George Simkins
MANAGING PARTNER

George Simkins spent nearly twenty years in commercial film production, and from 1996 - 2002 he produced and managed more than 100 national commercials and television programs. Past clients include Charles Schwab, Pepsi, Sears, SC Johnson, Disney, the Houston Rockets, Kraft Foods, Cadillac, Jeep, Mercedes Benz and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. He has been responsible for millions of dollars in production budgets, and has worked across the country and around the globe.

While in San Francisco, he founded Pour Boys Productions, the city’s celebrated theater company, and directed and produced shows that earned the company a host of acting and directing awards.

George worked as Senior Copywriter for "another agency" from November 2002 to December 2006.

Creatively, he functions as a Big Picture Man – a Conceptualist – a PT Barnum of sorts; and as President, he manages the day-to-day operations of Vis-à-vis Creative.

Though he seems older, George graduated from San Francisco State University in 1995, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cinema (that's right – Cinema) with an emphasis on American Genres. He is a member of the American Marketing Association.

Jennifer Sage
CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Armed with a cutting sense of irony, an encyclopedic appreciation of pop culture, and veins that course with rampant creativity, Jennifer Sage designs from within to produce campaigns of nuance and purpose. Jennifer is an expert at creating branding campaigns, a skill that landed her a job at "that other agency," a Bucktown Chicago design shop, where she assumed the role of Creative Director for Kimpton Hotels, a boutique hotel group based in San Francisco. Her creative work can be seen in any of the more than forty-five Kimpton Hotels located across the country.

For Vis-à-vis Creative, she steers the creative direction, and is personally involved with the top-level design approach developed for every client. Her industry experience includes work in the real estate sector, financial services industry, and travel.

A Cowgirl at heart, Jennifer graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Graphic Design.

Christopher McEvoy
DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA

As evidenced by the Seussian visage that recalls the wonder of Solla Sallew when he sits down to his computer, Christopher McEvoy is passionate about interactive media. Self-taught, he built his first website for his own wedding in 1998, and hasn't stopped since; he has shepherded hundreds of websites, videos, DVDs, and other interactive media projects from inception to completion.

At Vis-à-vis Creative, Christopher continues to develop and manage digital media campaigns, from small to large, across a range of industries.

Christopher graduated from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Craft (think Silver Smithing & Jewelry Design), with an emphasis on Studio Arts.

Karrie Gottschild
MARKETING SPECIALIST

With nearly 20 years of marketing and public relations experience, Karrie Gottschild is more like a Marketing Ninja. She has served a variety of roles in the corporate world, most recently as VP Marketing at Chicago's own Classified Ventures/Apartments.com.

But with Karrie, the hits keep on coming. She's an accomplished photographer (see her work at http://karriegottschild.shutterfly.com), a director, editor and writer. She is a green belt in karate, so she can kick your ass in and out of the boardroom. And she's a sweeper. You read that right: Karrie can tell you what "hog-to-hog speed on keen ice at a Bonspiel" means, because she's an avid curler.

All this by way of saying, Ms. Gottschild gets her inspiration from a wide array of cultural inputs; she has her finger on the pulse of consumers, and she understands the challenges facing most businesses. Karrie can boil down an idea into its most basic parts, and then reassemble those parts into something wonderful.

Tom Conrad
GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Tom has been known to kick his close friends in the throat. That's what his work is like – so good, it's like a kickboxing attack to the senses.

Years of designing t-shirts gives Tom a foothold among the cotton set. He is both an illustrator and artist, and his creative sensibility was sharpened at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit Motor City. We're totally happy he didn’t use those skills to design new Chryslers.

No, Tom's a Vis-à-vis guy through and through – he can walk with Kings, and not lose the common touch. We count on his creative talent. (But not too much.*)

By the way, even though people have compared Tom to True Blood's Sheriff Eric Northman, he actually looks exactly like his Mii.

* The truth is, we can't live without him - this is a reference to Tom's favorite poem, If, by Rudyard Kipling.

Melissa Sova
OUR GAL FRIDAY

Melissa Sova is busy.

That's because, in addition to the time she spends with us, she studies Advertising and Marketing at DePaul University, where she's also the President of the Rhu Mu Chapter of Chi Omega. (So if you're thinking of rushing, you can start sucking up to her at any time.)

Originally from Nebraska, Melissa's stop in Chicago is simply one rung on the ladder of life, and she's on her way up, because she's way smart. Check the records, and you'll find she's earned an Academic Scholarship from DePaul; she's on the Dean's List and in the DePaul Honors Program; and she was awarded Outstanding Chapter President for 2011. (So, we're not the only ones who look up to her.)

In the meantime Melissa works with Vis-à-vis Creative on a variety of projects, including strategy, SEO and campaign development.

Benjamin Lovejoy
CREATIVE DIRECTOR – THE WEST

'Creative Director' can mean a lot of things, and Benjamin has spent the past 15 years demonstrating how many talents and skills he can cram into that bucket. He's developed marketing, advertising and design communications at some of San Francisco’s premier agencies. With a foundation in brand origination and identity design, Benjamin now works in media (new, old, and multi-) on all manner of campaigns (ad, direct, interactive, and non-traditional).

Before joining Vis-à-vis, Benjamin was the creative cock-of-the-walk at The M-Line and 300FeetOut, and was one of the founding partners of Lovejoy Creative, his own multidisciplinary agency. His clients have included 24 Hour Fitness, San Francisco Opera, Insight Communications and the Academy of Friends. Before heading out on his own, Benjamin rose through the ranks to senior art director at Goldberg & Associates, a design and advertising agency serving the semiconductor and capital equipment industries in the Silicon Valley.

(Translation: he's the smartest guy in the room.)

Benjamin has served in leadership roles for the Graphic Artists Guild and is an active member of the AIGA. When he's not meditating, raising his daughter, taking photographs, blogging, making art, twittering or brewing kombucha he sometimes teaches and lectures on identity design and communication.

Areta Ljubicic
COPYWRITER

Areta began as an Account Manager, but, deciding she needed to "live deep and suck all the marrow out of life," she quickly found her niche as an ace copywriter. (This relieves her parents, by the way, who were adamant Areta find a way to put her journalism degree to work.) As a fully-fledged creative participant, she focuses her talents on expressing the vision of our clients through eloquent prose.

Areta, whose name rhymes with Loretta, graduated from DePaul University with an M.A. in Public Relations and Advertising in 2008. Her loyalties, however, will always lie with Indiana University Bloomington, where she completed her aforementioned undergraduate studies in 2006 with a B.A. in Journalism.

Tamara Blanich
BOOKKEEPER

Tamara has more than twenty years bookkeeping and office management experience, and that's a lot. She enjoys doing her work in a creative environment and has provided accounting services for architectural, design, and consulting firms prior to joining the staff of Vis-à-vis, and she’s constantly comparing us to them.

Tamara graduated from Indiana University and worked and studied dance in New York before moving to Chicago. She became a licensed massage therapist in 2001 and continues to explore her many interests, which include languages, travel, music, dance and alternative health. We're still waiting for the complimentary massage treatments during lunch.