Biographies
Katie Walthall
President
Passionate, creative, and fearlessly committed to her client’s success, Katie Walthall is the brains behind Cognovi Communications. Ms. Walthall is a high-energy well-rounded professional with a superb track record for exceptional performance. Her areas of expertise include Management Consulting, Marketing Strategy and Communication, Project Management, Business Process Design, and Organizational Change Management. Ms. Walthall’s portfolio of consulting experience includes a few notable companies: AT&T, Duke Energy, Enron, Entergy, Ralston Purina, Sun Microsystems, Shell Oil, and Waste Management.
Katie strongly believes in her community. She’s served in various leadership roles for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and The Junior League of Houston. Ms. Walthall has served as member of the Board of Directors for the Direct Marketing Association and Women in Technology. She’s an active member of the American Marketing Association and Business Networking International. Her Top honors include TechMag’s “Who’s Who in Technology”, Strathmore’s “Who’s Who in American Business” and The St. Louis Business Journal’s Fast Forward Magazine as a “Top 30 Under 30” honoree.
Katie holds a BA in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Advertising from Louisiana State University.
Margaret Scharold
Vice President – Client Services & Partnerships
Margaret Scharold is Vice President of Client Services and Partnerships for Cognovi Communications. Her responsibilities include day to day client relationship management, vendor/partner development and marketing planning. Margaret has over ten years of experience dirving marketing communications programs and managing projects for clients in the automotive, banking, education, insurance, healthcare, oil & gas and non profit industries with an emphasis in content and web services. Her agency and client-side experience has given her a well-rounded
perspective into the needs of consumers and businesses. Margaret earned a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising from Southern Methodist University and a Master of Arts in Mass Communications/Advertising from the University of Florida. She is active in the Houston community as a member of the American Marketing Association, Business Marketing Association, and The Junior League of Houston, Inc.
Kristen Smith
Creative Director
General Manager, Atlanta
Kristen Smith has over 20 years of comprehensive experience providing marketing and design solutions to companies nationwide. Beginning in the fashion industry in the mid-80s, Ms. Smith transferred her love of design into a thriving Web and graphic design business, whose clients have included Bellsouth, The Austin Company, Better Homes and Gardens, and Hedgewood Properties.
Ms. Smith provides creative insight and counsel to Cognovi Communications, and serves as the Creative Director and General Manager of their southeast regional office in Atlanta, Georgia. She is an active member of the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS).
Curtis Smith
Creative Designer
General Manager, Seattle
Curtis Sharp brings 14 years of hands on experience personally working with clients in the Seattle marketplace bringing a passionate level of enthusiasm to every project he undertakes. With a proven track record of providing out-of-the-box solutions that yield highend results, Curtis has worked with clients such as Nintendo, Price Cocsto, World Vision, Drug Emporium, Hodgson-Meyers advertising and Davis Design Associates.
Mr. Sharp extends his superior creative abilities to Cognovi Communications serving as Creative Designer of our northwest regional office in Seattle, Washington.
Leigh Anne Holmes
Senior Consultant
General Manager, Dallas
Leigh Anne Holmes, a marketing consultant with Cognovi Communications works with clients concerned with delivering return on their marketing investments. With over 12 years of experience, Leigh Anne has assisted clients in projecting, measuring, and managing new customer acquisition efforts and developing lasting relationships with customers. In all engagements, Leigh Anne brings a passion for marketing accountability.
As General Manager of Cognovi’s Dallas office, Ms. Holmes earned a BA in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Harvard University. She’s a member and former board member of the Direct Marketing Association, the Junior League of Dallas, and the American Marketing Association.
Elizabeth Martinelli
Senior Consultant
General Manager, Washington DC
Elizabeth Martinelli has a creative flair for writing, print, and web design. Since 1995, Elizabeth has been serving the needs of the Fortune 500 community. Her portfolio of work includes experience with JC Penney, Anheuser Busch, Chase Manhattan Bank, and SBC Communications.
Elizabeth is responsible for managing Cognovi’s Washington DC office. She’s a member of Business Networking International (BNI) and the American Marketing Association. Elizabeth graduated with a BA in Psychology from Notre Dame and an MBA in Marketing from Villanova University.
