Matt Barrett

Web Designer

 

Matt Barrett comes to Mariner Media with 10+ years of graphic design experience for both web and print media. A graduate from Averett University, Matt received his B.A. in art and quickly immersed himself in the growing area of web and graphic design. He worked for 5+ years with a Hilton Head, South Carolina, based publisher where he polished his skills with all the Adobe software. Being with a small company, Matt wore many hats and did database management, sales, print and web design, and customer support for in-house web applications. Some of his recent work includes the Rockbridge Farmer's Co-op website, 502 S. Main, and Buffalo Bend Lodge.

 

Matt and his wife and two kids are excited to be back in Virginia after 10 years in South Carolina.

 

Emilie Davis

Graphic Designer

 

Design and layout are Emilie's passion. She brings a sophisticated sense of balance and color to every project, particularly book cover design and pagination. With varied experience in print media design, Emilie has lately expanded her talents to include web design, and enjoys tackling new challenges.

 

Emilie received a bachelor's degree from Southern Virginia University in 2006, and went on to study digital design at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh before joining the Mariner Media staff in 2010.

 

When she is not creating, she's chasing three young children.

 

 

 

Bruce Macdonald

Chairman, Brand Specialist

 

Bruce is one of America's leading brand developers. He joined Mariner Media, as Chairman, in 2010 directing brand marketing programs and new business initiation. His career spans 40 years, first as an illustrator in Chicago, then London and then New York City, where he became Managing Director (Divisional) and Vice President: Young & Rubicam / Graphic Design, before opening his own design firm Congdon, Macdonald Inc. 

 

Bruce put his mark on many of the nation’s top brands including Diners Club (creating their logo), Merrill Lynch, The US Postal Service, and The Singer Corporation. He enjoyed a long client relationship with Pepsi-Cola International, designing marketing and promotion programs for their various brands and themes: like The Pepsi Challenge (in Spain and Germany), Michael Jackson's concert tours with Pepsi, Mirinda soda, and two James Bond Movies. He developed new campaigns and packaging for: Ocean Spray Cranberry juice and sauce, Nabisco's Grey Poupon mustard, and General Cigar's premier brands (Macanudo, Partagas, Don Sebastian).

 

The Macdonalds moved to a farm near Lexington in 2000. He teaches advertising art and marketing courses at W&L and VMI.  Bruce continues to paint and illustrate scenes from around the globe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kent Melville

Programmer

 

Kent is our top geek—master programmer who builds the function in the back end of such sites as VRWA to provide ease of use for a very complex data management website.

 

A California native, Kent worked for Intel before moving east to attend Southern Virginia University.

Charles J. Ober

Art Director, Research and Analysis

 

We believe in the value of experience and that creativity knows no age. Charles is the agency Art Director and a champion of research. His professional awards include a National Addy Award; a Gold Medal from the New York Film & TV Festival; Best-in-Shows from advertising and art-related exhibitions; a Desi Award from Graphic Design magazine; and various other honors from printing, advertising and art organizations.

 

For 30 years Charles worked as an advertising artist, art director and creative director for agencies in southeastern Virginia. During this time he freelanced as a light show artist/producer for discotheques, concerts and business presentations from North Carolina to New York. He also operated a visual arts studio, creating stained glass works, paintings and photography.

 

Born in Philadelphia, Charles studied illustration art at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts).

 

Karen Bowen

Business Manager

 

No one at Mariner wears more hats than Karen. She reviews every manuscript, proofreads everyones work, runs the business end of the office and coordinates the publicity for the entire publishing operation. She joined the crew as an editorial intern in 2010 and quickly proved herself invaluable.

 

Karen studied English and Editing at Brigham Young University, and graduated with a BA in English. 

 

 

Clarence Renshaw

Copy Writer, Media Relations, Account Executive

 

Clarence brings a rich and varied career in writing to the Mariner crew. He concentrates on the many tools of the Public Relations trade to raise a positive public profile for Mariner clients through news releases and media relations and placement, video production, event planning, newsletters, and web content.

