Our world class team of branding experts is led by James Gregory. Jim, and his carefully chosen colleagues, represent years of wide-ranging experience as brand researchers, strategists, marketers and communicators.
Each client engagement is led by a principal who integrates all disciplines and services to provide complete solutions for our clients.
James Gregory — Chief Executive Officer
Russ Napolitano — Chief Operating Officer
Andrew Bogucki — Executive Creative Director
Larry Oakner — Managing Director, Strategy
Karl Barnhart — Consultant
Janice Bissell — Brand Director
Kristin Dafoe — Designer
Matthew Eaton — Brand Director
Beth Flom — Brand Director
David Garcia — Creative Director
Stephen Hooper — Production Manager
Renee Malfi — Brand Director
Brad Puckey — Director, Intelligence
Neil Wieloch, PhD — Research Director
Annick Wydooghe — Concept Development Director
James Gregory — Chief Executive Officer
One of the U.S. communications industry's recognized experts and leading advocates of corporate branding. As founder of CoreBrand, Jim has developed a proprietary three-tiered process that focuses on:
- Understanding of the brand and its meaning to different audiences
- Crafting the brand and the key messages it must communicate
- Measuring the brand and its effects on business performance
Jim speaks widely on the subject of corporate branding to both business and academic audiences. He has also authored four books: Marketing Corporate Image: The Company as Your Number One Product, Leveraging the Corporate Brand, The Best of Branding, and Branding Across Borders.
CoreBrand builds upon over 25 years of experience in analyzing the effects of strong brands on corporate performance. As CEO, Jim oversees all key strategic issues relating to the corporate brand. Over the years, he has developed a unique blend of creative and analytical expertise.
Jim created the Corporate Branding Index®, an annual research survey designed to capture vital reputation and financial statistics for CoreBrand's various measurement products. Such products include the CoreBrand® Analysis, which helps corporations and their agencies determine the return on investment for advertising and communications.
Russ Napolitano — Chief Operating Officer
Russ brings 25 plus years of classic branding experience working for such well respected advertising/branding firms as Ted Bates Worldwide, Gerstman+Meyers (now Interbrand), Bailey Brand Consulting and Wallace Church, Inc. For the past five years Russ was Vice President, Strategic Development, at Wallace Church, Inc. where he oversaw marketing, business development, strategy and was the executive leader for such clients as 3M, Boiron USA, Henkel/The Dial Corporation, Logitech, Merck, Nature's Path, Pfizer and SCA Tena.
Russ obtained his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University and his MBA in marketing and advertising from Baruch College in New York City. He is the author of articles published in Brand Packaging, Shelf Impact and Marketing News, the publication of the American Marketing Association and contributed a chapter, Packaging Can Be Your Best Investment, for Shopper Marketing, a book published by Kogan Page 2010. Russ as been a featured speaker at corporate branding summits around the globe and is a Distinguished Faculty Member with the In-Store Marketing Institute. Russ is past Chairman/Board of Trustees of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a previous Executive Board Member of Family Services of Montgomery County, PA.
As CoreBrand's Chief Operating Officer Russ will help to build and nurture relationships with Fortune 500 clients and other global organizations, develop and execute business strategies that will strengthen the firm's leadership position and provide assistance in helping the firm achieve targeted goals across all disciplines — research, strategy and design.
Andrew Bogucki — Executive Creative Director
Andrew directs all creative activities at CoreBrand. He has had much experience in the development of powerful, prominent brands, creating world-class design and identity systems for American Century, CreoScitex, The Weather Channel, Hitachi America, Standard Register, Ciba and Canadian National. Before joining CoreBrand, Andrew was Design Director at Interbrand Schechter, where he was integral in creating corporate identity systems for clients such as MCI, AC Delco, Delphi Automotive, MasterCard International and BankBoston.