Joan Bolmer
Executive, Business, Career and Personal Coach
Joan has been in private practice as a business and personal coach, consultant and trainer since 1985. With her 30 years experience in corporate and small business management, she helps professionals to strengthen management skills, reduce stress, accomplish key objectives, and maintain a healthy, happy balance between work and personal life. Joan has coached, consulted with and trained hundreds of business owners, professionals, corporate executives and managers in results management, communication skills, business processes, stress and time management, marketing and personal balance.
Joan is listed in The National Directory of Executive Coaches, National Benchmarking Report, is an MTI Certified Dispute Resolution Mediator, Certified Professional Consultant, Certified NLP Practitioner, and is a Certified Trainer for Interaction Management. She has published several instruction books on employee management skills and has had articles published in Chemical Engineering, IEEE Transactions and Chemtech magazines.
Lori Feldman
President – Aviva Marketing
Lori Feldman , President of Aviva and an ACT! Certified Consultant, has a national reputation as a list and database marketing expert. Recently she was presented with the Direct Marketer of the Year award by the Direct Marketing Association of St. Louis.
Known for her enthusiasm and practical advice, Lori helps companies profit from their customer databases which lead to accelerated sales. Her message has caught the attention of corporate executives throughout the country and has inspired hundreds of companies to automate their sales and marketing process using ACT! Contact Management Software.
Lori speaks to large and small organizations across America. Her specialty is training “Rock Stars of Revenue.” She shows audiences how to identify new business opportunities by leveraging their success with existing customers and how to use database marketing to close business faster.
Kevin McMinn
President, Lucid Solutions Inc
Kevin McMinn has over 20 years of extensive experience in business process re-engineering, process design and implementation, process mapping and workflow, technology solutions, and project management. His experience also includes analysis, development and implementation of Transaction, Settlement, Risk Management and Enrollment processes and systems.
Kevin also possesses the proven ability to develop and implement Strategic Organizational Change, including Procurement/Supply Chain Management, Marketing and Finance. He has served utilities industry experience with deregulation issues, as well as aerospace, defense and chemicals.
Peter Michaelson
Chief Marketing Officer, FurnitureFind.com
Peter Michaelson holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1974) and a BA from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT (1971). Currently Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of FurnitureFind.com, the largest online retailer of furniture, he previously was Senior Vice President of Marketing for OfficeMax.
His entire career has been in the marketing field, specializing in targeted, direct marketing, utilizing media which include direct mail, telephone, Internet and direct response television. He has served as a senior marketing executive for leading companies including IBM PC Co., RJR/Nabisco and The J. Crew Group, and was a founding partner in Vertecon, an Internet services company based in St. Louis, MO, which was purchased by Perficient (Austin, TX) in April 2002.
Tri Nguyen
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Tri Nguyen serves as outside legal counsel to Cognovi Communications LLC. He advises clients on general business, corporate and real estate transactional matters. As managing shareholder of Tri Nguyen Law Office PC (TNLO), Mr. Nguyen forms business entities, assists in the purchase and sale of businesses and real estate, and reviews, drafts and negotiates contracts and agreements. Prior to starting his law office, Mr. Nguyen was an associate in the corporate and securities section of a nationally-recognized law firm.
Mr. Nguyen graduated with top honors and earned his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston. He is a member of the Texas Bar Association, Houston Bar Association and the Downtown Chapter of BNI Houston. He also serves on the board of directors of the Houston Asian American Bar Association. While in law school, he served as co-founding member and Chief Articles Editor of the Houston Business and Tax Law Journal.
Gadi Pollack
Gadi Pollack has a business background in wholesale distribution, banking, insurance and investments at management positions from bank branch manager through VP Sales to COO. His broad experience, close client relationships and unique insights enable Gadi to objectively assess client situations.
Gadi helps companies maximize their human capital by mentoring highly intelligent technically proficient executives with C-level potential. He also creates and manages meaningful value-based strategies and aligns those with the organization’s vision, values, strategy, people, and processes. He currently hosts a weekly television program on the Houston Business Channel.
Gadi has conducted seminars at University of Houston, Houston Baptist University, Society of Professional Women in Petroleum and with the American Institute of Architects. He’s also Vice Chairman of the prestigious Ambassador Program of the Greater Houston Partnership where he has been instrumental in developing a mentoring program for partnership members.
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