Agent16 is filled with an arsenal of superb marketers, creative stars, digital achievers and strong account managers. While most were trained at global super-shops, each is equipped with an entrepreneurial, can-do mindset.
It’s a culture built carefully from the ground up, over time, and with great heart. A team of overachievers driven to change clients’ businesses for the better.
Bill Brown – Chief Executive Officer
Bill Brown is a builder. Prior to founding Agent16, he was CEO of Mezzina Brown & Partners, an agency he founded in 1991 and which he grew to over $100 million in billings, serving world-class clients like Disney, DuPont, R.J. Reynolds, The Washington Post Company and Goldman Sachs.
Bill also spent 12 years in account management at Young & Rubicam, ultimately serving as Senior Vice President, Group Director. There, he mastered the rigors of Procter & Gamble, the intricacies of JP Morgan Chase and the nuances of AOL Time Warner. Before that, he was an account manager at BBDO, designing successful programs for General Electric, Scott Paper and Campbell’s Soup, developing unerring instincts about advertising, sales promotion and new product development.
He has served on the Board of Governors of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and has been a director of the Boy Scouts of America Manhattan Council. His pro bono work for the Yale School of Music is a particular passion since he’s also a consummate jazz pianist.
Bill is a graduate of Colgate University and, aided by his wife’s keen eye, has meticulously restored an early 20th century country home in the lush hills of Connecticut.
Ron Burkhardt’s relentless drive for excellence inspires clients and staff alike, and his entrepreneurial energy has created one celebrated branding success after another.
After founding blue-chip ad agencies Burkhardt & Christy and Burkhardt & Partners in New York, Ron’s innovative creative won an array of prestigious clients such as BMW Motorcycles, Sony, Falcon Jet, BellSouth, Time-Warner Music, Volvo, Sephora, Heineken, Bulova, Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks, Rangers and Yankees. While he was at it, he even named the Sony Handycam.
Beyond winning over 200 awards, creating Super Bowl spots and feature films for the Independent Film Channel, Ron has designed websites, digital campaigns and developed reality TV programming expected to launch in 2012.
Fusing visceral and rational appeals, Ron enjoyed early acclaim as a writer/Creative Director at several world-class ad agencies, including Young & Rubicam, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Lowe. His list of clients reads like a Who’s Who of Fortune 500 marketers - Citibank, Sony, Kodak, Olympus, Philips, BellSouth, General Foods, Coke, Minolta, Olympus, USA Today and Merrill Lynch. Interactions with these high-profile brands taught Ron how to form enduring bonds between products and consumers, and how to orchestrate team dynamics.
Understanding the value of giving back, Ron lends his time and talents to many pro bono causes such as the New York City Mayor’s Office and the Children’s Cancer and Blood Foundation. Burkhardt also revitalized the Miss America Pageant as Branding/TV Chair, while serving for 7 years on the Board of Directors.
Ron originated two contemporary American art forms and, as an abstract artist, knows the power of symbolism. He splits his rare spare time between his homes in Southampton, NY and Laguna Niguel, CA where his passions include tennis, motorcycling, karate, and touring coastlines in an exotic convertible.
Bob Manni — President
Bob Manni is the complete marketing professional, having risen to management positions on both sides of the client-agency equation. Today he dedicates that knowledge and experience to the varied tasks of solving our clients’ most difficult problems, maintaining the highest quality agency output and ensuring that the agency’s momentum never slows. Oh, and as if that were not enough to keep a man busy, he recently published his first novel, The Guys’ Guy’s Guide to Love about life in advertising’s fast lane (www.robertmanni.com ).
Bob’s agency experience includes stints at some of New York’s most successful firms, including Young & Rubicam, Ammirati Puris Lintas and Margeotes Fertitta & Partners. He’s led agency teams in the creation of business-building advertising and marketing programs for such household names as KFC, Chef Boyardee, Pam cooking spray, Bacardi and Stolichnaya vodka.
On the brand side, Bob has managed business for Nabisco, Renfield Importers and America Online, to name a few. Always strategically driven and results-oriented, Bob’s management approach helped those companies meet and exceed objectives time and again.
