Once again I have the privilege of announcing a great addition to the ELEVATE crew. I’ve said it before and you’re about to hear it again, we’re all about bringing the right people to the table, and Bill Black is another perfect example.

I’ve known Bill as a friend, adversary, colleague, and all-around stand-up individual for almost ten years. That’s why I know he’s the perfect fit as ELEVATE’s new Director of Business. Sure, he has the sort of professional experience any agency would want – roles in all areas of advertising, marketing and operations management; clients spanning finance, retail, hospitality and more; and critical account management and leadership skills. But more than that, he understands our culture, our passion, our values and the way we and I work (not an easy task).

Here’s the technical mumbo jumbo for what he’ll be doing at ELEVATE: Bill will be responsible for providing strategic leadership and helping manage day-to-day operations for the group. Along with developing new business relationships, he will also provide tactical direction across all client accounts.

What that means is Bill will be digging into projects and delivering results. I’ve seen him engage clients, involve them in the creative process and earn their trust. And I’m excited to watch him build on our recent growth and help take ELEVATE to the next level.

Welcome, Bill – we’re glad you’re here.

Learn more about Bill, his family and his incredible community involvement on twitter @jasperblack.

To read the “official” release –> click here

What started as a hunt for the most perfect, brilliant writer ever ended with ELEVATE bagging 183 pounds of free-ranging advertising man-monkey commonly known as Mike Rehfus.

Native to the wilds of Detroit, but well-acclimated to Columbus, Mike brings fierce brand, retail, promo and b2b chops to the crew along with vast experience with clients the likes of Coke, Blockbuster, UPS Store, Canadian Tire, Chase Bank, Eli Lilly and your Columbus Crew (to name a scant few).

Add to that a background in design and mix in hours (and hours) of stories from his former lives as a touring musician and owner of a coffeehouse, and it’s clear: Mike’s one of the most dangerous writers in Columbus and we’re damn proud to have him.

Give the man-monkey a follow on twitter @mike_rehfus – if you dare.

Now enjoy a little taste of the gun show!

Long story short: ELEVATE is growing and we need another brilliant writer who can keep up with Darren (good luck with that). Someone who can think on their feet, generate great ideas and make concepts real – sometimes with a deadline looming closer than you’d like. I won’t lie, it’s not an easy job. But you will be surrounded by a great group of people helping you do it – while having a blast.

So take a look around our site. If you think that you and your writing talent would be a good fit… then why haven’t we heard from you yet?

Send your resume and samples to writer@elevatethining.com.

What are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go!

This is a post I’ve wanted to write for more than a year. When I finally could, client meetings, workload – the usual stuff – pushed it back a couple more weeks. After all the delays, I’m excited to say that Heidi Kahrl has joined us as the studio director at ELEVATE.

I could talk all day about her talent and experience. Blah blah blah. But what’s really important is how rare it is to find people who “get it.” Heidi is one of those people. She’s in perfect alignment with ELEVATE’s philosophy, has an unbelievable work ethic and is dependable to a fault.

I worked with Heidi for several years prior to forming ELEVATE and I consider her a good friend that I hold in high regard. I know her ability to plan, organize and flat out get things done is going to be a benefit to our crew and clients. Add that to her personality, and she fits right in with the way we work.

Heidi will be challenged with keeping me on task (good luck), enabling Kim and her account team to focus on client relations, helping Darren prioritize and chasing Jared among many other things. It’s more than a full-time job, but she just has this way of making it look easy.

Get to know Heidi, learn about her upcoming wedding to the “stud” known as Ed and what’s happening with her house hunting explorations by giving her a follow on twitter @HK02.

Welcome Heidi.

Over the holidays at ELEVATE, our diets often consisted of cashews, generic licorice, beef sticks and, in Jared’s case, Pierre’s sandwiches. Which probably caused all of us to grow in a way that’s not necessarily health-conscious. But during that time the company was growing in a healthy way – in clients, projects, brain power, building size, employee counts and the list goes on.

While we may not be excited about our new waistlines, we are proud of ELEVATE’s growth. We started in 2009 with a petite client list that quickly expanded to include three AOR’s and many other clients and projects. It’s a trend that has already continued in 2010, starting off with two new business pitches within the first five days of the year.

And at one year old, we’re happy. At my daughter’s first birthday party, she was ecstatic with the cake that was as big as her head and the mounds of gifts our families gave to her. We are that happy. Maybe a little happier.

