All are promoted from within; women hold seven of eight new roles
Brunet|García, a minority-owned agency specializing in social impact programs for government agencies, nonprofits, foundations and brands, has formed a new leadership team.
Co-founders Jorge Brunet-García and Diane Brunet-García, who established the agency in Jacksonville in 2003 before expanding to Atlanta and Washington D.C., will step back from day-to-day roles to become Board co-chairs.
Kimberley Collins, formerly EVP, media & engagement, is now CEO responsible for the strategic vision and growth strategy for the 55-person agency.
Kim Vermillion, who was EVP, brand & marketing strategy, assumes the role of chief operating officer, focusing on operations and ensuring B|G has the right processes and talent to serve clients and agency administration.
Rounding out the new sr. leadershp team is Eduardo Sarmiento, formerly EVP, creative, who is now chief creative officer responsible for strategic creativity across all departments and advancing creative innovations.
The agency transformation continues on the department level with the formation of a new leadership team, representing the next generation of B|G leaders: Aerien Mull becomes SVP, creative; Kate Jolley is now VP, creative operations; Anna Jaffee steps up to VP, accounts; LeShaundra Cordier is VP, communication strategy; and Iwalani Camacho is SVP, media.
All of the new roles are the result of promotions from within, with women holding seven of the eight new leadership positions.
“The senior leadership team of Kim, Kim, and Eduardo have been involved in all operational and strategic decisions for the past four years, so the most seamless way to move the agency forward is to increase the involvement of this core team,” said Jorge Brunet-García, cofounder and co-chair. “This new leadership structure leaves our clients in highly capable hands and positions the agency well for the future.”
B|G has established a strong niche in developing customized, cross-cultural marketing strategies that build awareness and affect change regarding some of the highest profile and most complex social issues impacting the country, including the opioid and HIV epidemics, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency was awarded a 10-year, $100-million opportunity in 2015 to provide national health marketing services to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That work established the agency as a leading communicator on issues related to the opioid problem and other health and safety issues.
B|G has concurrently developed successful programs for clients such as Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), Federal Emergency Management Agency’s U.S. Fire Administration, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Agriculture.
The agency has also built transformative campaigns for both nonprofit and private sector organizations, such as Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Citra Health, Baptist Health, Florida Blue, ProCureWorks, and Mayo Clinic.
Among recent campaigns is the “Stop Overdose Initiative” for CDC as part of a comprehensive strategy to affect change in the areas of harm reduction, treatment, and recovery, and “Out Loud,” utilizing human truths to destigmatize life with HIV for women on behalf of HHS.
“Jorge and Diane have built a successful agency with a positive culture–a great place to work with a diverse staff working on worthy causes for important clients,” said CEO Collins. “Our new strategic plan is to enhance client service and grow the business while maintaining that inspiring agency culture.”
“We exist to inspire meaningful change, and that results from providing an environment that fosters creativity and collaboration to create great work for a greater good,” said CCO Sarmiento.
He credits the agency’s “disruption inside the box” approach–using regulatory boundaries as inspiration and motivation to come up with new effective strategic and creative solutions, regardless of how restrictive the guidelines–as a key to the agency’s success.
Independent Cinemas In L.A. Are Finding Their Audience
On a hot summer evening, Miles Villalon lined up outside the New Beverly Cinema, hours before showtime.
The 36-year-old already had tickets to the Watergate-themed double feature of 1976's "All the President's Men" and 1999's "Dick." But Villalon braved Los Angeles' infamous rush-hour traffic to snag front-row seats at Quentin Tarantino's historic theater.
This level of dedication is routine for the Starbucks barista and aspiring filmmaker, who typically sees up to six movies a week in theaters, and almost exclusively in independently owned theaters in and around Los Angeles.
"I always say it feels like church," he said. "When I go to AMC, I just sit there. And I can't really experience that communal thing that we have here, where we're all just worshipping at the altar of celluloid."
Streaming — and a pandemic — have radically transformed cinema consumption, but Villalon is part of a growing number of mostly younger people contributing to a renaissance of LA's independent theater scene. The city's enduring, if diminished, role as a mecca of the film industry still shapes its residents and their entertainment preferences, often with renewed appreciation after the pandemic.
A revival in the City of Angels
Part of what makes the city unique is its abundance of historic theaters, salvaged amid looming closures or resurrected in recent years by those with ties to the film industry. Experts see a pattern of success for a certain kind of theater experience in Los Angeles.
Kate Markham, the managing director at Art House Convergence, a coalition of independent cinema exhibitors, said a key factor is the people who run these theaters.
"They know their audiences or their potential audiences, and... Read More