Starting with the agency in 1993 as senior art director, Jennifer Appleby quickly moved up the ranks to creative director, garnering top industry awards along the way. She now serves as president and chief creative officer, spreading her enthusiasm, focus and creative thinking to all areas of the organization. Prior to joining Wray Ward, Jennifer served in creative leadership positions for several prominent Charlotte agencies. Her account experience is extremely broad, ranging from huge banks to cool soft drinks.
Jennifer is passionate about giving back to the community, and our agency has contributed thousands of hours in pro bono campaigns to causes such as United Way of Central Carolinas, Goodwill Industries, the Arts & Science Council and many more. In keeping with this philosophy, Jennifer serves on numerous community boards including the Arts & Science Council, Goodwill Industries and Charlotte Center City Partners. Meanwhile, she remains intimately involved in building our clients’ brands, bringing a keen sensibility to one initiative after another and actively engaging in the work of every department.
Named 2008 Business Woman of the Year by Queens University’s McColl School of Business, she has won the Charlotte Ad Club’s Silver Medal Award, the Women in Communications’ ACE award and the Charlotte Business Journal’s Women in Business Achievement Award.
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As head of Strategic Planning at Wray Ward, Kent puts his 15 years of experience to work overseeing strategic communications, helping our clients to deftly maneuver through an ever-changing market. Before joining the agency, Kent worked on brands including Michelin, Mr. Coffee, McDonald’s Restaurants and Coca-Cola, Ray’s Splash Planet, and the Charlotte Chamber. A graduate of Miami University in Ohio, he earned a B.S. degree in business with a major in marketing and a minor in decisions sciences.
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For more than 25 years, Charlie Elberson has been developing, building and stewarding brands. With his tireless energy and easy-going style, he provides expert guidance to our clients and staff, making sure brands maintain the strong identity and integrity that set them apart from competing products. Before coming to Wray Ward, Charlie headed up Charlotte marketing communications company Elberson Partners for 12 years. Prior to moving to Charlotte, he worked with Leber Katz Partners (now FCB) and Young & Rubicam in New York, working on projects ranging from introducing the Peanuts campaign for MetLife and Prego spaghetti sauce to working with RJR Nabisco and AT&T international telecom. A native of Winston-Salem, Charlie has been heavily involved in the Charlotte community, serving on boards including United Way of the Central Carolinas, Museum of the New South, Afro-American Cultural Center, Council for Children, Nevins and LifeSpan. He also serves as the primary trustee and advisor for the Reemprise Foundation within the Foundation for the Carolinas.
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As head of the Wray Ward public relations group, Mark is deeply involved in setting strategic direction for client public relations programs and in assuring that client goals are met through a broad array of tactical areas, from news media relations to special events. He is also actively involved in serving as Public Relations team leader and counsel for a number of clients. Prior to joining Wray Ward, Mark served in corporate public relations for Bank of America, Springs Industries, Policy Management Systems and the University of South Carolina. He also managed his own public relations practice for several years. He has worked with clients in a wide range of industry sectors including financial services, healthcare, textiles, education, packaged goods, energy and telecommunications. Mark began his career as a newspaper reporter in Greensboro and Charlotte after earning a degree in journalism, magna cum laude, from the University of South Carolina.
Since joining Wray Ward in 1997, Sue Tatge has made it her mission to ensure that our media department has the talent and technology to rival any national agency. She strongly believes in providing a wide array of creative media solutions that span traditional and nontraditional media, and she tightly integrates media solutions with each client’s strategic planning. She also believes in tough negotiation, and our media department consistently achieves amazing added-value programs that are readily acknowledged by our clients.
Sue’s brand experience is extensive in consumer and business-to-business, and she oversees every media account our agency serves. Prior to joining Wray Ward, she worked for accounts including Bojangle’s, Duke Energy and Mannington Floors.
During his 20+ years in the creative field, John has acted as art director, creative director, photographer and film director. As creative director of Wray Ward, he oversees creative work for every account the agency serves. He has applied his creative talents at nationally recognized advertising agencies such as Young and Rubicam in New York and TBWA/Chiat Day in St. Louis, leading national and international campaigns. He has also served clients such as Bank of America, Boatman’s Bank, Champion, Chock Full O’ Nuts, ESPN, First Union (now Wachovia), Heroes of Baseball Wax Museum, Husqvarna, PSI Net, Samsung, AT&T, Teleglobe, US West, WinStar Telecommunication and more. John’s work has been recognized in creative competitions and advertising award programs including the One Show, Archive, Addys, Effies, Art Direction Magazine and The NY Festivals.
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With more than 20 years of financial and operational experience in the agency world, Patricia Propst oversees all financial matters, operations and human resources for Wray Ward. She came to the agency in 2006 having helped build brands including Bojangles’, Thomas Built Buses, Presbyterian Healthcare and Carolinas HealthCare System. Patricia is vigilant about maintaining a strategic operational growth plan as well as making sure that our clients and employees continue to receive excellent care and service. With her incisive mind and effervescent manner, she brings both sense and sensitivity to managing the agency’s operations.
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Leading Wray Ward’s extensive digital capabilities, Bill Baker plays a key role in both formulating and achieving our clients’ objectives across the technological landscape. Helping to integrate digital strategies into all communications disciplines, he works closely with every service area from creative to public relations to account leadership. As a result, target audiences become highly engaged in our marketing communications through on-line strategies, apps, social networking and more. Bill has the additional talent of translating technical concepts and terminology into easy-to-understand language, making the digital world highly accessible. At Savannah College of Art and Design, Bill earned his B.F.A. with a double major in Design and Illustration. His well-honed design aesthetic enhances digital solutions for all of our clients.
