Debbie Frickey, President
Debbie joined the agency in 2002, starting as leader of account services before becoming president in 2014. She now leads all work for the agency’s accounts, driving realization of client brand potential and business goals. During her tenure with the agency, Debbie has helped acquire national and international clients such as the Colorado Tourism Office, United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum, BOK Financial, Xcel Energy, Black Hills Energy, Western Union and Centura Health. She provides strategic support to the agency’s broad array of advertising clients and her varied background includes extensive work in tourism, attraction and hospitality, as well as energy and health care industries. A partner in Vladimir Jones, Debbie is responsible for the day-to-day business operations of the company and leads the agency’s investment in quality ideas. She ensures that the agency’s reputation is well positioned for long-standing client relationships and future growth. Debbie sits on the 4A’s Women’s CEO forum and has served in various leadership positions for National Charity League.
Meredith Vaughan, Chief Executive Officer
Every business that is built for the long haul needs a growth engine, and that is the role that Meredith plays for Vladimir Jones. Meredith joined Vladimir Jones in 1999 after spending most of the ’90s working for powerhouse agencies such as TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles and Goldberg Moser O’Neill in San Francisco. Between 1999 and 2008, when Meredith became VJ’s president, she grew agency billings by more than 600% through new client acquisition and retention strategies. Meredith became CEO in 2014 and continues to ensure that VJ brings to life our focus on building meaningful relationships that last, as well as ensuring that VJ is a place where our team is fulfilled and has a sense of purpose. Meredith’s current and previous client work covers a wide range of industries, including extensive work in the retail, nonprofit, health care, sports marketing, travel and tourism, and Native American gaming categories. Meredith currently sits on the board of directors for the National Advertising Review Board, the American Indian College Fund, the Myron Stratton Home and Ent Credit Union.
Jim Morrissey, Executive Creative Director
Enthusiasm is Jim’s secret weapon. It helps him create and build human connections for brands. His creative approach is to always keep iterating and constantly honing his chops in the art of simplification. He’s written and created noteworthy (and award-winning) work for a diverse group of clients like Ford Motor Company, Procter & Gamble, Tri-State Energy, Odell Brewing Company and the Colorado Lottery. From social media platforms and branding to integrated marketing, Jim’s able to guide clients through the ever-changing landscape of digital and traditional channels, balancing creativity with strategic rigor.
Dan Dalton, Director, Integrated Media and Data
A constantly evolving media landscape requires innovation and an agile mind; these are aspects that fuel Dan’s passion for digital media. Dan started his career in digital marketing over 14 years ago and has worked in almost all aspects of the business from tactical implementation to large-scale digital business strategy. He has helped Fortune 100 companies such as Samsung, Facebook and Warner Bros shape their digital presence and connect with their customers through personalized experiences. He has also held board positions on local digital marketing clubs. Dan currently leads the Digital and Data team in identifying and implementing the latest data technology and measurement strategies. Providing brands with a thorough understanding of their digital relationship with their customers is Dan’s primary focus. He helps provide insight into a customer’s behaviors and motivations in an increasingly segmented industry.
Jon Bross, Director, Integrated Media and Data
The marriage of message and medium is the challenge, passion and focus for Jon. With more than 30 years of media planning and buying experience, Jon leads VJ’s team of multimedia planners and buyers through media strategy, technology convergence and campaign efficacy in our world of data-driven marketing. Since joining Vladimir Jones in 2003, Jon has worked on accounts including Xcel Energy, Centura Health, Colorado Tourism, The Broadmoor and Otter Products, among others. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Jon began his career at Hoffman York learning the planning processes on accounts such as KFC, The Dow Chemical Company, Wisconsin Lottery and Yamaha water vehicles. He is a sought-after keynote speaker on the subjects of media innovation, channel convergence and ad tech, and has been featured at publishing industry conventions, ad clubs, Kantar Media’s Product Advisory Panel, the Colorado American Marketing Association and NPR’s coverage of political advertising. His experience in strategic planning, the evolution of buying and platform convergence keeps him focused toward the next big thing in our dynamic media landscape.