Larry Oakner — Managing Director, Strategy
Larry Oakner has spent more than 30 years building brands, positioning companies and managing strategic branding projects. An accomplished educator and brand consultant, Larry has used his creative expertise to help communication professionals, product managers and corporate executives at more than three dozen Fortune 1500 companies implement their branding programs internally throughout their organizations. These include Caterpillar, Microsoft, Abbott Vascular, Dun & Bradstreet, Medtronic, Girl Scouts of USA, NewAlliance Bank, Organon, and ING to name a few.
In a career that includes integrated marketing and advertising as well as branding, Larry served as an advertising Creative Director.
Larry Oakner was also an adjunct professor in the Advertising and Marketing Communications Department at SUNY-Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. He holds a Master’s Degree in English, Cum Laude, from UCLA and is the author of And Now A Few Laughs From Our Sponsor: The Best Fifty Years of Radio Commercials (Wiley/Adweek, 2002).
Karl Barnhart — Consultant
As former President of CoreBrand, Karl is currently serving on CoreBrand’s board of advisors and consulting with the firm as a senior brand strategist. Karl holds the title of chief marketing officer for Brandt. He has worked with many prominent clients including Brandt, The Hartford, VF Imagewear, Cisco Systems, AT&T, American Century Investments, BearingPoint, Delphi Automotive, Ranger Boats, NASCAR, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, CN, Sensient Technologies, Aventis, Omron and MasterCard.
In addition to working at CoreBrand for more than 14 years, Karl was previously with the strategic branding firms Interbrand and Siegel & Gale. A frequent speaker on the power of branding, Karl has a B.S. in technical writing and editing from Carnegie Mellon.
Janice Bissell — Brand Director
As Brand Director at CoreBrand, Janice works with clients such as Cisco, Samsung, TransUnion and Methodist Healthcare Systems on custom measurement programs and strategic initiatives. Before joining CoreBrand, Janice was an Account Director at d/g* group (currently brandimage - Desgrippes & Laga), where she managed strategy and design projects for such clients as Coca-Cola, The Quaker Oats Company, The Limited Brands, Unilever, EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) and Allied Domecq. Prior to d/g*, Janice worked in creative and client services at The Doneger Group NYC.
Kristin Dafoe — Designer
Kristin, Alaskan born, grew up in Maine and moved west after meeting her husband at Syracuse University. As a designer in CoreBrand's LA office, Kristin contributes to the design and development of corporate identity programs, implementing brand communication systems and other print and online applications for clients such as APM Terminals, the Internet Society, MasterCard, Paramount Citrus, QBE, TIAA-CREF, and Time Inc.
Before joining CoreBrand, Kristin was a designer at Shook Kelley, where she designed identity programs and worked closely with architects and interiors designers to create environments that enabled consumers to experience and engage with brands directly. Clients included Harley-Davidson, Kraft Foods: Nabisco and Oscar Mayer, Cadbury, Buehler’s Fresh Foods, and Santa Monica Seafood.
Kristin earned her BFA in Communication Design at Syracuse University, with a minor in painting, as well as a minor in German from the University of Salzburg, Austria. In her spare time Kristin enjoys reading with her book club, biking to work, making improvements to her small California bungalow and traveling across the country and overseas to visit family.
Matthew Eaton — Brand Director
Matt brings nearly 15 years of experience marketing and branding some of the country's largest firms. As brand director, he leads creation and implementation of strategy, identity and integrated marketing programs. He has deep experience in the financial services, high tech and telecom industries guiding clients through marketing research and B2B and B2C branding efforts.
Before coming to CoreBrand, Matt was a Vice President at the the Boston-based consulting firm EMI. At EMI, he helped companies such as The Hartford and Wachovia, Bank of America, SSgA and HSBC define their brands, introduce newproducts and optimize their marketing channels.
Beth Flom — Brand Director
Beth brings nearly 20-years of experience branding, defining and re-defining organizations of all sizes and sectors to CoreBrand. As brand director, she is involved in the creation and implementation of strategy, corporate identity and communications programs.
