senior team
Experience and Proven Success
Rick Barnum
Chief Executive OfficerBesides running the day-to-day operations at RBG, Rick is the driving force behind many of the agency's most successful campaigns. His expertise includes deep strategy and micro-analytics, precise creative review and alignment, progressive brand building to dominate in the marketplace, account planning to drive predictable results, and consultant level financial modeling.
Rick's executive level background includes: Senior Partner and COO of FMG Marketing-a full service, mid sized advertising agency where Rick founded the Health Care Practice; Chief Executive Officer of promoteam.com-an on-line marketing, print fulfillment, and corporate promotional products company; and VP of Sales and Marketing of Turner Corporation-a national consumer products manufacturing company.
Rick's experience includes building dominant brands and generating dramatic ROI for industry leaders such as CVS Pharmacy, Longs Drugs, Dollar General, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, Abbott Laboratories, Sears, Target, Clarisonic, TRIA Beauty, Duraflame, Varian Medical Systems, Siemens Medical, Thermage, BriteSmile, Ocular Sciences, Chevron Texaco, Comcast, 24 Hour Fitness, Insound Medical, Kelly-Moore Paints and over 100 others.
Gem Swartz
Vice President – Director of Client ServicesGem has extensive experience managing multi-disciplinary agency teams and spearheading strategic marketing initiatives on behalf of regional, national, and international clients. Her in-depth experience in developing new brands and repositioning existing brands has provided clients with a unique marketing platform that has successfully propelled them into the marketplace, gained widespread consumer acceptance and catapulted their business.
Her work on consumer and business-directed advertising programs consists of McKinsey-level consulting, multi-dimensional research, extensive campaign development, traditional and digital advertising program development, traditional and digital media strategy and management, and deep micro-analytics. She brings to RBG a "focus on excellence" for all client initiatives and an ability to provide ongoing high-level strategic consultation with an emphasis on performance measurement to achieve objectives, drive results, and maximize clients’ return on their marketing investment. Gem lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Dave.
Randall Fuller
Chief Relationship OfficerRandall Fuller, in the role of Chief Relationship Officer is responsible for the development and maintenance of strategic relationships for RBG. Prior to joining RBG, Randall held similar roles for Bomgar Corporation and Servigistics. Randall also ran the Verio Design Group and served as the Director of Sales and Marketing for Verio’s combined global enterprise level Web development and promotional group.
Randall also spent eight years in various sales and marketing management roles with ComputersAmerica, where he distinguished himself by winning numerous sales awards and working with the ownership implementing a state-of-the-art customer relationship organization that transformed the company. Randall has also performed in TV and radio commercials running in both local and national markets.
Raj Roychoudhury
Senior Vice President, Account ServicesRaj has over 14 years of experience in marketing and advertising with an emphasis on healthcare and consumer products. He spent seven years with Kimberly Clark, where he worked on all aspects of branding and consumer marketing, including the successful re-launch of two of the most-recognized brands, Kotex and Scott.
Raj was recruited to join KeraVision, where he successfully launched the first DTC campaign for a surgically implanted medical device. Raj joined Tyco Healthcare's Respiratory division as Global Marketing Director and was responsible for the DTC launch of the Helios Personal Oxygen system, the first DTC program in the Sleep Apnea category and several new integrated HCP programs. Raj has a MBA in Marketing and Finance from Indiana University.
Rory Phoenix
Creative DirectorRory is a multi-talented creative mind that has spent the last 25 years creating some of the most memorable advertising in television and print. He has won multiple awards in every advertising category and has rejuvenated brands into billion-dollar businesses. Rory is a health care expert and through his powerful words and concepts, has vaulted many brands to the forefront of market leadership, including Johnson&Johnson's OneTouch blood glucose meters.
For OneTouch, Rory started from the ground floor, developing the brand essence, tone of voice and communications platform which was subsequently translated through brochures, films, trade and web work based around the tagline "OneTouch changes everything." Rory created the engaging and award-winning television commercials featuring B.B. King and Patti Labelle, which drove tremendous results for Johnson&Johnson's LifeScan division.
Kurt Ho
Creative DirectorKurt Ho is an amazing artist who brings the unique combination of strategic vision and design excellence to each of his creative executions. Not only are Kurt's designs impactfully beautiful and elegant, but they also are grounded with marketing purpose.
Kurt has won many design awards in his 10 year career, and has worked with some of the world's largest multi-national clients, including Abbott Diabetes Care, Mentor Corporation, Heineken Beer, Kelly-Moore Paints, Nestle's, HSBC, 24-Hour Fitness and many other health care and retail clients. Kurt received his bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California and did his post-graduate studies at the prestigious Art Center School of Design in Pasadena, California.
Jacob Meggers
Associate Creative DirectorJacob is a life-long artist who has been honing his award-winning design and illustration skills throughout his near 20-year career. Schooled in the traditional art-direction techniques of the pre-computer era, Jacob brings a fresh and unique perspective to every artistic challenge. Jacob's approach to developing powerful communications embodies RBG's impactful simplicity philosophy.
His expertise includes executions for internationally renowned clients such as Hewlett Packard, UPS, Sony, BMG, Virgin, Kodak, Clairol, Paul Mitchell, Hyatt, Embassy Suites, Oral-B, and The Southland Corporation. Jacob's many recognitions include over 50 design, illustration, advertising and packaging awards from trade, design and consumer press associations.
Wayne Curello
Director of Brand StrategyWayne has helped shape the global brands and communications of numerous industry giants such as: Abbott Laboratories, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Nestle, Frito-Lay, Kraft, Visa, and AT&T. Wayne's strategic guidance, while at Ogilvy & Mather, McCann-Erickson, and Euro RSCG, has yielded seven EFFIE awards for marketing effectiveness.
For the past several years, Wayne has been helping companies better position their offerings, target their prospects, and align their internal teams to better meet customer needs. Wayne has an MBA from New York University and a BA from Princeton University in the (oxymoronic) history of modernization. He lives in the East Bay with his wife and two children. He loves the challenge of climbing mountains on his bike as well as helping clients achieve peak performance.
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