Who We Are
WENDI R W McGOWAN, President and CEO
Wendi R W McGowan has over 17 years experience in launching new businesses, marketing consulting, executive-level management, business intelligence, and revenue generation planning. She has built and sold two of her own businesses, served as a board director or in-the-trenches advisor to five startups, and invested in over fifty startups. Wendi has consulted to Fortune 500 firms and over seventy-five startups. She is a published author and sought-after panelist.
She began her career before graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Economics by founding an independent marketing and business development consulting company called MWIGroup in 1990. She led this company for 10 years, first as CMO and then as CEO, subsequently converted it to a web site design and e-marketing company, and finally, sold it to a local ISP that became Internet America in January, 2000.
Over the past 7 years, Wendi has held various senior marketing management and business development consulting positions with firms such as UBS Wealth Management, PSINet, Texas Instruments, La Quinta, and Gold’s Gym International.
JAMES BALLARD, Vice President of Creative
James Ballard has over 17 years of experience in advertising as a leader, mentor, art director and designer. He has helped companies develop comprehensive branding campaigns, launch new products and create breakthrough, effective advertising.
Throughout his career, he has developed ad campaigns for Fortune 100 companies to regional and local accounts including: Radioshack and its many strategic partners (including Sprint, Verizon, DISH, SIRIUS, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, HP and Monster Cable) Pizza Hut, Pepsi, American Airlines, Harrah’s Casino’s, Verizon, Gaylord Hotels, and a variety of other retail and business accounts.
He most recently held senior management positions for Circle R Group and TracyLocke where he led creative teams, consulted with strategic partners and streamlined processes. Previously, he held Art Director positions at agencies in Texas and Michigan. James has a BFA in Design Communications from Texas Tech University.
JANIE MORRIS, Vice President of Branding
Janie Morris has more than 13 years experience in “marketing for the unknown” via personalized and grassroots marketing, e-commerce, publishing, media, and ROI analysis. Working on undeveloped brands with over a dozen startup firms, she understands the challenges facing the entrepreneurial company including the introduction and marketing of new products and services without the benefit of a well-established reputation, channel infrastructure or customer base.
Janie’s expertise lies in developing marketing strategies, creating consistent brand communication messages, channel selection and design, product positioning, competitive pricing strategies, digital printing, advertising, and promotions, all within the framework of the resource limitations inherent in a startup environment. She has partnered with marketing communications departments at Tenet Healthcare, Wyndham Resorts and Hotels, and Lennox, guiding them in using technology solutions to implement personalized marketing solutions while adding significant ROI to the bottom line. Janie has a BA in Advertising from Southern Methodist University and will complete her MBA from University of Texas, Dallas in 2008.