 

He studied Journalism at Washington & Lee University, worked as a television reporter and anchor at WDBJ-7 in Roanoke, and, subsequently,

as the Shenandoah Valley Bureau Chief with the Roanoke Times. He has served in senior “street” and management media positions at local radio/television news operations in the Tidewater area of Virginia and in Houston, Texas, as a documentary writer for the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., and as a producer with NBC News’ Southwest Bureau.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judy Rogers

Editor, Proof Reader

 

Judy is Mariner's skilled copy editor and proof reader adding her 'mindful' eyes and expertise to bring our final productions to perfection.  She has years of experience in the scientific, pharmaceutical, and marketing industries.  Utilizing her strong scientific and communication skills, Judy assists our writers and editors with a broad range of publications.

 

With a B.S. in Biochemistry and Medical Technology from the State University of New York (SUNY) Judy began her career in biochemical research at Applied Science Labs, Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. After discovering a talent for promotion, she moved from the laboratory bench into the marketing department and was Advertising and Promotion Manager for a generic pharmaceutical company and the Director of Marketing for a videoconferencing equipment distributor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woody Sadler

Vice President, Fund Raising Executive

 

Woody has been a Certified Fundraising Executive for the past 12 years and works with the agencies non-profit clients. Before becoming a partner in Mariner Media, he was president of Woody Sadler and Associates, a fundraising consulting firm.

 

Woody retired from the Marine Corps at the rank of Colonel. He became involved in marketing, advertising and fund raising as the executive director of the Lexington Downtown Development Assn. and Director of Development for the George C. Marshall Foundation. He has served as president of the Virginia Downtown Development Assn.; founded the Rockbridge Area Community Foundation; was district chairman, BSA; and currently serves on the boards of many volunteer organizations and is 2012–2013 District Governor of Rotary.

 

In his spare time, he is an adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at the Virginia Military Institute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Wolfe

President & Creative Director

 

Andy sticks his fingers into everything as the agency Creative Director. He has extensive experience in multi-media advertising development, promotion and publishing.

 

Andy began his career as a graphic artist and cover designer in New York City. He moved on to be a photo journalist and foreign correspondent, then a public relations writer and photographer. Andy left the big city and engaged in a community newspaper and magazine publishing career that took him from coast to coast as a marketing consultant and financial turn-around specialist.

 

He has received 38 state, regional and national awards for photography, copy writing, marketing, advertising and annual report writing. In 1988 he was the recipient of the (National Newspaper Association)  General Excellence Award for Newspaper Publishing.

 

By avocation, Andy is a performing folk singer/songwriter and an award winning builder and designer of wooden boats.

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Law Young

Photographer, Videographer

 

Jennifer is an award-winning photojournalist. She was an editor for international news agencies where her organizational skills were honed under high-pressure deadlines. Her photographs have appeared on the pages of the world's major news publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek and Time magazines.

 

As the producer of the 60-minute documentary "Stolen Years," Jennifer received the Emmy Award when the film aired nationwide on PBS to critical acclaim. Recently Jennifer was a featured speaker and panelist as part of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History lecture series "Reel Americans."

 

Jennifer has Bachelor of Arts degrees in Philosophy and Journalism from Baylor University (1987) and post-graduate study in Graphic Design at the University of Colorado.

 

Jennifer and her husband, Bruce Young, photographed and authored the best-selling visual presentation of the region, Rockbridge: A Photographic Essay. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Johnson

Illustrator

 

Chris is a cartoonist at heart. He joined the Mariner crew in 2006 as a summer intern while attending Virginia Commonwealth University where he was a distinguished art student.  Chris illustrates book covers and designs and draws corporate identity pieces for Mariner.

 

Today Chris also operates his own studio in Richmond. As a student, Chris was honored by being selected to exhibit with the Society of Illustrators, New York, New York, with two pieces of his work displayed at the show, an almost unheard of accomplishment. He was also nominated and attended the Illustration Academy at the Ringling School, Sarasota, Florida.

 

A Lexington native, Chris created the original art and illustration of AKELA, the BSA Cub Scouts recruitment program mascot; created several local and national corporate identity campaigns; web graphics for one of the company's international clients, Multi-National Resources, Inc., website and outdoor advertising graphics for the New Hampshire GOP. His cover design for the book Ripe for Emancipation was nominated for the Frederick Douglas award.