Bob, who holds an MBA from Pace University, splits his time between Manhattan and Ocean Grove, N.J. Besides his newfound avocation as a novelist, Bob is a Reiki Master and Teacher and an advanced clinical Master Hypnotist.
John Short – Creative Director
John Short is a creative talent whose breadth embraces classic advertising, packaging, brand architecture, digital development, and fine art executed in pencil and oils. Over the years, he’s applied these skills in the service of such blue-chip clients as Gillette, Pepsi and 3M at agencies like BBDO and Lintas. John also spearheaded the creative team that propelled Lee Iacocca and the New Chrysler Company to one of the most startling turnarounds in the history of American business.
John’s success as co-creative leader on IBM’s launch of the ground breaking ThinkPad fueled his ambition to strike out on his own. As head of his own agency, he proceeded to create award-winning advertising for such well-known brands as Heineken, Panasonic, Lexmark and Marcal Paper. His 100th anniversary commercial for Johnson & Johnson is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
True to his early roots, having grown up on beautiful East Coast beaches, John thrives in the sea, enjoying swimming and surfing. In addition, his dedication to running enables him to burn calories at a high rate so he can indulge his enjoyment of fine cuisine and great wines. John is an honors graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts.
Chris Abelt — Director of Client Services
Perhaps the most important service an account manager can bring to a client is sound business judgment and crisply focused thinking. Add to those skills a current knowledge of the latest in digital marketing and you’ve just described Chris Abelt.
With both client and agency experience, and experience running his own business, Chris understands his clients’ key issues and offers sound counsel to help meet their objectives. His varied background includes a strong stint with Doyle Dane Bernbach and work for blue-chip clients like Bank of America, General Mills, American Airlines, Volkswagen, and Aetna Insurance. He also served as VP/Marketing for Met Life’s Institutional Business Division.
Chris, who lives in Manhattan with his wife and son, earned his MBA from Miami University of Ohio. As a native of Chicago and life-long Cubs fan, he is an eternal optimist. When he doesn’t have a fishing pole in his hands, Chris enjoys running, skiing and golf.
Jennie Brown - Chief Operations Officer
Jennie Brown knows all sides of the agency business. She’s been a TV reporter and news anchor for an NBC affiliate, worked in the advertising department of a major Midwest retailer, and as an Executive Producer for one of Houston’s up-and-coming agencies. She has also served as a freelance TV commercial producer for some of New York’s best major agencies.
Along the way, she learned a great deal about how a business operates. In fact, she ran her own design firm for several years before returning to the advertising business, where she now provides Agent16 with operations support in finance, administration office services and technology.
Jennie earned a BA in journalism at the University of Texas, Austin, and enjoys golf, gardening and caring for her two crazy Scotties. She’s also mastered the fine art of cooking!
Sherille Jonas, Manager, Studio Services
After all the meetings, the revisions to the creative brief, the shoot, and the Creative Director’s inevitable angst—our work product falls into the hands of a professional we completely trust, Sherille Jonas. Sherille is our sine qua non. An experienced graphic designer, production manager, technical know-it-all and island of calm in our whirling world, she makes our advertising perfect and perfectly placed in the media every time. She’s worked for some of New York’s leading ad agencies including Y&R, Ogilvy and Kaplan Thaler as well as publishing houses Macmillan and Random House. Her education includes studies at New York University, School of Visual Arts and New York City College of Technology. When she can get away from her books, Sherille enjoys the theater, music and exercise—though she says that’s not happening much these days!
Keith Thrower - Controller
Within Agent 16’s world of abstractions Keith Thrower is a breath of fresh air. He¹s actually quite grounded in reality. And in this business, keeping the trains running on time is no easy task. With finance, administration and information technology responsibilities, Keith has a lot to keep track of. Prior to joining the agency he was the Senior Accountant for Pinnacle Business Management, Inc.‹an entertainment business management firm.
A native of California, he is a graduate of the University of Phoenix where he earned his degree in Business Management and Accounting. An overall student of life, Keith enjoys travel and studying foreign culture and, for exercise, biking and tennis occupy much of his free time.
