Kathryn Ake
Co-founder / Principal
Business Management • Integrated Marketing • Strategic Planning • Product/Brand Management • Market Research
Kathryn brings a rich background of marketing and communications experience to The Maris Group clients. Her exceptional marketing skills span a variety of disciplines and were honed in a broad range of industries including telecommunications with MCI and four Baby Bell companies, and packaged goods with Gerry Baby Products, Ore-Ida Frozen Foods, and Coors Food Products division.
Kathryn’s experience as a marketing professional makes placing marketing resources in client situations a natural fit. She draws on her own past experience in the role of a marketing professional to understand a client’s need.
“I’ve been in similar positions as most of our clients and have done the types of work they face everyday. When a client calls us and their workload is overwhelming, or calls to plan ahead for anticipated capacity and resource issues, we understand the pain firsthand and respond with the best candidates to fill the need with very little explanation. We send the resources we wish we had when we were in the same spot.”
Before starting The Maris Group, Kathryn was a consultant and independent contractor for eight years doing exactly the types of assignments and projects —working in the same type of situations — as the resources she places today. She has an insider’s view of the clients’ side of the marketing need and the resources’ perspective of getting the work done.
kake@marisgroup.com
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Celia C. Sheneman
Co-founder / Principal
Corporate Relations • Strategic Planning • Integrated Marketing • Creative Direction • Corporate Philanthropy
A passion for empowering people motivated Celia to found The Maris Group.
“Whether it is the client or the consultant, we work with people to empower them to find the right life/work balance. For the client, this means empowering them to meet any challenge the marketplace, or their boss, might throw at them. They can call on us and source just the right skill set they need at the right time to successfully meet any demand. For the resources, it empowers them to tap another avenue for work so they can live the independent lifestyle they have chosen.”
This belief in the flexibility of the workplace is practically a religion to Celia. She feels companies should have their key senior employees in place; but be free to pull in expertise as they need it and for as long as they need it. This plug-and-play scenario has been well received in the marketplace and is very much a core philosophy at The Maris Group.
Celia came to found her own company after entering the workforce as a copywriter and rising through the ranks to Creative Director and Vice President at several advertising agencies. Her ten-year tenure at Coors Brewing Company involved her in corporate communications, product communications, and ultimately community relations where she created Coors' "Literacy Pass It On” outreach campaign addressing adult literacy. She went on to manage the national charitable giving program for Coors.
“Each day, I work with amazing, savvy clients and resources – putting the two together so that both achieve their most important goals inspires me.”
celia@marisgroup.com
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