Mark E. Vergason was an advertising and marketing veteran with more than 45 years of success serving clients throughout Florida and the Southeast. A graduate of the University of South Florida in Tampa, he was a member of many local organizations including the Orlando Advertising Federation and the Builders Association of Metro Orlando. Under his leadership VSM has served clients in dozens of market categories from real estate, hospitality and automotive to retail, financial and professional services. His agency's efforts and his personal commitment have won numerous local, regional and national awards for client-related work as well as for many civic and charitable activities. Vergason has successfully guided the 50-year-old, award-winning firm to become one of the Southeast's largest independently owned advertising agencies. In 2002, Vergason Sojourner & McWaters was voted "The Best Ad Agency" in Central Florida. In 2003, the Agency was selected to the prestigious "Golden 100," recognizing the top 100 privately-owned businesses in Central Florida and, in 2004, received the MAME award for "Advertising Agency of the Year." Mark E. Vergason, although deceased as of 2023, has since assumed the position of "The Guardian" and is tasked with guiding the company and his son Chase E. Vergason from above.
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Chase E. Vergason is the third generation to start at VSM after his grandfather began the agency in the 1960's. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a business degree and quite an extensive baseball highlight reel—having played in the College World Series for USC. On the roster for VSM, Chase is our lead Account Executive providing day-to-day contact with our client partners. In that capacity he coordinates all of the direction and information flow required to keep the agency's work on target, on time and on budget. As a highly-skilled marketing professional, Chase takes pride in establishing mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with his clients based on trust, realistic expectations and pre-established goals. He is singularly focused on producing measurable results in the form of traffic, leads and sales that exceed expectations by boosting revenue and profitability of both early stage and mature companies. Because of his dedication to fair dealing and business ethics, he is committed to keeping VSM's advertising, branding and marketing programs industry-leading services at cost-appropriate price points.
Tiffany Wolfe holds the keys to the castle and drives the firm's operations from A to Z. She oversees the SEO, Social Media, Content Creator & Graphic Design VSM department heads for all clients. Prior to VSM, Tiffany was Creative Director and Co-Owner of TW Squared where she worked with a client base such as LEGOLAND Florida, General Motors, The Florida College System and Rural Metro. As Creative Director for Olympus media she gained significant experience creating and launching national advertising campaigns. Wolfe was trained at the prestigious Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia where she received her BFA in graphic design. She brings a confident and aesthetic eye to the creative design process.
Chris is a seasoned SEO professional with over 15 years of experience in the digital marketing industry. Specializing in on-page and off-page optimization, he has a proven track record of driving organic traffic, improving search engine rankings, and enhancing online visibility for businesses across various industries. His deep understanding of search algorithms and passion for staying ahead of the latest trends and best practices make him a trusted expert in helping companies achieve sustainable growth in the digital landscape.
Aaron, VSM's Snr. Digital Strategist, implements and executes numerous Google Ads, Local SEO, and National SEO marketing campaigns for a multitude of VSM clients. He's been building websites since 2004 and transitioned himself into a top leading search engine optimization specialist. Aaron provides crucial information and directing advice on how websites need to be structured and marketed. He specializes in optimizing websites and building the online authority needed to outrank competitors on the first page of Google where 97% of all ready-to-buy customers are looking to make their decisions. His 20 years of experience in the internet marketing industry has delivered incredible results for VSM clients. His ability to transparently explain how search engines work keeps all clients confident, educated, and satisfied in the process. Aaron stays on top of Google's search algorithm changes and invests hundreds of hours each year inside private masterminds dedicated to elite search engine marketing.
McKenzie is a top-notch digital strategist with an expertise in Search Engine Optimization, Pay-Per-Click, Social Media Management and Social Media Campaigns. McKenzie time after time continues to deliver high quality web traffic that engages the viewer and gets them to act fast. She strives for 100% customer satisfaction with everything she does and has evolved into a force to be reckoned with in regards to digital marketing with a creative edge.
Jasmina Menkovic, born in Croatia, moved to the United States when she was 3 with a dream she is quickly fulfilling. Now sitting amongst high level VSM digital marketing strategists, Jasmina has proven herself to be a valuable asset when it comes to executing digital marketing campaigns. Her vast experience in the digital world continues to amaze when it comes to achieving a return on investment for VSM clients large and small. She consistently exceeds expectations and strives for nothing less than 100% customer satisfaction.
Caroline VanZoeren, a
seasoned social media professional with over 10 years of experience excels on
all levels in this department. From managing social media channels, to executing
high level ad spend campaigns for a diverse set of VSM clients, she continues to
exceed expectations. Whether the campaign is bold and unconventional or classic
and understated, she implements and executes tailored content guaranteed to engage
any audience.
In addition, she prides herself on staying on
top of trends and adopting out of the box strategies to drive social media engagement.
During an advertising and marketing career spanning more than 40 years Hasse has served as an Account Executive, a Copywriter, a Creative Director and a Director of Research and Planning. Prior to locating to Orlando, he worked for several major advertising agencies in New York City, including J. Walter Thompson, N.W. Ayer and Foote Cone & Belding where he was a Senior Vice President and the Global Creative Director on the Colgate–Palmolive business. His work has been recognized with local and national awards – ADDYs, Effies, the Cannes Film Festival, the NY Film & TV Festival, ADWEEK's Eastern TV Writer of the Year, the International Broadcasting Award and the American Institute of Commercial Production Award, including placement of one of his AT&T Corporate commercials in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Hasse has created advertising for clients in more than 50 categories including packaged goods, financial services, agriculture, telephony, pharmaceuticals automotive, fast food, beverage alcohol, tourism, performing arts, jewelry, apparel, chemicals, real estate, consumer electronics, the U.S. Government, non-profits and more. At VSM Hasse wears two hats, contributing to the agency's copywriting efforts as well as serving as Director of Research & Planning. A graduate of Duke University, he holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance & Commerce.
