Darien Barlow

Darien is our resident mastermind of project management. Darien’s vital role as Project Manager includes estimating time and money for projects, creating schedules and, of course, managing projects through their production life cycle. It’s a daunting task, but Darien handles it deftly and has become an invaluable team member. To unwind, Darien likes to run and is a die-hard Auburn University sports fan.

Molly Folse

Tireless work ethic? Fantastic writer? Great attitude? Yep, that’s Molly in a nutshell. Molly joined Luckie about a year ago as a substitute Proofreader. Since then, she has transitioned into a full-time role as Digital Content Coordinator, supplying mountains of copy for websites; creating social media and content calendars; and helping to perfect our clients’ websites. Molly honed her writing skills as a copy editor and writer for various Birmingham publications, including a stint as managing editor at Birmingham Weekly. Molly enjoys cooking, photography and bargain hunting.

Lois Krolikowski

As Luckie Strategic PR continues to grow, so does our need for talented team members. Enter Lois, our new Account Executive. Before coming to Luckie, Lois gained experience with firms specializing in franchises and consumer products, securing hundreds of local and national interviews for clients such as AAMCO Transmissions, Huddle House, The Pita Pit, Mythic Paint and Lawn Doctor. Lois is an Auburn graduate and is planning a summer wedding with her fiance.

Tom Miller

We’re not afraid to brag that Luckie is home to some of the brightest developers in the South, and Tom is one of those guys we’re happy to have. Prior to Luckie, Tom gained experience as a lead developer for applications to manage natural gas pipelines. Since coming into the Luckie fold, he’s done great work on less explosive things, including BackedByBayer.com and Bayer Advanced extranet.

Evan Travers

They don’t come any nicer, or smarter, than Evan. Our newest Developer is responsible for implementing the front-end code that makes our projects look great on any device or browser. He’s an expert in Web standards, HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Evan possesses a keen creative and analytical mind – in his spare time he dabbles in photography and solving mind-boggling  mathematical computer problems.

Tralana Wyatt

There’s nothing like reuniting with old friends. Tralana rejoined Luckie late last summer after a five-year vacation. Tralana is a key part of our Direct Marketing team, serving as a Production Coordinator and managing audits of our mailings for AT&T. She also makes sure artwork and proofs are approved. She’s currently completing her MBA in Human Resource Management and loves spending time with family, friends and her sorority.

Shari Wimberly

The role of agency Proofreader is one of the most vital important positions at Luckie. Thankfully, we have Shari as guardian of accuracy. Prior to joining us, Shari worked at My Recipes.com as production assistant and as a contract copy editor/proofreader for Oakstone Medical Publishing. Shari loves to sing, even along with appliances like washers and dryers. She also enjoys movies and unwinding with a newspaper.

Piper Weaver

Piper impressed us so much during her stint as a Design Intern that we just couldn’t let her go. As our Junior Designer, she has crafted outstanding images as part of our Creative team. Those images include the fantastic graphics featured in our monthly Luckie Family Panel series. Piper, a native of Northern California, is a big fan of the outdoors, especially skiing and hiking. She also loves keeping up with her sketchbook and baking.

Suzanne Smiley

A few months ago, we were looking to hire a new External Traffic Coordinator. Little did we realize that the perfect candidate was right under our noses. Suzanne, formerly a New Business Intern, seamlessly transitioned into her new role. Suzanne helps open and traffic Luckie’s new jobs while also keeping in touch with publications that run our ads. In her spare time, she volunteers with local Boys and Girls Clubs and Save First, helping low-income families prepare their taxes.

Sadie Mason-Smith

They say first impressions last longest, and that’s why Sadie is the first face you see when visiting Luckie. Her infectious personality makes her the perfect fit for her role as Receptionist. Sadie is well-versed, boasting a background in technical writing, office administration and proofing. And she also has a magnificent singing voice, which she’ll gladly demonstrate. Sadie also blogs about science fiction under the her pseudonym “liricos” at macabremansion.com.

Elizabeth Marbury

Liz is definitely a go-getter, and that’s why she excels as our Office Assistant. Liz manages the vital, yet overlooked, areas of Luckie’s daily operations including office supplies; maintaining the kitchens and conference rooms; and outgoing mail. Originally from Florence, AL and a graduate of Ole Miss, Liz previously worked in the construction and banking industries.

Edward Bowser is Community Manager at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by e-mail or follow @etbowser on Twitter.

Meet the newest members of our Account Management team.