In her 15 years of public relations experience, Heather Tamol has managed brand launches, news media relations, special events, crisis communications and employee relations for national, regional and local brands. At Wray Ward, she has worked with clients including the Arts & Science Council, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, Rack Room Shoes, Springmaid, Wamsutta, Pinkberry and Duke Energy.
A New York native, Heather began her career as a newspaper reporter before joining The Martin Public Relations Group in Richmond, VA, where she worked with brands including the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Columbia/HCA Hospital and Allied Signal. She also spent time in the sports marketing arena, helping clients including Hendrick Motorsports, UPS, Bank of America and AT&T leverage their Olympic and NASCAR sponsorships through public relations and events.
Heather holds a bachelor’s degree from Binghampton University (NY) and earned her master’s degree in public relations from Rowan University (NJ). Named to the Charlotte Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, Heather is a graduate o the Arts & Science Council’s Cultural Leadership Training program and is on the Board of Trustees for Discovery Place. She is a volunteer classroom instructor for Junior Achievement.
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Tracy has nearly 20 years experience in public relations and journalism, including over a decade with Wray Ward. He joined the department after a career as a business newspaper reporter and an independent public relations counselor. Steadily guiding his clients’ brand building strategies, he has served numerous accounts including Carolinas HealthCare System, Reznick Group, Humane Society of Charlotte, INVISTA, Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson, Strayer University, VELUX and WFAE. Tracy’s prior experience includes communications positions with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and The Charlotte Observer. A graduate of East Tennessee State University with a B. S. in journalism, he comes from Johnson City, Tenn.
John joined Wray Ward’s public relations practice in 2006 eager to tackle clients’ communication challenges in an integrated marketing environment. His management of programs for industry leader WIX Filters and challenger brand Chicago Pneumatic has built brand awareness and supported sales efforts to targeted trade audiences. He has also served Atlas Copco and Affinia Group. Prior to joining Wray Ward, John managed critical media relations issues for the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Prior to that, he worked with clients such as EarthLink, Sun Microsystems, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Mama Fu’s. John earned a bachelor’s degree in communication, with an emphasis in public relations, from Mississippi State University. A military kid, he has adopted Charlotte as his hometown.
With eight years as a newspaper reporter, Mike brings a journalist’s perspective to his work, strategically positioning brands to the media. He works with a wide array of accounts including Charleston Cookie Company, GreenFiber, Humane Society of Charlotte, Norelli & Company and Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson. A native of Syracuse, NY, Mike graduated from Canisius College with a bachelor’s degree in communications studies.
Instrumental as senior writer on Huber Engineered Woods, Springs Global and WIX Filters, Scott Ellmaker also oversees creative for numerous agency accounts. In guiding the development of campaigns, collateral and interactive efforts, he brings 14 years of experience to bear along with a constant, subtle wit. A graduate of the Portfolio Center and Florida State University, Scott was the cameraman for the Seminole’s Sports Information Department before heading to Dallas to work on BMW, Celllular One and T.G.I. Friday’s. Subsequently in Atlanta, he added MacGregor Golf, Papa John’s Pizza and Suntory Water to his portfolio. He has garnered numerous creative awards including Best of Show in the Charlotte Addy Awards, numerous National Addys and a New York Festival International Advertising Award, and he was a finalist in The Olive Awards, sharing that elite post with writers from some of the nation’s largest agencies.
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Ryan Coleman brings more than 12 years of broadcast, print and interactive experience to his creative work for our clients including Crescent Communities, Glen Raven/Sunbrella, Springs Global, and VELUX. He has also served the Charlotte Bobcats, Cheerwine and Rack Room Shoes.
Ryan has worked at agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi/New York, McKinney Silver and BooneOakley for brands including Audi, Ben & Jerry’s, Continental Tire, General Mills, NASCAR, Paramount Parks, Raycom Sports, Speed Channel and Starbucks. His work has been honored with awards in The One Show, Communication Arts, Cannes International Advertising Festival and the National Addys.
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Having joined the agency in 1986, Barbara has written for an impressive variety of clients in over 30 years in the business such as AmWINS, Carolinas HealthCare System, Duke Energy, Huber Engineered Woods, Springs Global and Transamerica. Barbara’s love of learning and fascination with the mind led her to earn her masters degree in human development and her PhD in clinical psychology, and she enjoys bringing acute curiosity and an analytical sensibility to every client. She graduated cum laude from Hollins University where she received her B.A. in English, received her master’s from UNCC, and her doctorate from Pacifica Graduate Institute.
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Combining astute analysis with an easy-going style, Aldo is often a leading force in creating brand-building strategies for his clients. He is also known for building synergistic relationships that elicit the best ideas from clients and creative teams alike. With over 17 years in the industry, Aldo has worked with brands such as Caesars Palace, California Lottery, Hewlett Packard, Interim Healthcare, Motorola, Nike, Polaroid, Princess Cruise Lines and Sunbrella. Originally from Brooklyn, he began his career on the West Coast where he worked with companies including GREY Advertising and Warner Brothers in Los Angeles. He graduated from California State University with a degree in marketing.
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In her low-keyed fashion, Dana brings unsurpassed thoroughness to her work for ASC, Hanson Building Products, Strayer Universtiy and VELUX. Her conscientious attention to detail comes from 10 years as a newspaper reporter – a career that brought Dana from California to Georgia to North Carolina. A graduate of the University of California, Davis with a bachelor’s degree in political science she is from Turlock, Ca.