Previously, Beth was managing partner and co-founder of Flag + Company, and served as a senior director at The Delve Group, a strategic branding firm focused on the B-to-B sector. An MBA graduate of the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, Beth is also a published author and experienced lecturer.
David Garcia — Creative Director
As Creative Director in our Los Angeles office, David leads major corporate identity programs, committed to creating distinctive and memorable designs that serve long-term client needs. In his years at CoreBrand, David has developed comprehensive identity programs for D&B, MasterCard, AT&T, Hoover’s, Toshiba and Sensient Technologies, overseeing sign and environmental programs as well as print and online brand management tools.
Before CoreBrand, David developed identity programs at Interbrand and Enterprise IG in New York, and Landor in San Francisco. He has also spent time at Larsen Design in Minneapolis where he designed print, environment and interactive projects. Originally from California, David graduated from California College of the Arts.
Stephen Hooper — Production Manager
With more than 20 years experience in brand consulting, Stephen brings a practical, roll-up-your-sleeves approach to the implementation of corporate identity and brand communications systems. Stephen tackles critical project deliverables including final artwork, templates, guidelines and other key production issues for both print and online projects.
Originally from Ireland, Stephen studied architecture at Yale. Before joining CoreBrand in 1998, Stephen was Production Manager at Interbrand and Siegel & Gale. Stephen currently works out of CoreBrand’s Los Angeles office.
Renee Malfi — Brand Director
With more than 15 years of branding experience, Renee specializes in developing and managing corporate identity implementation programs. Currently, Renee is directing the MasterCard identity System and the on-going implementation of various MasterCard programs. In addition, Renee has worked on the development of the AT&T Brand Center and The Hartford Brand Central websites, the launch of the Hoover’s brand identity, and led a range of other branding programs. Before joining CoreBrand, Renee was Senior Program Manager at Interbrand where she managed corporate identity programs for ACE Limited Insurance, GTE, General Motors, MasterCard and Aramark.
Brad Puckey — Director, Intelligence
Brad has 15 years of intelligence analysis experience in both the U.S. Army’s National Security Agency and at CoreBrand. Brad has been responsible for the development and building of the Corporate Branding Index from inception in 1990 through to the present. He is also responsible for the development of computer-based models used to quantify the relationships that exist between communications investment, corporate brands and financial performance. Brad has worked with clients such as GE, Lucent Technologies, Bristol-Myers Squibb, International Paper and many others. Brad currently directs projects for Cisco Systems, Pitney Bowes, Union Pacific, United Technologies and Convergys.
Neil Wieloch, PhD — Research Director
At CoreBrand, Neil directs custom quantitative and qualitative research projects that drive brand communications strategies for business growth. Neil builds his work on: ten years advanced academic training, research, teaching and publishing in the rigors of qualitative and quantitative methodologies for the social and behavioral sciences; five years strategic consulting experience; and six years branding, marketing and advertising management experience.
Neil has conducted custom brand research for CPG, healthcare, entertainment, B2B and consumer clients and has advised the communications for such global brands as: Kraft, Nestle, Warner Bros., Hasbro, General Mills, Symantec, NewsCorp, and Atari.
Annick Wydooghe — Concept Development Director
As Concept Development Director, Annick has been involved in designing identity systems for Vantrix, RSM, Delphi, American Family, Waterkeeper Alliance, and D&B. Her strong creative vision, strategic approach and collaborative nature enable Annick to create distinctive solutions for all her clients. Most recently, Annick has created a new, comprehensive visual system for Citrix Systems, where she played an instrumental role as the client contact in the implementation of this system. Originally from Belgium, Annick earned a master’s degree in Communications from Pratt Institute in New York. Prior to joining CoreBrand, Annick developed identities and communication programs at Interbrand for clients such as Sirius Satellite Radio and British Telecom.