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.

She gives me attitude. We butt heads. And now she has more control than ever. I’m excited to announce that Jen Campbell has been named Creative Director.

Anyone who knows anything about ELEVATE knows that Jen has been an important part of our success since the beginning. She’s worked hard right beside me, pouring her sweat and creativity into this venture. And she’s proven her skill, drive and enthusiasm time and time again.

Sure, I could talk about how Jen has done and continues to do exceptional work for Adena Health, Pierre Foods, OhioHealth, CSCU, Lilly, Depuy, 5-Hour Energy, McDonald’s and many others. Blah blah blah. What matters is that we’ve unleashed her as a creative director, and I can’t imagine anyone I would rather have in this position.

In her new role, Jen takes responsibility for leading creative and strategy (of course I’ll be adding my two cents). If I were writing a press release I’d say something like, “She’ll be utilizing her talents to maximize the design segment of all client initiatives while also managing the design team through all projects.”  But what she’s really doing is cracking the whip and helping keep our work at the highest standards.

Jen’s move into this position shows how the ELEVATE philosophy works for our people and our company. We do more than just bring in the right people – we provide an environment where they can continue to learn, grow and advance.

Learn more about Jen, her love of color and probably even a little about her dogs at @chromaphile

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

Adena Health System, headquartered in Chillicothe, Ohio has signed a three year contract with ELEVATE to serve as their agency of record. We’re excited about the partnership and look forward to providing Adena with strategy, brand implementation, advertising, media buying, public relations support, marketing and communication support.

Adena’s commitment to quality and affordable healthcare provided by community based physicians and nurses is unmatched. Our goal is to share this message and confidence with the residents of the 32 counties Adena serves.

Adena Health System is a fully accredited, acute care, not-for-profit hospital serving more than 160,000 people in 32 towns in Ross and 10 contiguous counties. The Adena Medical Group, comprised of more than 150 physicians, includes primary care, surgery and internal medicine specialists. With five Centers of Excellence and the mission of ‘To Heal. To Educate. To Care.’ Adena works to raise the healthcare bar of southern Ohio.

We’ll continue to share our growth with Adena as we identify the audience segments, how best to connect with those audiences and the best messages to truly engage those audiences.

We are thrilled to announce and welcome Kim Miller as director of client services. Kim brings more than nine years of experience developing, leading and executing public relations, marketing, community relations and corporate communication programs. Her intense passion for the business and down to earth mind set truly makes her a natural fit within our group.

The addition of Kim allows us to extend our current offering to better serve our clients. She will be responsible for client satisfaction serving in an account management role and heading up public relations and communication programs.

Kim’s versatile background includes work in the healthcare, food and public service industries, as well as profit, nonprofit and agency work spanning from one of Columbus’ largest healthcare systems to a leading quick-casual bakery and bistro. Her roles included government relations strategist, crisis communication manager, internal and external communication campaign developer, community engagement specialist and more.

Kim’s strategic thinking and leadership will be key to the growth and development of ELEVATE. Her talent will continue to introduce us to new opportunities and we look forward to growing this entity of our business to better engage consumers and excite clients. To learn more about Kim and connect with her, follow her on twitter @kjlmiller