Make noise. Get noticed.

Chairman of the Board

Spike

What you do at BlackWing: Make Noise. Get Noticed. Hometown: North Woods. What you do for fun: Make holes. Music you like: Percussion. Favorite food: Termites. Special expertise: Entomology. Forestry. Pneumatics. Why you get out of bed and come to work: “Chicks dig woodpeckers.”

President and Executive Creative Director

Jonathan Butts

What you do at BlackWing: Help bring amazing ideas to life.

Hometown: Kansas City, KS.

What you do for fun: Shoot photos, play with my kids, ride motorcycles, cheer on the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas Jayhawks.

Most interesting thing you’ve ever done: Wrestle a Bengal tiger.

Music you like: J-Pop, Punk, and Robot Music.

Favorite authors: Milan Kundera, Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, Steven Brust, George R. R. Martin, China Mieville, Neil Gaiman.

What gets you out of bed in the morning: I get paid to learn interesting things and be creative. What a gig!

Account Director

Stephanie Cooper

What you do at BlackWing: It’s my job to ensure our team delivers the best possible work — and business results — for my clients.

What you do for fun: Mini golf, snow skiing, cribbage, casino gambling, walking my 125-pound bull mastiff puppy, Gracie.

Music you like: Oldies, Janis Joplin, Jack Johnson, Guns N Roses, old country.

What gets me out of bed in the morning: The pace, the challenge, being around creative minds.

Inspiration: “The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.” — Walt Disney.

Favorite creative: Ragu – “Long Day of Childhood.”

Director of Video and Motion Media

Tim Hodgson

What you do at BlackWing: Buy camera stuff.

Most interesting thing you’ve ever done: Trip to Moscow in 1989, Gorbachev era.

Music you like: Wings. What else is there?

What you’re passionate about: Travel (mostly Europe), two grandkids, church and charity groups, including sponsored kids in Rwanda and India.

What you like most about our business/your job: The blend of art and technology, interesting variety, always changing/never dull.

Famous person you look like: Jack Bauer. Exactly.

Inspiration: Don VanWyck, my 8th-grade art teacher. His enthusiasm about art was contagious.

Favorite quote: “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” – Douglas Adams

Design Director

Susie Murphy

What you do at BlackWing: Design Director (which means I Project Manage/Design/Produce and keep jobs flowing until they are fully baked and out the door).

Hometown: Lawrence, KS! Go Jayhawks!

Most interesting thing you have ever done: Committed to having children. It was no longer about me anymore and continues to always be interesting.

Favorite author: Rhonda Byrne.

Favorite movie(s): BoyHood blew me away (was filmed over 12 years). LOVE Patrica Arquette.

Famous person you look like: My daughter’s friend told me I that I look like Hillary Duff the other day. Maybe a mix of Hillary and Patrica Arquette. LOL

Special expertise: Interior Design, Gold Leaf (Gilding), and anything I put my focus on.

Hobbies: Home improvement, pilates, riding my motorcycle, painting and cooking.

Senior Art Director

Dara Vann

What you do at BlackWing: I help conceptualize and execute designs.

Hometown: Oakland, CA.

What you do for fun: Family time with my amazing twins!

Most interesting thing you’ve ever done: I’m pretty boring.

Music you like: Hip-hop.

Favorite movies: Early 90’s horror flicks.

Favorite book: Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out by Marc Ecko.

Famous person you look like: Comedian Aziz Ansari.

Inspiration: My parents; they are refugees of Cambodia and started a new life here in America.

Inspirational words:  “Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso.

CEO and Chief Creative Strategist

Gary Meyers

What you do at BlackWing: Responsible for overall agency direction and creative output.

Hometown: Hermosa Beach, CA.

Most interesting place visited: Zambia, Africa.

Fun: Cycling, Pacific Ocean waves, fly fishing, cribbage, books, darts, Washington Reds.

What you like most about our business: The never-abating fascination of working with a variety of people in a diversity of businesses.

What gets you out of bed: Asphalt-black coffee.

Favorite Authors: Ivan Doig, Hunter S. Thompson, David Sedaris, Ray Bradbury, Cormac McCarthy.

Inspirational quote: “Seize this very moment — Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” — Goethe.

Favorite creative: Google and Arcade Fire. “The Wilderness Downtown.”

Account Director

Kathleen Hart

What you do at BlackWing: I’m an account director in our Bay Area office.

Hometown: Oregon, Ohio.

Music you like: Folk, Alternative, 80s.

Most interesting thing you have ever done: Ran the Boston Marathon.

Favorite author: Tom Robbins.

