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In addition to its four founding principals, Kineo draws on the professional strength and deep experience of its senior associates. With a vast range of expertise including financial and investor communications, media, government and labor strategies, political and civic affairs, our team supports our clients’ business by adding deep industry insight and peerless implementation.
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CATHY LEE AUXENFANS brings fifteen years of highly accomplished marketing strategy and high-level project management experience to her role as a vice president, business development, for The Kineo Group. Cathy is skilled at managing complex projects and building organizational collaboration in support of initiatives. Her professional experience and educational background in integrated marketing allows her to counsel Kineo’s clients at the highest levels about marketing issues and business challenges.
Prior to Kineo Cathy was principal corporate strategist of Exelon where she provided the company’s leadership with market intelligence and strategic business recommendations. While at Exelon she managed a wide variety of corporate projects that facilitated and promoted the integration of new businesses and supported the evolution of a rapidly evolving utility company.
Cathy and her international family live in Chicago where they converse in Mandarin and French (as well as English) and pursue their passion for food and culture.
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BERIL BASMAN is an expert in strategic & business planning and change management with over 25 years' experience in the for-profit and non-profit association and health care sectors. She is the founder of Basman & Associates, a management consulting practice advising senior executives, and prior to Kineo was the managing vice president over the strategic planning and strategic initiatives of the American Dental Association. She has directed a full-service marketing function for a for-profit business of the American Hospital Association and has been a consultant to an impressive list of major health care associations that include the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the Illinois State Medical Society.
Her specialties include: Capacity building and organizational assessment (effective assessment/alignment of talent, resources, processes, projects and programs); strategy development and planning; environmental scanning and scenario development to anticipate future challenges and opportunities; change management; coaching and facilitative guidance to governing bodies and all levels of staff.
As a volunteer, Beril has created an arts program for disadvantaged youth on the south side of Chicago and mentored junior college students and has a special interest in youth and the arts.
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BARBARA CHAMPION has over 20 years of experience in the field of qualitative marketing research. Her expertise encompasses all phases of the research process, from innovative study design and execution through insightful analysis and delivery of strategic recommendations. Barbara's highly developed skills as a qualitative researcher delve deep beneath the surface to unearth the reasons and rationale that shape the overt decision-making behaviors of study participants. She has a thorough command of interview techniques, methodologies, and projective applications to heighten the depth and breadth of study output.
Barbara's work oftentimes encompasses assignments that are global in scope, thus providing differentiating cultural perspectives and usage behaviors that define the US market.
Her work spans diverse industry groups, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, municipal branding, consumer package goods, telecommunications, retail, publishing, and financial services. Throughout Barbara's career she has addressed a wide array of integrated messaging issues encompassing broadcast, print and digital medium. Barbara's client roster includes Hunt-Wesson, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Rush University Medical Center, Eli Lilly, Fujisawa Pharmaceutical, Sanofi-Synthelabo, ABN AMRO, ConAgra, Whirlpool Corporation, Diageo, Pernod Richard, Advanta Corporation, Guinness UDV, Sears, and J.C. Penney.
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CHERYL DEMONG HUBBARD joins the Kineo Group from Bank of America, where she was a Senior Vice President, leading marketing and communications during the transition of LaSalle Bank into Bank of America for the wealth and commercial businesses. Prior to the merger, she was a First Vice President for LaSalle Bank responsible for strategic marketing, marketing operations and marketing business management.
Before joining ABN AMRO, Cheryl was with CNA Insurance, where she managed marketing, sales and business development for the Small Business Unit and as the Chief Marketing Officer of Covere, a direct insurance business within CNA. She also worked at GE Capital's Auto Financial Services Business as a Director of e-commerce. Cheryl has also worked with Mercer Management Consulting (now called Oliver Wyman consulting), Public Financial Management and Swidler & Berlin.
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VYTO JONYNAS is the Chief Financial Officer of The Kineo Group. Vyto has spent more than thirty years as a financial manager for advertising agencies and marketing firms. Prior to joining Kineo, Vyto was vice president of finance at KemperLesnik Communications in Chicago and regional finance lead for Hill & Knowlton's Midwest U.S. offices. He was also the chief financial officer of a medical marketing and sales training company. Vyto is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago and a certified public accountant.
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PATRICIA ANDREWS-KEENAN, senior associate, is a communications expert with a background in media relations, internal and external communications and community affairs. She previously served as vice president of communications for Comcast and its predecessor companies in the Chicago region and as Vice President of Corporate Affairs for the Nielsen Company.
