OUR LEADERS
Ken Baron
Marketing Strategist/Creative Director/Copywriter
Ken has received over 100 creative awards in his career, including Clio Awards, One Show (gold), Andy Awards (silver), Art Directors Awards, and Communication Arts Awards of Excellence. He is Director of Marketing Services and Co-Director of Creative Services at Mesita Communications, the strategic advertising and marketing firm he established in 2000.
As President and Creative Director of Baron & Zaretsky Advertising, a twenty-five person agency billing $13.5 million annually, Ken created advertising, promotion and sales materials for many of the country's leading brands and companies, such as Hearst Magazines (Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Popular Mechanics), Ethan Allen, Fortunoff Department Stores, Gold Toe Socks, The Home Furnishings Council, Neilsen & Bainbridge, CertainTeed, Prevention Magazine, Men’s Health Magazine, Charlie Brown's Steak Restaurants, and other leading companies.
Prior to forming Baron & Zaretsky Advertising, Ken was Senior Group Creative Director of the $200 million agency Geers Gross, directing the creative product for Breakstone Foods, Bolla Wines, Martell Cognac and National Car Rental. Previously, he was one of New York's leading freelance creative directors, developing advertising and promotional programs for major agencies, including Ogilvy & Mather, Smith-Greenland, and Bozell & Jacobs, and clients including American Airlines, Citibank, Sony, HBO, Champion Papers, Alitalia, and American Express.
Earlier Ken was a copywriter at DKG for Westinghouse Learning, Corning, Talon, Brown Forman, and Martex; Ted Bates on Panasonic; Grey Advertising on the Ford account; and Needham, Harper & Steers on Xerox and Johnnie Walker Red
Immediately after college, Ken worked as a junior copywriter at Tracy-Locke in Dallas, Texas before relocating to New York. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism in Advertising with a minor in Marketing
Peter Barnes
Director of Brand Strategy/Marketing Consultant
Peter has a 30-year track record of successful strategic planning, development and implementation of business, marketing and advertising programs with top advertising agencies and management consulting for Fortune 1000 companies in the US and internationally in the UK and Australia.
He has been instrumental in driving a wide range of successful brands with clients such as Brown Forman Beverages, Colgate Palmolive, Conde Nast, PPG, Meredith Corporation, and Sola International. His vast experience includes Senior Management positions in New York at Geers Gross Advertising (President), an agency that grew to over $200 million during this time, servicing clients like Kraft Foods, Ralph Lauren, Welch’s, National Car Rental, The Hearst Corporation and Coty; d’Arcy Mc Manus & Masius, on Colgate Palmolive, among others; and Grey Advertising, on Carter Wallace, among others.
Before transferring to Grey New York, Peter was Managing Director of Grey Advertising Melbourne, servicing clients such as HJ Heinz.
He is a graduate of Scots College, Sydney. Currently serves on the Advisory Board of DBP Properties Ltd., London, UK. and the Growth Solutions Group, Melbourne, Australia.
Chris Engel
Senior Art Director
Chris has deep experience in graphic design (print and web development), and in all aspects of the digital imaging and retouching fields, where he applies his expertise in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash and Dreamweaver and virtually all other major graphics programs.
At the New York Times, Chris helped create pages for both the daily and Sunday editions, and at Lightbulb Press he created photomontages for the AT&T book “Computer Technology and Communications.” He has also served in the graphics department of Moody’s Investment Services, People Magazine and Siegel and Gale.
And for many years, Chris was an art director at leading New York ad agencies, including FCB/Leber Katz, McCann Erickson, Needham Harper & Steers, J. Walter Thompson, Baron & Zaretsky and Rosenfeld, Sirowitz and Lawson.
Chris, a Chicago native, attended the Art Center College of Design, and has published a highly regarded CD on Vincent van Gogh; he also is designer and developer of a the website www.vangoghinteractive.com based on the CDrom Vincent van Gogh: Straight from the Heart.