Ariel Obenauf, Director of Account Services
With extensive experience in account management, branding, and campaign execution, Ariel is a dynamic marketing leader with a proven track record of driving impactful results for high-profile clients such as AWS, Adobe, Microsoft, and Denver International Airport. Throughout her career, she has successfully led teams to deliver exceptional marketing strategies that align with client objectives and goals, ensuring a strong ROI. Ariel’s expertise spans developing and executing comprehensive branding strategies, optimizing digital marketing, and creating high-impact campaigns that resonate with target audiences across various industries. Ariel will oversee the strategic direction and delivery of client projects, identifying growth opportunities and maintaining the highest level of satisfaction across all accounts. She also supports the talented Account Services team, ensuring that client goals are met with excellence and efficiency. Known for building lasting client relationships and leading high-performing teams, Ariel brings a strategic, results-driven approach that aligns with a commitment to providing top-tier service and delivering outstanding outcomes for our clients.
Marci Goodman-Dobrow, Director of Operations
Marci is an advertising and operations expert with over two decades of experience, dedicated to enhancing organizational efficiency and profitability. With a solid foundation in advertising and a fervor for optimizing operations, she specializes in streamlining operations, saving costs and increasing revenue for agencies by leveraging proprietary workflow optimization methodologies. In previous roles, she led transformative initiatives, such as integrating divisions post-acquisition, revamping agency operations and implementing automation solutions. Marci’s expertise spans P&L management, digital and traditional advertising, SaaS development, project management, revenue operations, client relationship management, team leadership, and communication. With a proven track record of driving growth and efficiency, Marci is a dynamic leader poised to make impactful contributions in the advertising industry.
Taylor Brizendine, Account Supervisor
Taylor joined Vladimir Jones in 2024, bringing extensive account experience to the team. She is a strategic asset who has dedicated her 10-year career to account services roles specifically for marketing and advertising agencies. She has worked across many different verticals throughout her career, such as health care, real estate and development, product advertising and QSR, including several large-scale B2C and B2B campaigns. She comes to VJ with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing Concentration, with a Media Relations minor from Colorado State University. Taylor’s secret weapon is that she is a natural-born optimist who builds strong, long-lasting client relationships using a people-first approach. Her current client list includes TacoTime, Porch Light Health and Braze.
Emily Murkowski, Senior Account Executive
Emily has been with Vladimir Jones since 2022 and has managed accounts across a variety of industries over her professional career. Her current clients include Visit Santa Fe, BOK Financial Private Wealth, BOK Financial Commercial Banking, Colorado Department of Transportation and Colorado Springs Airport. She also has experience with medical, political, nonprofit and consumer clients. She comes to VJ with a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management and Business Administration and an MBA with a focus in Marketing. Emily is passionate about building strong working relationships and helping to build successful campaigns to reach client goals.
Gentry Helvenstine, Assistant Account Executive
Gentry has been with VJ since September 2022, and in that time, she has taken on accounts across various industries and has been a part of the core team assisting leadership in acquiring new business opportunities. Prior to joining VJ, she worked in the hospitality industry, providing homeowners with support for their short-term rental properties, as well as accounting in the automotive industry. She graduated from West Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Communications and Media and a minor in Marketing in December 2020. She also has certifications in Social Media Management and Digital Media Image and Design. Gentry brings a can-do mindset to the team, and a willingness to step in to help her team wherever she can through her skills in interpersonal communication, her creative drive and a detail-oriented mindset. She currently works on the Visit Santa Fe, Colorado Springs Airport and Colorado Department of Transportation accounts.
Olivia Hess, Associate Director of Insight & Strategy
Olivia joined Vladimir Jones in November 2023, bringing a dynamic background in trends and futurism, brand strategy, and communications. As associate director, she leverages future forecasting techniques alongside qualitative and quantitative research methods to tackle clients’ most complex business challenges, uncovering transformative human insights. Throughout her career, Olivia has shaped growth strategies, innovation pipelines, business development and marketing initiatives for Fortune 500 companies across the CPG, health care and finance industries. Her expertise has been showcased in MediaPost, and she is a graduate of The Future Laboratory’s Trends and Foresight Masterclass program.