Andrews-Keenan joined Kineo after forming the Tallulah Group in 2008 to offer media and public relations services to clients including Columbia College Chicago, C. Cretors & Company (a 125 year-old manufacturing company based in Chicago), and the 100 Black Men of Chicago. Her expertise extends to executive communications, serving as a company spokesperson, speechwriting, crisis communications and formulating community outreach policies. She serves on the YMCA's Black and Latino Achievers Steering Committee, the board of the Chicago Children's Choir and the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications.
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ANTHONY MA brings over 20 years of recognized design excellence to The Kineo Group. His work has been acknowledged by every major international design publication, featured in exhibitions around the country, and he's a frequent speaker on design issues. As the youngest member ever invited to join the exclusive and prestigious Chicago 27 Designers, Anthony is committed to providing relevant and innovative design solutions that uniquely and creatively meet his clients' objectives.
He was most recently the executive creative director at Leapnet, where he strengthened the firm's design practice through the establishment of a process-driven methodology. Anthony's client roster includes The University of Chicago, American Academy of Pediatrics, DePaul University, US Robotics/3 Com, Nike, Hyatt Hotels, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Environmental Protection Agency and Valence Health, a holding company of health care providers.
A native of Honolulu, Anthony earned a BFA from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana where he has been a graduate seminar instuctor.
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TOM MARNELL has been a specialist in Customer Relationship Management and its underlying databases for over 20 years. A hallmark of his databases is the dedication to capturing not just the behavior of stakeholders but their underlying motivations.
Prior to teaming up with Kineo, Tom held managerial positions at Bozell and Leo Burnett, where he was the first direct/database marketer hired.
In 2001, Tom became an educator and currently teaches graduate students at Roosevelt University and Illinois Institute of Technology, Stuart School of Business, the art of database marketing, research, customer relationship management and marketing strategy.
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BILL MALINOWSKI is an associate at The Kineo Group and a specialist in national broadcast and electronic communications. He brings extensive knowledge of the inner-workings of broadcast media to Kineo clients.
Bill is an experienced writer and highly qualified in counseling clients on how to shape their story for print and electronic media.
Prior to Kineo Bill was a manager at Original Productions and went through the agent training program at William Morris Agency, both in Los Angeles. He started his professional work at The Best Damn Sports Show Period.
He is a 2007 graduate of Marquette University where he served as general manager and sports director of Marquette University Television.
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MICHAEL B. O'CONNELL has spent more than twenty-five years in financial communications, including twelve as Vice President/Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade, a position in which he served as the exchange's senior communications and administrative officer. In 1999, Mike co-founded a niche Michigan Avenue branding and crisis management firm whose core clients included foreign banks, derivatives exchange leaders, electronic exchanges, LaSalle Street proprietary trading firms, and several start ups developing software for the 21st-century screen trader. Before joining the CBOT, Mike served as a marketing and sales associate for major Wall Street brokerage firms, including E.F. Hutton and A.G. Becker. He began his professional career as a columnist and reporter for the Associated Press.
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DENISE O'HANDLEY is lead for all Kineo Group client product publicity programs. She is the co-founder of wkpr, a successful public relations firm with deep experience promoting consumer products. She has nearly two decades working for top names in the food, pet, technology, retail, hospitality, tourism, arts and health care industries. She is skilled in communicating through social media and has developed campaigns that included blog outreach, Facebook group development and other online and mobile tactics.
Denise was previously affiliated with a leading Washington, D.C. marketing firm specializing in association management, and served as account supervisor for the retail and tourism divisions of the Donahue Group in Beverly Hills, Calif. She began her career as the program director for the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau.
Denise currently serves on the tourism and Lights Festival committees for the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. She is an adjunct instructor at the University of Chicago Graham School.
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LISABETH WEINER is a communications expert with a strong background in investor relations, executive and crisis communications. She was previously a vice president in the corporate practice of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide where she worked on crisis management, positioning and identity. Liz ran the public relations department.
At First Chicago Corporation where she served as chief spokesperson for Chicago's then-largest bank. During that time, she handled numerous issues related to corporate restructuring, crisis communications, strategic redirection, and senior management changes. At First Chicago she also established several integrated marketing and public relations programs related to retail banking, investment products and corporate finance.
In addition to her expertise in financial services, Lis has conducted media training programs and has extensive public speaking experience on communications issues.
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SANA IQBAL AHMED is a visual communication associate at The Kineo Group where she assists in design and research for brand communications and identity systems. Sana graduated in 2009 with a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She interned at Morningstar Inc. for over two years, where she was responsible for designing branded communications for both external and internal audiences.
