HT Klatzky & Associates - The Agency: Our People

Howard Klatzky, president
For Howard, it's not about getting bigger clients; it's about making clients bigger. Howard founded H. T. Klatzky & Associates on the belief that he could create a unique advertising and public relations agency by producing results-oriented work and creating long-term relationships with clients.

Howard started H. T. Klatzky & Associates in 1975, at age 25. It has since grown to become the largest advertising agency in Duluth and in the region. Today, he maintains that intuitive, entrepreneurial business sense and has fostered an environment that allows a strong team of professionals to grow and thrive. They are passionate about delivering results for their clients.

Howard enjoys offshore fishing on Lake Superior with his son, talking about offshore fishing on Lake Superior, and buying lures for offshore fishing on Lake Superior. He also enjoys cooking, golf, bird hunting, and collecting antiques and old advertising.

Marsha Hystead, senior vice president/senior creative director
Marsha's mother raised her to have a thirst for knowledge. She believes that's the foundation for doing great work that tells a client's story simply and effectively.

Marsha supervises all of the agency's creative functions. (Sometimes she even gets to participate herself!) And she's discovered that doing great work has as much to do with laughter and tears as with sweat and blood.

Marsha spends the rest of her life keeping up with two teens, maintaining beautiful perennial gardens, enjoying the occasional round of golf and walking her chocolate lab.

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

Laurie O’Melia O’Neill, vice president/account manager
As one of the only PRSA-accredited public relations specialists in the region, Laurie knows how to connect her clients to the public-and how to maintain that connection-using her vast communications knowledge and genuine enthusiasm. When it comes to managing our client's brands, LOO (as she's known around the office) is a champion of what is true. She knows that saying something doesn't make it so. So she leads a quest to find the essence of every brand we work with.

On the odd chance she's not at work, LOO enjoys being outdoors, curling up with a good book and being the world's best grandma.

Mike Seyfer, account manager
Mike's strongest asset is his ability to lead a team. Because when the agency is firing on all cylinders, the client wins. That means building trust between clients and the agency team. But it also means knowing where to step it up, when to lie back, and, most importantly, how to communicate.

Mike spends his free time outdoors. He puts Minnesota's natural resources to good use through hunting, fishing, biking and golfing.

Joanne Cirillo, account manager
Joanne's background includes more than 20 years of experience in marketing and public relations for nonprofit organizations. Much of that time has been spent in healthcare, giving her a unique perspective as an account manager at HTK. Joanne doesn't believe in advertising for the sake of advertising. Instead, she'd rather tie marketing and advertising to the two essentials: brand and business strategy.

Musical selections on her iPod currently include “King of the Road” by Roger Miller, “Man That Turned My Momma On” by Tammy Wynette and “76 Trombones” from “The Music Man.” She often listens to them while walking her poodle, Stack.

Alison Schiek, vice president, account manager Rhinelander office
Energetic doesn’t even begin to describe Ali. She worked on the client side of advertising, specialized in marketing, strategic planning and public relations for a large health care organization for several years then co-founded and ran her own agency, Schiek & Widule, of Rhinelander for eleven years. She has recently joined HTK and we couldn’t be happier.

Ali is equal parts creative and analytical and is as effective at solving problems and planning as she is at the creative use of visuals and words. To her, the most exciting part of advertising is being able to make a client’s business more successful by providing a new idea or a solution they hadn’t considered.

Ali is a runner—marathons, half-marathons, 10Ks —you name it she’ll run it. She enjoys skiing of every kind, biking, hiking and has two horses, two golden retrievers, two little girls and one husband that fill her days.

ElizaBeth Lyden, new business director

Joining strategy with creativity is what fuels Elizabeth. She thrives on building strong working partnerships between great people inside and outside the agency–the type of partnerships that have notoriously produced campaigns that get noticed. According to Beth, these are exciting and fun times with outlets like the Web, interactive, podcasts and more changing and opening our avenues of communication.

Beth has been helping advertisers get the word out since she was three years old. Her favorite activity as a child was singing jingles, and her favorite TV show was Bewitched—not because she wanted to be Samantha, but because she wanted to go to work with Darren at the ad agency.

Jean Murphy, assistant account manager
Jean's experience in marketing, together with her fantastic sense of humor, makes her a communicator that clients and account managers can count on to get the job done with ease.

When she's not making sure clients and account managers have what they need, Jean serves on the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College-Superior marketing advisory board. She also finds time for a little reading, journaling, skiing, biking and gardening.

Robin Bue, assistant account manager
A former teacher and passionate learner, Robin always jumps right into the nuts and bolts of each project that passes by her desk. She has a keen ability to get the creative department everything they need to do their best work and embraces the details that go into creating effective advertising.

Reading is Robin’s number one pastime—with fishing, camping and hiking the north woods following close behind.

Patti Widule, assistant account manager Rhinelander office
Patti followed her daughter Molly Widule, co-founder of Schiek & Widule, into the ad business. However, that’s as far as she plans to go. Molly recently moved to Ireland to take up farming. Patti, on the other hand, will be sticking with advertising. A self-professed people person with a great memory, Patti has an almost mythical way of remembering details and anticipating client’s needs. We consider her our great connector—she keeps our work flowing smoothly and our clients up-to-date.

Patti loves to travel—especially to Ireland to visit Molly. She also likes reading, the ocean, long walks and spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Sara Beal, assistant account manager

The energy and creatively charged atmosphere at HTK brings Sara through our doors every morning raring to go. Sharp as a tack—she skillfully supports our account team by conducting research, monitoring budgets, and assisting with public relations activities.