Jamie Webb, Senior Insights Strategist
Jamie joined Vladimir Jones in November 2023 with 22 years of experience in building results-oriented branding campaigns. From helping to launch the MINI Cooper, reintroducing the world to The Burger King, taking IZZE from a start-up juice to a household beverage, to leading Polaris powersports through double-digit (12%) growth for seven years, his strategic leadership has yielded meaningful advertising and marketing. Jamie thinks customer first, and through primary and secondary research develops and drives strategies that deliver on consumers’ needs and wants. His efforts have won him multiple Effie Awards, 4A’s Jay Chiat Awards, and Cannes Awards, but more importantly have lifted business performance.
Cam Walter, Insights Strategist
Cam brings a combination of creative thinking and problem solving to his role. He joined the insights team at VJ after graduating with a Master of Science in Advertising from Boston University. During his time at BU, Cam freelanced at a branding/product design agency informing design through the customer’s lens. Before that, he interned in brand strategy at an agency in New York City, working on multiple CPG accounts. Cam is passionate about conducting research and making connections that help brands thrive, and currently works in various capacities across all accounts.
Patrick Cannarozzi, Integrated Media Supervisor
With more than eight years of digital marketing experience under his belt, Patrick has become an expert in his field of digital strategy. Ensuring data integrity, meeting business goals, and understanding the ever-growing inventory of digital channels are where his priorities lie. With backgrounds and certifications in Google Ads, Google Analytics and Bing Ads, and expertise in Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and more, he is well equipped to produce strategies that will drive meaningful business results.
Hayden Flatley, Integrated Media Planner
Joining Vladimir Jones in March of 2021 as a digital and data coordinator, Hayden has set out to go above and beyond his responsibilities of budgeting, trafficking, optimizing and reporting on digital marketing campaigns. He was promoted to integrated media planner in August of 2024. Since then, he has been honing his skills in media planning and tracking implementation. He graduated from University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Business with an emphasis in Marketing. Hayden has certifications in Google Ads and Analytics along with a Meta Digital Marketing Associate certification. He is currently working on accounts for American Indian College Fund, Colorado Springs Airport, and BOK Financial.
Tunchanok Potipan, Optimization Specialist
Tunchanok graduated from University of Colorado Denver with a master’s degree in Marketing with an emphasis in Advanced Market Analytics. Before pursuing her master’s degree, she gained three years of experience in media planning and digital marketing. She joined Vladimir Jones in August 2022. She has certifications in Google Ads and Google Analytics, and currently works on the accounts for BOK Financial and Colorado Department of Transportation.
Paul Kwong, Creative Director/Art Director
Paul draws inspiration from strategies and customer insights for all client projects—the stronger the strategies and insights, the stronger and more effective the work will be. This approach has made many clients happy and super successful, from the likes of Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Pfizer, Pernod Ricard, Yellow Tail Wine, First Data, Nickelodeon Networks, Southwest Airlines, and the Texas and Virginia lotteries.
Sophie Graefenhain, Designer
Since joining Vladimir Jones in June 2024, Sophie has been the agency’s designer, crafting compelling visual content for diverse advertising campaigns. Her role includes conceptualizing designs, collaboration, offering innovative ideas, meeting deadlines, and producing high-quality graphics and illustrations. With nine years of industry experience, Sophie brings an interdisciplinary approach that merges art, design, and strategy to create impactful visual communications. At Vladimir Jones, Sophie has worked with clients including New Braunfels Utilities, Colorado Springs Utilities, Visit Santa Fe, American Indian College Fund, Porch Light Health, Artem Collection, Interactions and Hall Pass Productions. Previously, she contributed to major accounts like Google, The Farmer’s Dog, Glanbia Nutritionals, Vail Resorts, Dansko Footwear, Temple University and L2 Brands. Sophie graduated magna cum laude from the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois–Chicago, combining a strong academic foundation with industry experience and a passion for creative innovation to deliver exceptional design solutions.
Ridge Hutton, Copywriter
Ridge joined Vladimir Jones in the fall of 2024 after earning a Bachelor of Science in Strategic Communication from the University of Colorado Boulder. Before joining our team, he honed his creative skills through freelance work and an internship with Cactus. At VJ, Ridge writes copy for all clients, drawing much of his inspiration from popular culture. He believes that great creative work is built on a foundation of strong insights and strategy.
Zach Bretz, Production Artist and Motion Designer
Zach joined Vladimir Jones in the summer of 2021. He has production experience working for clients from industries such as travel, banking and lifestyle. Zach works with all Vladimir Jones clients to ensure that final output is high quality.
