People

An agency is only as good as its people. As such, we are dedicated to creating an equitable environment, free from bias and barrier, offering the same opportunities for contribution, mentorship and progression to everyone.

In addition to leading their unique disciplines, it is the job of the team below to manage a culture where all employees can bring their most authentic selves to work 100% of the time. And to know that we’ll be a better agency for having done so.

Leadership

Allison Bart

Director of people

Despite being an Alabama Hatfield by lineage (of the famous feuding Hatfields and McCoys), Allison brings a special brand of sweetness and light to the agency. She takes care of us. She keeps us honest. She explains convoluted insurance bullshit. And she emcees the DC pre-Thanksgiving breakfast shot that has become as much a part of our collective holiday as turkey and stuffing. Allie began her career at Jack Nadel in LA, before relocating to SF to work at Hal Riney, then Grey. Should you come for an interview, it is likely her smiling face that will greet you. Unless you’re a McCoy, in which case, you might as well go on and git.

Andy Berkenfield

CEO, partner

When it comes to relaunching brands, Andy brings a remarkable depth of experience in brand strategy. Not to mention he’s one of the only guys in the advertising business with an advertising degree, earned from the distinguished Newhouse School at Syracuse. He cut his teeth working on packaged goods in New York, before moving to FCB/San Francisco for a series of senior positions running Taco Bell, Levi’s and the $100 million Sega Dreamcast launch. Joining DC in 2000, Andy led successful strategic efforts for Clos du Bois, Birkenstock, Hard Rock and, more recently, StubHub and John Muir Health. Having spent seven years of his childhood in Paris, Andy is fluent in French. He’s also an avid photographer, oenophile, crossfitter and — don’t be alarmed — knife collector.

Parker Channon

CMO, partner

After earning scores of creative honors and setting sales records for clients like StubHub, DriveTime and Kona Brewing, Parker now devotes the bulk of his time to “advertising” the advertising agency he co-founded with Robert Duncan. He works to raise the company’s creative profile, preserve its nefarious and sordid culture and seek out those new clients ready to do the most memorable and effective work around. As a side hustle, Parker still works as a humble copywriter on various client businesses just like he did when he first started right out of school at FCB/San Francisco. (It’s probably his favorite part of the job.)

A mother of two lays in a hammock in her backyard. In the hammock with her is her two children. She appears a strong mother balancing work and motherhood. Her two daughters are smiling.

Amy Cotteleer

Chief experience officer, partner

Amy founded award-winning experiential and social influencer agency, A2G, 15 years ago. A pioneer in the space, Amy’s agency landed household names like Gap, Citibank, Samsung and Nintendo. A2G was twice named a small agency of the year by Advertising Age and their work for Product (RED) was awarded Promotion of the Year. An expert in helping companies harness the power of social media to amplify consumer experiences, while inspiring trial, conversion and sales, Amy’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, O Magazine and USA Today. As CXO, Amy leads the development of social, influencer and live experiences that create two-way relationships between brands and customers. It’s her job to ensure that integrated ideas for clients and prospects have online and offline experiences built into their DNA. She is a magna cum laude graduate of USC’s Marshall School of Business (Go Trojans!) and the mother to two young daughters and a Jack Russell Terrier named Wrigley (Go Cubs!).

Kumi Croom

Managing director

Kumi got her degree in journalism from San Diego State and actually began her career writing for the 11 o’clock news. After switching to the slightly more lucrative field of advertising, Kumi worked in account services at agencies like Young & Rubicam as well as the Attik. At DC, she leads the account, project management and equity, diversity and inclusion teams. In addition, she leads the cross-function teams for the sprawling California Tobacco Control Program account — a job requiring herculean effort and serious juggling skills. Kumi brings expertise in integrated marketing having led result-driven advertising and marketing programs for such world-leading brands as McDonald’s, Mattel, Hilton Hotels, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toshiba, Chase and Scion. Raised by a family of singers, Kumi can, upon occasion, be persuaded to belt out a tune and a sweeter sound you will never hear.