We’re anxious to be in the new space – of which the build-out is coming along very well. And we’re happy that two, talented people accepted offers to join our team (more on them later!)

ELEVATE is growing and we’re proud and happy, excited and anxious. Thanks for a great first year and here’s to an even better year #2.

I’m excited to welcome Amanda Parker to the studio. Her design skillz, talent and easy-going personality make her a perfect fit. And in her first few weeks, she wasn’t offended by Darren a single time – which is quite an accomplishment.

Before joining ELEVATE, Amanda was a web designer at Abercrombie. Along with her e-commerce projects there, she kept busy as a freelance designer. Her portfolio includes work for academic, fashion, fitness, music, theater, architecture and community service clients. After developing complete marketing systems for many of her clients, she’s comfortable designing and producing a variety of elements – from internal communications to print and outdoor advertising. This versatility comes in handy at ELEVATE, where she’s already shown her ability to jump into a variety of projects and help produce great work.

We’re focused on finding the right people to add to the dynamic here at ELEVATE. Amanda has the energy, attitude and hard-working ethic that matches our personality. Plus she brings a fully loaded music collection to add to the studio’s soundtrack.

Learn more about Amanda, her passion for design and what’s currently on her playlist by following her on twitter @aparkerdesign

We are excited to announce that Capital Health, a family owned and operated home health, nursing, assisted and independent living facility management company with 15 facilities, selected ELEVATE thinking to launch the branding and marketing campaign supporting their new cancer recovery centers. The partnership includes strategy, brand implementation, advertising, media buying, public relations support, marketing and communication support.

The Capital Health philosophy is to care for patients as they would their own family; and with that in mind, they are launching the first cancer recovery centers in the Midwest. The Centers will be located at the Capital Health facilities of the Oaks of West Kettering and the Carriage Inn of Steubenville.

The Cancer Recovery Centers are very forward thinking in their offering and we’re proud to support their care initiatives with brand development, marketing strategy and community and media outreach. This is an exciting relationship for us and marks the beginning of a long-term relationship.

The Cancer Recovery Centers are unique, state-of-the-art facilities at which cancer patients can recover and receive multidisciplinary care. The specially trained staff includes physical therapists, specialty nurses, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dieticians and counselors. The Centers put the patient first with available treatments such as aquatic therapy, nutrition programming, calorimetry therapy, symptom and pain management and other beneficial programs. The Cancer Recovery Center at the Carriage Inn of Steubenville opened Oct. 15 and the Cancer Recovery Center at the Oaks of West Kettering opened Oct. 21.

We’ve been going a hundred different directions lately, which is all good. Except there’s one thing that’s been on the top of my list that I just haven’t been able to get to — the introduction of Lisa Minken, our newest account director. She’s smart, talented and she can sing. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Lisa joins us from Opera Columbus where she served as director of marketing and public relations. But it’s more than her experience that brought her here. Once again, it’s all about relationships at ELEVATE. I’ve known Lisa for nearly ten years and I’m excited to work with her. Her personality, attitude and dedication fits right in with the rest of us.

Of course, her talents and skills are also a great fit. Her background includes work in healthcare, apparel, durable goods and propane industries, as well as profit, nonprofit and agency work. This is someone who knows how to provide amazing work in campaign development and implementation, event planning, community engagement and more.

Which is going to come in handy as she provides ELEVATE with stellar internal communication and project support on-the-ground at Adena. Well, not actually on-the-ground… We got her a chair on her third day. Along with adding another level of organization and account management to the group, we’re also proud that she’ll continue to support Opera Columbus while at ELEVATE.

Learn more about Lisa and ask her to sing you a song @LisaMinken

I’m excited to announce and welcome Darren Kautz to the group. Darren brings with him a decade of writing and creative experience. More than that, he brings a firmly established reputation as “that guy.”

Bringing Darren on board really highlights the ELEVATE philosophy of who we want to work with. It’s all about relationships. Sure, Darren is skilled at writing all sorts of communications from brochures and direct mail to print and broadcast. But he’s also someone I’ve now worked with at three organizations. His resume shows the talent, but my experience with him shows that he has a personality that fits our style.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of working with and being entertained by Darren, you should know that his background includes concepting and writing for clients in healthcare, automotive, retail and public service to name a few. His big ideas and well-crafted words will be put to good use, helping our clients deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. In the studio he will be a source of entertainment and a catalyst for lively discussions that will most likely stay within these walls.

Learn more about Darren and discover why he’s “that guy,” give him a follow on twitter @dubledex