Daniel Rosing, Senior Editor
Daniel has been with the agency since 2005, providing proofreading, editing and QA/QC for all agency clients across all mediums, as well as new business efforts and agency social and PR work. His career experience ranges from advertising and marketing materials to large and highly complex environmental impact reports. He also has experience as a copywriter in advertising and other disciplines. He graduated with honors from Western State College of Colorado in Gunnison with a Bachelor of Arts in English, emphasis in writing, and a minor in Biology.
Zac Hunter, Public Relations Manager
Zac brings over 12 years of experience in public relations, marketing and content production. At Vladimir Jones, Zac leads PR initiatives for clients such as New Braunfels Utilities, American Indian College Fund and Colorado Springs Airport. Zac’s career highlights include founding a human rights campaign, publishing three books, speaking at The White House twice, and being featured on “Good Morning America,” CNN, and in the Los Angeles Times. They helped launch FaithIt.com, the fastest-growing website in history at the time, and wrote for HuffPost. Zac produced marketing content for Warner Bros. and Samuel Goldwyn films, as well as 360-degree video content, including the first VR livestream of the Pope, in partnership with dick clark productions, Nokia and Fox. Zac is a five-time CMO and Interim CMO, including for viral gaming startup U.GG (acquired by Enthusiast Gaming). They led content strategy for all Capital One lines of business at Brainlabs, delivering data-driven content to drive engagement. Honored with the CNN Hero Award, CT’s 33 Under 33, and The President’s Volunteer Service Award, Zac is known for combining creativity, strategic vision and storytelling to deliver measurable results. You can find coverage of Zac’s clients in and on NPR, Parade, Bustle, CNN Underscored, MindBodyGreen, and more.
Rob Murphy, Executive Producer
Over the past 15 years, Rob has worked in the marketing world producing successful campaigns across the agency, client, and production sides of the business. On the agency/client side, he has managed the marketing plans and creative process from conception through final delivery for assets used worldwide across all mediums (e.g., video, photo, animation, web, email, display, social, print, out-of-home). He expertly drives the strategic/conceptual planning, workflow project management, and logistical coordination between cross-functional teams for all deliverables. Rob anticipates the needs of external clients and internal team members, consistently manages all budgets and timelines to ensure we’re always on track, and constantly strives for efficient and effective process to meet all goals. On the production side, Rob has produced countless creative media projects (e.g., video, photo, animation) through the pre-production, production, and post-production stages. While wearing multiple hats daily, he always ensures each project is provided on time, on strategy and on budget, bringing consistent communication and the highest quality experience to each client.
Rob is extremely motivated, organized, and detail-oriented, while at the same time can see the ‘big picture.’ And Rob is always proactive, a problem-solver, and one who has a ‘can-do’ attitude in any situation.
Robert Ortega, Senior Director/Editor
Robert joined Vladimir Jones in October of 2020. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film from the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to joining our team, Robert worked as a director, cinematographer and editor with Google, ESPN, Chili’s, Vega, FitPlan, Dymatize and Breckenridge Brewery. At VJ, he works as the videographer and editor across all VJ clients and projects.
Rhonda von Luhrte, Print Production & Traffic Specialist
Attention to detail, tenacity, follow-through, and organizational and research skills…these are just some of the things that make Rhonda a valuable member of the VJ team. With over 30 years’ experience in the advertising industry, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table. She’s worked with a wide variety of clients including Honda, Toyota, DHL, Qantas, HoneyBaked Ham, Komatsu, Big O Tires and In-N-Out. A key aspect of her role is to develop and maintain strong relationships with various vendors and media partners. She’s extremely client focused and always seeks to achieve maximum client satisfaction.
Robyn Bernardo, Controller I
Robyn has been with Vladimir Jones since 2010; in her current role as Controller I she manages financial operations, overseeing budgeting, forecasting and financial reporting. She ensures accurate billing, monitors cash flow, and maintains financial compliance, while working closely with leadership to optimize profitability and support strategic business decisions.
Sara Simon, Client Finance Coordinator
Sara came to Vladimir Jones in November 2022, bringing 16 years of client-facing experience in advertising/marketing. As the client finance coordinator, she processes client billing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and vendor media invoices.