Leslie Diard

Comms planning director

While one supposes it’s important to tell you that Leslie Diard is our deeply experienced communications planning director, one can barely wait to say that she started her professional life as a purchasing agent for Shell Oil in Houston, wore a hard hat to work and frequently visited offshore drilling platforms. Since then, Leslie has veered sharply toward the marketing mainstream, serving as a media supervisor at Foote, Cone & Belding/San Francisco, as a VP, group account director, at Hawk Media and as media director at Swirl. Her pre-DC client experience includes Taco Bell, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, Pearle Vision and The Wine Group. And at DC, she oversees a communications planning department that has over the years been responsible for the planning and purchasing of media for, among others, StubHub, John Muir Health, Tishman Speyer, Clos du Bois, the Palms and Hard Rock. Leslie has an MBA from the renowned Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is also a former professor at the Art Institute of California, and, in recent years, was elected president of the American Marketing Association, San Francisco chapter.

Anne Elisco-Lemme

Executive creative director

As ECD, Anne has the final word on the agency’s creative product. During her tenure at DC, Anne’s ascended from AD to senior AD, ACD to CD and finally to the much-deserved top spot. Along the way, she’s either created or helped shape some of the agency’s most awarded, enduring and successful work. Recent efforts include the Effie-winning anti-vaping campaign for the California Tobacco Control Program, the Dear Mainland campaign that launched Kona Brewing into the top 10 of craft beers, and pot-stirring new creative for Kettle Chips. She’s received most every major ad award, served as judge for the Communication Arts Advertising Annual and spoken at the influential 3% Conference. And, as any musicologist can tell you, Anne got her start playing Pennsylvania taverns as the underappreciated and underage keyboardist of seminal Zeppelin tribute band Black Dog.

Keenan Hemje

Head of TV and content production

Ever met a metal guitarist who cycles to BART, cries at commercials, and bleeds red and gold for the San Francisco 49ers? Meet Keenan. His special brand of leadership — think kindhearted straight talk — earns him the trust of production partners at every level. If Keenan were the prideful type, he’d pride himself on his grace under pressure. As head of broadcast production (not to mention dad of two small children and one incorrigible cat) Keenan navigates all manner of bumps in the road. Yet, as far as anyone else is concerned, the ride is perfectly smooth. And his tunes are seriously hardcore.

Noël Johnson

Dir of marketing and client engagement

Noël is DC’s first director of marketing and client engagement and what the hell is that exactly? Think of her as a new business person who doesn’t ghost when the pitch is over. Rather, she stays on to make sure the onboarding is smooth and continues to check in regularly to ensure all clients stay happy clients. We’re told it’s her dream job. And she’s had lots of dreamy jobs, beginning with her days in sports marketing where she had access to free golf 24/7. Noel comes to us after helping launch Most Likely To, a creative consultancy, and years of leading client relationships at MH VCCP and Adaptive Path, working on clients including HP, Airbnb, Deckers and SoFi. You might think she’s most proud of orchestrating complex campaigns during March Madness and the Super Bowl. Yet, after navigating the adventures of her young daughter, Piper, nothing seems quite as challenging. Ahem, rewarding.

Eric Kozak

Head of digital production

Eric is the swiss army knife of digital production (and beyond). He first cut his teeth at a non-traditional design shop servicing the underground music scene. This led to a career with cutting-edge independent agencies (along with a couple of sprawling conglomerates) where his DIY attitude translated well into getting awesome creative into the world in spite of any perceived challenges. As a result, his portfolio is as diverse as his record collection, including everything from AR, iOS apps, CMS platforms, video content, 360 assets, audio production, and even a burning billboard (literally). Oh yeah, and your standard campaign deliverables, too. Nowadays Eric prefers vipassana retreats and daddy/daughter dates to 48-hour parties at Berghain.