Wendy Blaszyk

Wendy joined Luckie last fall and took the reins as an Account Supervisor, leading our efforts with Bayer Properties and Alfa Insurance. Much of Wendy’s career has been in the world of retail, working for Parisian both in Birmingham and Atlanta and then joining Intermark Group to work on St. Vincent’s, Goody’s and RBC Bank. She also spent three years at Hoffman Media, where helped launch magazines such as “Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade” and “Cooking with Paula Deen.”

Brian Conley

Brian’s a very familiar face at Luckie. He spent nearly seven years here before departing for Louisville, Ky., back in 2008. We’re thrilled to welcome him back as an Account Supervisor for Regions Bank. Brian handles day-to-day management of the account and helps meet the client’s marketing needs, including strategy and creative development. Brian enjoys college sports, tennis, mountain biking and spending time with his family.

Ashley Wilbanks

Ashley, our Account Supervisor, boasts a diverse resume. She has worked in account management, business development and as a retail marketing manager. She even worked in corporate marketing for Regions Bank – experience that has served her well on our Regions team. Ashley loves running, traveling, college football and relaxing with family – including her husband, daughter and newborn girl.

Elizabeth Boldin

Elizabeth is not only one of the friendliest faces at Luckie, she’s also a key member of our Regions Bank team, serving as an Account Executive. Elizabeth is a graduate of Boston University and joined Luckie after stints with Conventures in Boston and Hoffman Media in Birmingham. Elizabeth loves to go antiquing, cooking, gardening and blogging.

Tracie Ray

Tracie is one of the newest faces around the office, but it didn’t take long for her to fit right in. As Area Marketing Manager, Tracie manages the many projects we handle for all of Regions’ field marketing directors, along with corporate special projects. Originally from Mississippi, Tracie has a degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi. For the past six years, she’s been an officer in a women’s Mardi Gras organization in Mobile and is very active with Junior League of Mobile.

Katherine Baugh

Katherine brings great energy to the agency in her role as Account Coordinator. While Katherine’s primary responsibility is her work with our client Bayer Properties, she also has a big role with Alfa Insurance, The Virginia Samford Theatre, Balch & Bingham and United Way. Katherine loves to give back to the community and volunteers with many organizations, including the Junior Executive Board of the American Red Cross, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention board and Friends of St. Jude.

Edward Bowser is Community Manager at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by e-mail or follow @etbowser on Twitter.

Every moment that I have an opportunity, whether it’s when I’m interviewing a prospective new hire or talking to a client, I can say with pride that Luckie & Company is better than ever.

I’ve always been proud of our agency and its rich legacy. But I’ve been especially proud that during the last two or three years, despite one of the worst economic downturns in history, we have been able to thrive.

Yeah, I’m a glass half full kind of guy, but these days, we have even more reason to celebrate. I’d like to share three reasons why Luckie is doing better than ever.

Best Companies to Work for in Alabama

Wednesday evening, Luckie was named the third best medium-sized company to work for in Alabama. We were ranked based on an anonymous survey that was conducted by the Best Companies Group. So, our success is directly attributed to our employees. When our staffers love their job it certainly makes us feel like we’re doing something right.

Acquisition of Integrative Logic

One of our goals is increasing the effectiveness of marketing communications by offering clients a key service they can’t get from most other agencies. That led to our recent acquisition of Integrative Logic, an Atlanta-based data and analytics marketing firm. The Integrative Logic team digs deep into geodemographic, behavioral and sales data to create more targeted advertising, direct marketing, PR, digital and social media programs that help clients achieve a higher return on investment.

Integrative Logic has built a reputation on their unique and innovative approach to business. Their analytical skills and insight will turn data into a competitive advantage.

The new and improved Luckie.com

In the digital arena, Luckie refuses to take a back seat to the competition. If you haven’t done so already, check out the new look of Luckie.com. Our new branding emphasizes that Luckie tells stories that builds brands and that theme permeates throughout the site. Our digital team has created a website that is fresh, contemporary, easy to navigate and has plenty of reasons why we are better than ever.

Now you can see why I can so enthusiastically say these days that Luckie is better than ever.  I know that in the general business of marketing communications one must be proud of your brand to be successful. I am, and we are. Believe the hype.

Tom Luckie is President of Luckie & Company. You can contact him by email.

Photo credit: mstephens7 via Flickr

Who wouldn’t want to do business with a guy who has such an inviting personality? That’s what we’re banking on as John leads Luckie’s new business efforts.

But John isn’t just a nice guy – he possesses the experience and smarts to really help Luckie thrive.