Sara is a student of good creative advertising and has a great appreciation for the process. We all count on her to collect the particulars on a project and inspire us to generate our best work.

Sara enjoys spending downtime with her family. She also likes to knit, read and go to the movies.

MEDIA

Denise Archer, media director
As our media director, Denise scrutinizes every outdoor location, every television buy and every print ad for its ability to connect to a target audience. Because the best message in the world won't have any impact at all if no one sees it.

Outside of work, when she's not computing GRPs, Denise enjoys auto racing and being outdoors, especially in the form of leisurely evening strolls with her hubby and daughter.

Kerry Burcar, media planner/buyer
Determination fuels Kerry's efforts to find effective media solutions for our clients. For her, effective media planning is equal parts analysis and detective work. Because it all begins by reaching the consumer where they live.

Outside of the office, Kerry enjoys bird hunting, home improvement projects and reading lots of magazines.

CREATIVE

Diane Tobin, associate creative director
Growing up, Diane didn't want to be an artist. She had to be one. Drawing was an essential way of communicating her thoughts and feelings. Today, Diane's love of the design process, from concept to execution to impact, is evident in every project she undertakes.

Her interests include golf, water aerobics and snowboarding. And, although she would never describe her self as “one of those people, you know, that always talk about their dog,” her collie, Levi, would beg to disagree.

Mike Scholtz, associate creative director
With a background in documentary filmmaking and journalism, Mike accidentally developed a unique set of skills perfectly suited for advertising. He likes to tell stories. But even more than that, he likes to help other people tell their stories.

As co-founder of the Free Range Film Festival in rural Wrenshall, Minnesota, Mike spends his evenings and weekends fixing up a 90-year-old barn just so he can project independent films inside of it.

Joe Gunderson, senior art director
As an art director, Joe relies heavily on his creative versatility. He knows the importance of matching the right artistic style with the right brand, infusing every client's work with a design sense that runs from crisp to wild.

A native of Alborn, Minn., Joe enjoys home improvement projects, running and puttin' a line in the water.

Jeff Ruprecht, senior art director
With an extensive background in interactive design, Jeff has seen the future of advertising. (And it is good.) Some people may find his interest in the latest innovations a bit obsessive. We find it absolutely necessary.

In his spare time, he likes to spend time with his family and build houses. Not surprisingly, Jeff doesn't have a whole lot of spare time.

Phil Davidson, art director
Over the years, Phil's work has been showered with much praise, kind words and Addys. While he thinks that stuff is really nice, he'd much rather knock his clients' socks off with outstanding work.

Phil would make a lousy postal worker. He can't stand the thought of facing the same old routine day after day. (Which explains why he likes to coach junior high baseball and football in his spare time.) Advertising keeps Phil on his toes. And that's exactly where he wants to be.

Deb Salzer, graphic artist

Deb's keen design sense started with her first box of Crayola crayons. Her easygoing personality, dedication and skills allow her to do her job with ease. Deb's graphic design has helped clients to boost their products and reach an audience.

Deb says if she were stranded on a deserted island, she would insist on having a snorkel and a hair de-frizzer. When she's not working, Deb enjoys snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, canoeing and campfires.

Janice Lowther, graphic artist

The best part of any elementary school day for Janice was doing cool art projects. Recess was a close second. Today, as an accomplished designer, the best part of her day remains doing cool art projects. Her keen eye and ability to connect ideas and design make the work she does effective and striking. And really cool too.

Recess for Janice these days includes snowboarding, mountain biking and training the best dog in the world, her Vizsla Rupert. She was once a surgical technician major, so she also likes science stuff too.

Jake Kapsner, senior writer
Reporter, columnist and copywriter, Jake can write…write…write. From giving his copy a distinctive voice to winning Addy awards, is there anything this guy can't do with the written word?

Nope.

Jake enjoys soccer, beach life on Park Point, camping and doing just about anything with his daughters whenever he isn't writing.

Tara Olson Tara Alfonsi, writer
Ever since she can remember, Tara has been using writing to express herself. Back in the day, she channeled her passion into writing elaborate plays for her sometimes unwilling friends to perform. Today, she puts that flair for the dramatic to work for her clients.

A self-proclaimed news junkie, Tara has worked as communications director for several local political campaigns. In addition to her political work, she was recently selected to be one of 31 community catalysts for Duluth’s Knight Creative Communities Initiative, and she enjoys acting in Renegade Comedy Theater and local film productions. Born and raised in Duluth, Tara lives to break a sweat year-round, from running 5 and 10Ks (and hopefully, a half-marathon!) in the summer to downhill and cross-country skiing in the winter.

Denise Burgess, writer
Denise has extensive experience in the field of mass communications and advertising and has been filling blank pages with advertising and public relations copy since the early 80s. She’s also worked as an elementary school teacher, so she knows how to get through to tough audiences.

Denise likes to volunteer for anything that promotes education and has volunteered as a tutor, a Destination Imagination advisor and a Kids Vote coordinator. Today she serves on the board of Little Treasures Child Care and Family Center.

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

Cindy Peterson, production manager

Born and raised in the area, Cindy takes pride in Duluth. And she takes pride in her work, too. She has a genuine passion for paper and a reputation with vendors for being "firm, but always with a smile.”
Once upon a time, Cindy served on the Lake Superior Ad Federation board. These days, she takes it easy by spending time with her two daughters and hubby. They enjoy golfing, biking, rollerblading, camping, gardening and photography.