Shaz Kuerschner

Manager of studio and art production

Shaz began her advertising career at Y&R Australia, after realizing her prior stint at a men’s shoe factory wasn’t the stellar career trajectory she sought. Embracing her production assistant role with wide eyes and big dreams, she soon became a dedicated and nimble producer. With production experience and green card in hand, she landed in San Francisco with one suitcase and a husband, quickly finding good fortune at agencies such as OWNP, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Popgun Design, BBDO, Eleven and Williams Sonoma. From a helicopter shoot of Hawaii’s volcanic landscape to meeting Steph Curry and Questlove, Shaz has produced work for clients such as Electronic Arts, Teva, Saturn, H-P, GAP, Apple, Visa, Oakley, Haagen Daas, Adobe, CTCP and the Golden State Warriors. Shaz loves bringing great ideas to life and sprinkles her Aussie sense of humor on every project she touches. On that note, she will tell you that Grease-era ONJ has been her guiding star and life coach.

Michael Lemme

Chief creative officer, partner

Designer turned Chief Creative Officer, Mike’s background is equal parts brand strategy, design and advertising. He has led rebrand and creative efforts for, among others, Rakuten, StubHub, Sephora, Kona Brewing, Viator, Outrigger Resorts, Autodesk, Esurance and Hard Rock International, winner of the Global Rebrand 100 Award. He has been recognized in Communication Arts’ Advertising, Typography and Interactive annuals, and was a One Show Interactive winner for SFMOMA’s “Making Sense of Modern Art” interface. As CCO at DC, he is responsible for continuously elevating the agency’s creative standards, if not its morals. His social feeds are almost exclusively videos about typefaces and people cooking eggs.

Tina Montemayor

Dir of creative talent acquisition + equity

Tina’s been a copywriter, media buyer and even dabbled in PR, so she brings a wealth of knowledge and perspective to her job. She understands creative people (she is one) and she understands how to mold and shape a great creative environment for those people to thrive in. Tina led recruiting for crosstown agency Cutwater before we were lucky enough to recruit her ourselves. In addition to making sure we always have a roster of top-flight talent, Tina continues to flex her creative muscle on our events team — and if you haven’t been to one of our events, what are you waiting for? She even helped design our office for optimal awesomeness. What she looks for when hiring: creatives who haven’t made their best work yet. And when she’s not wrangling talent, you can find her wrangling daughters Harper and Liv for a DIY art project or designing her next room.

Kelleen Peckham

Director of brand strategy

Kelleen, pronounced like “Kelly” with an “n,” is a strategy director by trade and a cultural anthropologist by nature. Her passion for planning began as an adolescent growing up overseas in Switzerland. It was here at an International School that she developed her more-than-a-casual interest in analyzing people. Seriously, it’s kind of nerdy. She gets a kick out of thinking about culture and how it impacts us as consumers. While at Arnold in Boston, she wrote the strategy for the Effie-winning teen tobacco prevention ad campaign called, ‘truth.’ At DC, she runs the strategy department, uncovering consumer and cultural insights that inspire breakthrough advertising strategy.

Renée Phipps

CFO

Among this endless scroll of braggarts and blowhards, it’s refreshing to encounter the occasional blush of reserve. But in the case of our money maven, the modesty is entirely unearned. After graduating from Santa Clara University, Renee found her true calling in advertising at FCB, “applying order via numbers in a creative environment.” Not sure what this “order” thing is, but she was good enough at it that when a couple of co-workers left to start Rathje Chadwick & Co, they inveigled Renée to join them as Finance Director. Which she did for five years – before another ex-FCB’er by the name of Berkenfield inveigled her to join yet another agency startup. Now DC’s CFO, she is also progenitor of two highly creative girls, a fluent speaker of German and host of her own authentic annual Oktoberfest celebration, to which, alas, she has never invited this biographer.

Rosheila Robles

Director of project management

With a passion for food, Rosheila began her career as a culinary photojournalist back before everyone with an iPhone fancied themselves a food photog — and back when there were these quaint things called newspapers. Transitioning to a career in project management, Rosheila was able to capitalize on her other life’s passion: calendars. Oh, how she loves them. After stewarding award-winning national campaigns for Lexus at Team One in LA, she moved to SF and became the first official director of project management at DC. The quintessential iron fist in a velvet glove, Rosheila manages projects for DC across all platforms and clients. She’s also been instrumental in multiple new business wins for the agency which she enjoys working on — but not as much as those damn calendars. For real, don’t get her started.