Shelton Group Leadership
The Shelton Group team comes from diverse backgrounds with the right experience to help you envision and create your next big thing, support your initiatives and execute change. See who’s in your corner.
SUZANNE SHELTON – CEO
Where Suzanne sees opportunity, you can bet results will follow. With 24 years of experience and vision in the advertising industry, Suzanne has led Shelton Group to become the nationally recognized, sustainability-focused ad agency that it is today.
As CEO of Shelton Group, she sets the vision for the company and ensures we’re delivering on our purpose and walking our talk. She also directly manages the development and growth of our business, speaks at over 20 conferences a year, blogs regularly on our website and works with our research team on our proprietary studies. She also supervises the agency’s leaders, supporting their efforts so that each department excels. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the industry, Suzanne provides unparalleled strategic insights for our clients from a bird’s eye view.
Education
B.S., Communications – University of Tennessee
ADAM KUSTIN – President
Adam leads and oversees all client work done by our Account Service, Strategy, Insight and Market Engagement departments. As Shelton Group’s strategy leader, he spearheads the development of marketing strategies and tactics that grow our clients’ businesses and help them gain a market advantage. Specifically, Adam is charged with ensuring that you are delighted with all aspects of our alliance.
After 10 years in corporate product and market development, Adam made the leap to the agency side, where he led a turn-around at a sports marketing company and transformed it into a niche strategy and sales development agency. Adam served as president of Kelley Swofford Roy, an 18-person agency in Miami, and vice president of Client Services at Starmark, a 60-person agency in Fort Lauderdale. Past client experience includes Sharp, University of Miami, Florida Prepaid College Board, Citrix, Miami-Dade Transit, Carrera Toys and Jackson Hospital System.
Education
M.B.A., Marketing – Tulane University
B.S., Finance – University of Florida
LEE ANN HEAD – VP Research
Lee Ann oversees all custom and proprietary research, including our Pulse studies. She directs a staff that designs quantitative and qualitative studies, and she oversees secondary analyses, digging deep to find the nuggets of information that pave the way for successful insights, strategies and creative. She regularly presents findings to clients and industry groups around the country.
Before joining Shelton Group in 2001, Lee Ann spent 11 years in the banking industry, learning customer segmentation, analysis and profitability. She also served as senior vice president of marketing for BankFirst, an $850 million multi-bank holding company. In that position, she was responsible for strategic planning, branding, advertising and corporate and customer communications.
Education
Master of Mass Communication, Advertising Management – University of Georgia
B.A., Communications – Shorter College
Training
Certificate of Proficiency in Qualitative Analysis – Burke Institute, 2006
Applied Research Methods – American Marketing Association, 2004
LARRY WASHINGTON — VP Creative
Larry’s role is to create the voice and vision that engage mainstream customers, consumers and employees. A true creative at heart, he is constantly searching for fresh ideas that jumpstart positive change – and maybe create a little indigestion for those who embrace the status quo. Within the Shelton Group, Larry works side-by-side with the entire agency to ensure our marketplace conversations are strategically sound and creatively unexpected.
Larry has worked up and down the East Coast leading the creative charge for big agencies, like Hill Holliday in Boston, and small ones, like Price McNabb in Charlotte. No matter where he’s been, building memorable campaigns and consumer conversations has been his passion. Larry’s past clients include Bojangles’ Restaurants, Dunkin’ Donuts, Fidelity Investments, John Hancock, Lowe’s, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the NBA Charlotte Bobcats, Spalding International, Springmaid, Top-Flite and Velux Skylights.
Education
B.A., Management – Freed-Hardeman University
Training
Advanced Degree, Art Direction – Portfolio Center
Awards
Larry has received national awards and recognition for his work from the ADDY Awards, Adweek, AdCritic, Archive, Creativity, Print and the Radio Mercury Awards.
PATRICK HUNT – VP Interactive
Patrick masterminds all interactive strategy, development and implementation. He specializes in user research (field observation, focus groups, surveys, etc.), online branding, product development, user experience design, and ease of use for websites, web and smartphone apps, and social media. Collaborating with our designers, developers and writers, Patrick seamlessly connects your vision with your target consumers’ needs, creating user-centered, market-leading online solutions.
Patrick has more than 20 years of experience as an executive and entrepreneur in marketing, design and technology. He is the former senior director of digital product development at EW Scripps Company and former VP of UX and product development at VarsityBooks.com. Before joining Shelton Group, he served as CEO of Modern Sprocket, a venture catalyst firm helping to launch new technology companies. In this role, he created and/or advised several exciting startups as well as serving as a consultant to leading technology and digital media companies such as AOL, Capital One, Fannie Mae, Scripps Networks Interactive, Simplexity, webMethods and Vovici.
Education
B.A., Political Science – University of Tennessee, Knoxville
PENNY KEMP – VP Account Management
In her current role, Penny leads the client engagement process, overseeing activities from both a strategic and a tactical level to ensure all programs meet their objectives and generate desired results. Penny provides a leadership role for Shelton Group’s client accounts by collaborating with each client partner; building consensus; developing strategic marketing plans and campaigns; identifying client growth opportunities; directing account activity; and supervising all project managers assigned to the account to ensure the project runs smoothly from start to finish.
Prior to joining Shelton Group, Penny was VP/Account Management at SRC/Bruner Atlanta, where she led teams focused on generating measurable results and achieving overall client satisfaction. She developed expertise in brand management and marketing while working with award-winning agencies such as The Martin Agency, Mullen and SRC/Brunner, where she shepherded programs for the likes of Ritz-Carlton Hotels, James Hardie Building Products and Russell Athletic.
Education
M.B.A – Mississippi State University
B.S., Marketing – Mississippi State University
TIM WIRTZ – Director of Public Relations and Client Partner
At Shelton Group, Tim fills two very important roles. As Director of Public Relations, Tim is responsible for securing earned media for clients, as well as for Shelton Group. He also works to develop and distribute the social media voice for both. Tim has more than 15 years of experience in the PR field and was at the forefront of the social media space. Prior to joining Shelton Group, he served as director of environmental communications for HY-brid, the sustainability division of Hoffman York in Milwaukee/Chicago. In addition to managing the division, he served as a social media strategist and oversaw other team members’ efforts as lead blogger and social media expert. Tim also developed the social media strategy for Focus on Energy, Wisconsin’s energy efficiency and renewable energy initiative.
As Client Partner, Tim serves as a bridge between Shelton Group and our clients to manage brand promises, direction and campaign cohesion. He provides a leadership role for Shelton’s client accounts by collaborating with each partner client to build consensus; develop strategic marketing plans and campaigns; direct account activity; and supervise all project managers assigned to the account to ensure the project runs smoothly from start to finish.
Education
B.A., Communications/Public Relations – University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
KATHY HAMILTON – VP Finance, Administration and HR
Kathy is responsible for managing all financial and administrative functions for Shelton Group, allowing us to provide exceptional client service in a seamless and timely manner. Kathy’s background as a CPA in both public and private sectors – as well as her extensive HR experience – ensures that both our personnel and management systems are top-notch.