Favorite movie(s): Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, The Martian.

Famous person you look like: Amy Adams (so I’ve been told but I don’t see it!).

Special expertise: Carrot cake maker.

Hobbies: Running, hiking, skiing, volleyball.

Guilty pleasure: Right now, watching Scandal.

Junior Copywriter

Samira George

What you do at BlackWing: A writer obsessed with sentence structure and being bothered by bad copy.
Hometown: Davis, CA.
Most interesting thing you have ever done: Toured the Catacombs of Paris.
Favorite author: William Faulkner
Favorite movie(s): Reservoir dogs, Citizen Kane, The Lobster
Famous person you look like: I’ve been told I look like Jennifer Lawrence when she starred in the Hunger Games.
Special expertise: I can speak Arabic.
Hobbies: If I’m not reading a book you’ll find me hanging from a rock or back country skiing.

Interactive Developer

Tim Taricco

What you do at BlackWing: Everything and anything digital.

Special expertise: WordPress guru.

What you do for fun: Little League baseball coaching, craft brew tasting.

Most interesting thing you’ve ever done: Lived in Copenhagen for 5 weeks in 2006 with my wife and 2 young boys.

Other skills outside work: Home improvement, technology guru.

Music you like: Anything but country.

Favorite movie: “Shawshank Redemption.”

Hobbies: Facebook. Technology exploration.

What you like most about your job: The team environment.

Famous person you look like: Stephen Colbert.

Inspiration: “One more thing.” — Steve Jobs.

Production Director

Gina Markovich

Hometown: Tacoma, WA.

After work fun: Theatre, spa time, love doing VO on old-time radio shows.

Music you like: Anything with a good beat.

Food you like: Indian, Vietnamese.

What you’re passionate about: Animal rights.

Famous person you look like: Kristen Vangsness (so I am told).

Words to live by: “What’s done cannot be undone.” – Shakespeare, Lady McBeth Act 5, scene 1, 68.

How you picked the creative industry to work in: I was truly inspired in high school when I joined the yearbook committee.

Guilty pleasure:  Binge watching.

Associate Creative Director

Charlie Worcester

Your role at BlackWing: Listener, critical-thinker, problem-solver, firefighter, occasional miracle worker.

Music: Pink Floyd, hip-hop, 90’s grunge, Pink Floyd, classical, 80’s pop, Pink Floyd, blues, indie rock, and Pink Floyd.

What you’re passionate about: I’m a long-time, long-suffering Seattle sports fan.

Hobbies: None, I’m a parent.

What you like most about our business/your job: The challenge of a really good marketing problem, and collaborating with great people to find a solution.

Creative inspiration: I find inspiration everywhere. There’s an explosion of incredible art, film, design and music online — you just need to know where to look.

Senior Copywriter

Phil Herold

What you do at BlackWing: Copy of every flavor imaginable.

Hometown: Seattle, WA.

Favorite Movie: “Casablanca”

Music: Polka.

Food: Vegan.

What you’re passionate about: Football (not the American variety).

Hobbies: Hiking, coaching sports.

What gets you out of bed in the morning: Unraveling complex, thorny, technical-writing challenges.

Inspiration: My children.

Office Manager

Sharan Ochsner

What I do: Collect money, dole out money.

Hometown: Howard Beach, NY.

Favorite music: Classical, classic rock.

Favorite Book: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

Inspiration: “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew.” — Albert Einstein.

Favorite Ad of all time: Mean Joe Green Coca Cola Superbowl Ad.

Production Manager

Willem Buys

What you do at BlackWing: Creative production, internal IT (“Willem, my mac is so slow”).

Hometown: Amsterdam.

What you do for fun: Bike riding, urban exploration and stair hiking.

Most interesting thing you’ve ever done: Spent a summer in a Spanish love commune.

Music you like: Downbeat, groove, dub, reggae.

What you’re passionate about: Common sense.

What you like most about your job: The smell of an early morning crisis, followed by calm analysis and, eventually, an elegant solution.

Favorite creative: “A dramatic surprise on a quiet square” – TNT Television.

Account Director

Mary Kate Baker

What you do at BlackWing: Client services. Daily communication with clients in a wide range of industries, from espionage to power plants to healthcare.

Hometown: Nashville, TN.

Most interesting thing you’ve ever done: Lived in Vienna, Austria.

Other skills outside work: Interior design, baking.

Favorite food: Fried anything.

Famous person you look like: I’ve been told Julia Roberts.

Inspiration: No question – my mom. She raised four kids while working full time in a very demanding position. It sounds so cliché but she is my support system and role model.