John brings us a strong background in marketing and business development on both the agency and client side. Most recently, John worked as CMO at RP3 Agency in Bethesda, Md., where he used digital and social media with traditional marketing practices to gain clients like Norfolk Southern Railroad, Draftix, Commerce Bank, and many others. On the client side, he has used his expertise to assist large brands like Sony Electronics, Phillips Consumer Electronics and Uniden America. John has relaunched a regional agency into the digital space, run a satellite office for a global agency, and turned an award winning design firm into a full service boutique agency. He also has worked as an adjunct professor at American University for five years and was recently named as one of the top professors and CMOs on Twitter by Social Media Marketing Magazine.

Obviously, this is a guy who likes to stay busy.

In his very limited spare time, John loves to share his passion of new media on his blog, johnheenan.typepad.com/adblogging. Stop by and check it out.

Best of all, John is an all-around great guy – a fact that his family can personally attest to. John is married to Lisa Heenan and they have four children: David, Katie, Danny and Robby.

We’re excited to have John at  Luckie, and we can’t wait for him to share Luckie’s story with our new clients. If you’d like to hear more about John’s story, he can be reached by email and @jheenan on Twitter.

Edward Bowser is Community Manager at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by email or follow @etbowser on Twitter.

Chris Zobel

One of the agency’s New Year’s resolutions was to get smarter in all things digital, and Chris is here to pave the way. As Director of Digital Strategy, Chris will be leading the charge on all of our digital efforts, working as part of the overall strategy and planning group. Chris joins us after working for TBWA/Chiat/Day on the Nissan digital marketing business, where he and his team launched the auto industry’s first iAd/iPad campaign. An avid musician, Chris keeps busy with his wife, Amy, and two sons, Mason and Griffin.

Michael Vizzina

Another key player in our digital efforts is Michael, Luckie’s Senior Interaction Designer. Michael brings a wealth of experience in interactive design, including work on intranets  for Deutsche Bank, ING, and JP Morgan. His digital work also includes numerous dot-com clients, projects for Coca-Cola, UPS.com, and Bellsouth.net. When Michael takes a break from the digital world, you can usually find him restoring vintage cars, especially his Pininfarina.

Rich Guglielmo

We’re excited to welcome Rich on board as an Associate Creative Director. He worked for about a month as a freelancer, and he was so good that we had to hire him. Rich is a native of New York and spent a good deal of time at McCann Erickson before he met a Southern girl and headed this way.  He has worked his magic for many respectable clients,  including Verizon, U.S. Army, Capital One, Wendy’s, and Gillette.

Tanna Griggs

Before joining Luckie as our new Print Production Manager, Tanna plied her trade at Southern Progress/Time Inc. as an advertising production coordinator. Prior to that, she worked at EBSCO Printing and even had a career in elementary education. She holds degrees in Early Childhood Education and Graphic Design.

Glenny Brock

Glenny might be a new employee, but she’s a familiar face at Luckie. She served as a freelance proofreader for months before being hired as our full-time Proofreader. She joins us after many years of serving as Editor in Chief at the Birmingham Weekly and currently is finishing up a teaching position at Birmingham-Southern College.  She has a passion for creative writing and poetry and serves as Volunteer Coordinator/Founder of Friends of the Lyric Theatre.

Rebecca Benton

Rebecca, our Quality Control Manager, comes to us from Southern Progress Corporation, where she worked for 15 years as a copy editor, managing editor and operations manager. She puts her editing experience to great use on our AT&T account, managing the flow of content and helping us to meet pre-production deadlines. Rebecca loves to bake, work in her garden and she has two show horses that compete regularly.

Claudia Worrell

At Luckie, all jobs begin and end with Claudia. As External Traffic Coordinator, Claudia handles the agency’s job starts and closings, along with other print traffic responsibilities. Claudia graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2007 with a B.A. in Marketing Communications and has most recently served as Marketing Coordinator at Vulcan Park and Museum.

Chris Nager

Chris worked as an intern for us last year after graduating from Samford University and he was too good to let go. As our new Digital Designer, uses his skills to bring the latest front-end technology and graphic design to create amazing interactive experiences. He’s already been a key player in many of our projects, including our ongoing website redesign.

Miranda Jarrell

Miranda has only been with us a couple of weeks but she already has been hard at work as the newest Account Executive for Luckie PR. Miranda comes to us from St. Petersburg, Fla., where she has worked with a wide scope of brands, including Pet Promise dog food, Bolthouse Farms Creamy Yogurt Salad Dressings, Vitamin Angels. Her exceptional writing and storytelling skills have helped her clients land coverage on  Today, CNN, Newsweek and a ton of mom blogs and local media.

Edward Bowser is Community Manager at Luckie & Company. You can contact him by e-mail or follow @etbowser on Twitter.