Angie Palank
is an expert level copywriter, author, and business branding contributor,
working with firms in the top 1% of their industries, including but not limited
to, the travel, online marketing and home design corporations. What started as
a side job many years ago, quickly grew to an extensive portfolio of highly
notable clients on a global scale, with a 100% satisfaction rating. As a
creative writer for VSM, she delivers the highest quality content backed by
statistics that sell not only today, but in the future. With the unyielding
belief that effective content is your single greatest tool, combined with the
goal to always exceed expectations, her driving force is found in the
measurable results of our clients.
Jeremy Rivera, a talented photoshop and videographer, has a knack for high level content creation. His ability to manipulate photos in photoshop provides VSM clients large and small the opportunity to put their best foot forward in regards to their website and social media content. When working with clients, he makes it a point to understand exactly what each client is wanting to achieve prior to snapping one photo or video. Jeremy day after day continues to amaze numerous VSM clients with his unique and creative style of work.
Cathy is an award-winning art director with over 30 years experience, starting her career in advertising at Chernoff Silver and Associates in Maitland, Florida as a mechanical/pasteup artist. Her expertise in comprehensive and conceptual design for corporate branding, collateral development, advertising, publication design, and signage has garnered her local and national awards – ADDYs, Graphic Design: USA, Orlando Sentinel Awards, Best New Biz Website - Canada, and International Association of Business Communicators.
Mary has over 30 years of design and marketing experience, starting in design layout working for a local commercial photographer assisting with layouts for Sunday paper inserts to corporate images from Pad 39A for Northrup Grumman. She transitioned into managing the creative team for an up-and-coming Winter Park ISP creating and overseeing websites such as the City of Winter Park and WMMO. Breaking out on her own, she formed a company that covered the gambit from print work to online presents to acquire consistent brand awareness across all platforms. Always tracking new technologies, she has followed the birth of social media and learned how to capture its wide-reaching audience of today. She has a great love for helping others in the business community to thrive. Mary has a BS in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Central Florida, majoring in Computational Science and Communication with a minor in Marketing. The breadth and depth of experience gives her a well-rounded advantage to every project.
Armen has been in the field of graphic design for 35 years as a photographer, painter and illustrator, schooled in both classical and contemporary approaches. She is a great believer in understanding the clients needs prior to formulating a brand. She constantly seeks to deliver customer satisfaction and is always quick to assist with whatever is needed. She has strong communication skills and a positive demeanor which creates pleasant experiences for clients who interact with her.
Neil Romaine began his career on 3rd Ave in New York City for Draft Direct working on accounts such as HBO, Fidelity Investments, and Chase. He then moved to Orlando, Florida to become VP Media Director for one of the largest agencies working in the Hospitality field - Yesawich, Pepperdine and Brown. There he oversaw accounts such as Visit Mexico, The Breakers, St. Petersburg CVB, and Amtrak to name a few. Following that, Neil went back to his original Direct Response roots and moved to the client side to work for Medical Hair Restoration, one of the leading surgical hair companies in the US. He managed and oversaw a team of 10 people responsible for spending approximately 12,000,000 annually and diversified their media mix from strictly long form TV to both short form and digital. For the last 14 years Neil has been a Principal at Watauga Group and helped take them from a 2-person shop in Orlando to a 50-person media and research company in 3 markets. Some of the major accounts include Holiday Retirement, Smith and Wesson, Hilton properties, and various Health Care establishments throughout the US. Neil consistently works to achieve campaigns that are best of breed, deliver outstanding returns and exceed client expectations.
Michelle is a marketing veteran with more than two decades of experience in brand planning, media strategy, direct mail/media buying and consumer insights for national and regional brands with a specialty in restaurant and retail marketing. As a trade area retail specialist, Michelle has spent most her career focused on building sales for brands like The Home Depot, Ruby Tuesday, and Wickes Furniture. She has led integration of direct marketing from traditional to digital platforms for a variety of brands from City Furniture, Rooms to Go and Stirling Furniture to automotive work with Nissan and Southeast Toyota. Her ability to find the unexpected insight, paired with more than 20 years of negotiation experience, has helped her in leading franchisee and co-op programs across categories spanning restaurant, retail and tourism.
With a PhD in Organizational Communication and over 30-years of media-planning experience in traditional and Internet media, Debra's insights as a digital strategist are rivaled by few. As an Adjunct Professor at the University of Phoenix and Southern New Hampshire University, Debra designs and teaches courses on: Integrated Marketing Communications and Social Media. She has successfully launched Internet Media Planning teams at multiple agencies and orchestrated media planning and buying for major clients such as Hilton Hotels, Taco Bell, and Times-Mirror Cable Television.
Carolyn brings 34 years of experience to the team. Most recently, she worked with the Intercontinental Hotel Group as well as Rawle Murdy where she was responsible for planning and buying media for major accounts representing various real estate groups, and political candidates. Carolyn got her start with Pivec Advertising where she was the spot buyer for the Central Atlantic Toyota Distributors in 17 markets including Philadelphia, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Richmond. Carolyn hails from Charleston and has a Bachelor's in Management Arts. Her strong negotiation skills make her the ideal client advocate to leverage added value promotions and execute plans within key markets.
