin, a Marketing & Exhibit Consultant with Skyline in St. Louis MO for nearly 4 years, works with companies to eliminate headaches from trade show exhibiting and event marketing. Michael provides clients with the design and production of custom-modular exhibits and works to measure & maximize ROI from events.

Within a network of 144 service centers internationally in 45 countries and a local service team, Michael also provides exhibit management services. His previous sales & marketing experience of 4 years relates to the design & production of environmental signage & graphics. Michael currently serves as President of the BMA St. Louis chapter and has been on the board of directors for 3 years.

Linda Lindsey
Marketing Consultant
Owner, CEO
Atlanta, Georgia
BMA Member

An Atlanta native, Linda Lindsey has been in the marketing and advertising arena for more than 20 years and currently owns her own marketing consulting firm. Linda has developed and executed marketing and communications programs for a wide range of companies including Ricoh Americas Corporation with a niche in software solutions and a passion for nonprofit organizations. Linda award-winning approach targets customers in a way that helps them move them further along the buying cycle.

Linda was awarded a 2007 Direct Marketing Association ECHO award for a marketing communications campaign and a 2008 Gold Davey award for copywriting.

Jim MacLachlan
Creative Director
Tartan Marketing
Maple Grove, Minnesota
BMA Member

Employment History:

Tartan Marketing, President: 1999-Present

Kuester Partners, Director Sales & Marketing: 1997-1999

Webber Advertising, Director Sales: 1990-1997

Arnold Design Group, Account Supervisor: 1988-1990

Web Publishing, Account Executive: 1980-1988

Education:

BFA in Advertising Design: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 1980

Background:

Jim is president and partner of Tartan Marketing, which he manages along with his wife, Margie, who is CEO and Director of Creative Services. Tartan Marketing is a full service B2B marketing agency that offers strategic market planning and totally integrated tactical execution. It focuses on helping Technology, Manufacturing and Food clients plan, develop and execute comprehensive programs with multiple stakeholders, implemented in environments where "speed to market" is critical.

Throughout his 30 years in marketing and brand management, Jim has worked with many Fortune 500 companies on branding and marketing communication initiatives. Some of these organizations include American Express, Cargill, Ecolab, General Mills, Land O’Lakes, Toro, Potlatch Paper, Redmond Hair Care, Tennant and Travelers Insurance. Jim is also an avid music collector.

David Marks
Creative Director
The Collaboration
Kansas City, Missouri

One of the region’s most accomplished creative directors & writers, David Marks has won trophies from the Clios, One Show, London International Advertising Awards and the Radio Mercurys. Before co-founding The Collaboration in 2000, David spent 20+ years as Senior Copywriter & Creative Director at agencies in St. Louis and Kansas City, on accounts that included Anheuser-Busch, Ralston Purina, SBC, Edward Jones, Sprint, Missouri Division of Tourism, Brown Shoe Group, Commerce Bancshares, Cadbury Schweppes and many others.

David’s diverse community involvement includes serving as board president for Newhouse, Kansas City’s oldest and largest shelter for abused women and their children, Kansas City Ad Club, Board President, and is currently the Board President for The Alzheimer’s Association – Heart of America chapter.

Marian Robinson
Vice President, Marketing
Baxa Corporation
Englewood, Colorado

Marian Robinson started her professional career in social work and within a few years moved to technical writing and corporate communications.  Her business career has included positions in product management, corporate communications, politics and speechwriting, training consulting and quality assurance.  Now the Vice President of marketing for Baxa Corporation, Marian has more than 24 years of experience in medical device manufacturing and marketing communications.  She is an active member of the Colorado Chapter of the Business Marketing Association and the Colorado Bioscience Association.  Marian holds an MS in policy and planning from The University of Michigan and is certified in investor relations.

Dan Sheehan
Creative Director
Tartan Marketing
Maple Groove, Minnesota
BMA Member

Even after 20 years in the business. Dan is a Creative Director who's not afraid to jump in and put his own design skills to work. When he's not managing his creative group, he is designing for clients such as Tennant, Ecolab and Cargill. Dan pushes creative teams to deliver strategic interactive and print delivering smart, on-target solutions, always worthy of the clients' brands.

Dan gets involved up front, at the strategic level, which allows him to gain a firm understanding of his clients business and take away key strategic nuggets and ideas that he and the art directors will polish into creative gold. An advertising and promotion veteran in B2B and B2C realms, Dan was most recently Creative Director at Life Time Fitness, where he led e-marketing programs, micro-sites and online promotions for members in ddition to supporting all B2B programs in support of partnerships and roducts. He also has experience in developing affiliate marketing programs nd other integrated print and interactive initiatives for brands including amaha, Northwest Airlines, General Mills, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and edEx. Dan holds a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from Iowa State University.

Michael Silvia
Senior Vice President, Creative Director
Evins Communications
New York, New York

With over 12 years experience in lifestyle marketing, public relations and advertising, Michael Silvia brings a "brand's eye" view his roster of clients and helps ensure that communication vehicles work together to promote a strong, cohesive brand image. His varied experience includes producing fashion photo shoots for Adrienne Vittadini and MaxMara, developing marketing programs for Scottish cashmere and Tahitian pearl luxury brands and creating branding platforms for investment banks and financial exchanges.

Michael currently serves as Senior Vice President and Creative Director for New York luxury branding & communications firm Evins Communications, Ltd. which specializes in lifestyle, fashion, accessories, spirits and hospitality brands catering to the luxury consumer.

Dan Sprague
Partner
The Groove
St. Louis, Missouri

As a partner at Groove, a leading full-service advertising and experiential marketing agency based in St. Louis, Dan Sprague provides leadership in all aspects of account management, creative supervision, business development and portfolio strategy. Prior to opening Groove in 2006, Dan gained valuable experience in the CPG industry during a 14 year tenure at Anheuser-Busch, where he was quickly promoted to positions of increasing responsibility in Corporate Media and Sports Marketing, Retail Sales Promotion and Brand Management.

Bob Taber
Sr. Vice President Account Plannning
Gyro HSR Denver
Denver, Colorado
BMA Member

Bob brings 35 years of national agency experience in New York, San Francisco and Seattle to GyroHSR clients. As director of strategic planning at Bozell Worldwide, Bob developed the strategic work for the "Milk Mustache" campaign that played a critical role in reversing a 20-year decline in milk consumption.  

Bob supported local police departments across America by helping launch 1,500 Dunkin’ Donuts stores, growing the chain from 2,500 to 4,000 units. He also grew same-store sales an average of 6%, three times the category average. On the spicier side, Bob led a 75-person account team that introduced the most successful new product in Taco Bell’s history, the Double-Decker Taco.  

Bob also preaches what he practices. As a University of Oregon School of Journalism professor, Bob led student teams to the national finals of the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition. He continues to teach at Colorado State University’s Executive MBA program and Johnson & Wales University College of Business as an adjunct professor of marketing.

Bill Tyler
Professor of Communications
St. Louis University
St. Louis, Missouri

Bill Tyler has over 30 years experience as creative director, writer and broadcast producer for major agencies in St. Louis, Colorado and California. He was a vice president and creative representative on executive committees at all of the agencies for which he has worked. He was also Vice President Advertising for Pizza Hut, Inc. His creative work has won many awards, including Clios, ADDYs, International Broadcast awards and Arrow awards for direct mail.

For the past eighteen years, Bill has provided local, regional and international marketing communications services to clients through his firm, TYLERtoo Productions, LLC. He is a full-time professor in the department of Communication at Saint Louis University, where he teaches  advertising courses and directs the internship program. He is also an advisor for the student advertising club and for the National Student Advertising Team.