The Stephan Partners Team
George Stephan
Founder and Managing Partner
He has won widespread recognition as a global leader in promise-based branding and digital marketing. George has developed branding and digital marketing campaigns for a variety of clients designed to maximize their impact on sales and profits -- including corporate work for Time Warner (Time Inc. Magazines), Thomson Interactive, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, Nielsen ProNet, MCEnergy, Guardian Water & Power, Rodale, PBS Thirteen, NYU Langone Medical Center, Smithsonian Magazine, Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau, Reed Group, Maggie Maternity, VOX Magazine, The Zena Resort and DuPont. His Watermelon Social personal branding and content marketing clients include senior professionals, corporate sales teams and professional athletes.
Prior to Stephan Partners, George founded Stephan Direct, a full-service direct marketing agency based in New York City. Before that, he managed consumer packaged goods accounts including Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Mars for three of the largest worldwide agencies: BBDO, FCB and Publicis.
George has been an instructor in account management, branding and strategy at the Parsons School of Design. He has written articles and given speeches about his views on promise-based branding and digital marketing. George lives in New York and Maine with his wife, his daughter and his dog, Walter. He is also a mentor to Matthew, a 16 year old in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. George is a distance swimmer and a single digit golfer.
Kei Matsuyama
Digital Marketing Director
Kei played a key role in growing Stephan Partners and launching Watermelon Social, a personal branding and content marketing agency. She worked as Senior Digital Strategist/Account Director at Stephan Partners where she managed the Time Inc. and Guardian Water & Power accounts. Before that she was Marketing and Sales Strategist at I&OC of Japan where she worked with blue chip brands such as Dial, Purex and Renuzit. She over a decade of experience in international business, digital marketing and sales in the US and abroad.
Kei graduated with a BA in Marketing and International Business from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan as a Dean’s Honor Scholar and Valedictorian. As a community advocate, in her downtime she contributes to community building projects for underserved youth. She also practices judo and loves learning new languages, woodworking and performing Balkan folk music.
Carolyne Berkeley
Customer Insights Director
She has twenty five years of experience in market research and strategy development with leading advertising agencies and brands. She led research and planning teams at BBDO and Lowe, and was Partner and Director of Strategic Services at Gardner Nelson & Partners. She has established a successful market research consulting practice; her clients have included Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Sullivan, JWT and Unilever.
Carolyne has used her knowledge of market research design, data analysis and presentation to uncover insights for brands such as Charles Schwab, the NYSE, Mountain Dew, KFC, Office Depot, Columbia Business School, Cornell Tech and too many more to mention.
She is a graduate of Smith College and has a MBA from Columbia Business School.
Bob Perkins
Strategic Services Director
His career has covered all facets of the marketing communications -- from political fundraising, starting a direct marketing agency, President of a full service agency, Chief Marketing Officer for three global brands, a senior position at the US Chamber of Commerce, and working as a consultant and Board member.
This experience has made Bob a highly successful senior business leader and strategist -- establishing the appropriate structure, crafting the business plan, defining objectives, and building communication and positioning road maps, creating and managing teams for profit and non-profit corporations.
Bob consults with large corporations on communication and business strategies in the United States and Europe. Key clients have included Pfizer, the Financial Times, Ricoh Imaging, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Bob also has served as a consultant to mid-sized companies wishing to rapidly expand. Examples of these clients are Sportsgenic, a technology platform to integrate media buying across on and off-line properties, Accelitec, a provider of next generation Customer Relationship Management software for retailers, and AdRevolution, an Austin-based technology company focused on improving the response rate to email offers.
For five years Bob was the Lead Director for 24/7 Real Media. He joined the Board in 2001 as the company faced bankruptcy and worked with management until it was sold to WPP for $649 million. He now serves on the Board of Director's of Collective Intellect, a Boulder, Colorado based provider of research on the Social Internet, Transpera, a San Francisco based company that delivers video advertising on mobile phones and PunchBowl Software, a party planning service with a strong ecommerce platform.
His earlier positions include Senior Vice President of Marketing for Pizza Hut, founder of Perkins/Butler Direct Marketing, various assignments at Chiat/Day advertising, were he became President of the New York office, and head of Global Marketing and Licensing for Calvin Klein.
Bob has a Masters in Economics from Texas Tech University, was a jet instructor pilot during his Air Force tour of duty, and serves on the board of the non-profit American Health Initiatives. His three passions are his partner, Joni Evans, snow skiing and golf. He lives in New York City.
Steve Meltzer
Creative Director/Branding
A successful entrepreneurial team leader with extensive experience delivering creative solution in U.S. and Asia-Pacific markets, he has held regional leadership positions in Hong Kong and Australia with Rapp Collins, J. Walter Thompson and Leo Burnett, where he was a driving force in launching integrated marketing practices throughout the agencies' Asia-Pacific networks. He is recognized as one of the early advocates of Internet-driven marketing and brand-building, serving clients including Citibank, Ford, Shangri-la Hotels, AOL, Mercedes Benz, Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong Telecom and Cathay Pacific, among others.
In 2000, Steve joined the Greater China headquarters of the $2.5 billion professional services firm, marchFIRST, as Vice President, Brand Building Partner, where he managed teams responsible for branding, integrated media support, marketing strategy and all user experience elements for complex transactional websites. His clients included the People's Republic of China Ministry of Rail, United Broadcasting Company (Thailand), Dentsu Communications (Tokyo), eNETVision (Hong Kong) and Morgan Stanley Asia.
Steve returned to the US in 2001, and has provided creative, strategic planning and communications services to clients including Military OneSource, a Department of Defense family services initiative; Cox Communications; IntelSat General; US Department of Agriculture; UBC TV, the Thai national cable TV provider; Montgomery County Maryland Emergency Preparedness Center; The American Prospect magazine and The Center for American Progress.
Jim Parry
Creative Director/Branding
Before Watermelon Social, Jim was a consultant to ad agencies such as Avrett, Free & Ginsberg, Burson-Marsteller, Della Femina, Deutsch, Grey, Hill Holliday and Messner, Vetere and was a consultant directly to advertisers such as CBS Television, Combe, Inc. and World Wildlife Fund.
Before that, he was a founder and Creative Director of two ad agencies: Posey, Parry & Quest and then James Parry, Inc. Here his clients included Best Western Hotels, Conoco, General Foods, Nivea, Pfizer, Pinkerton, Reader's digest and US Magazine.
Jim has held creative positions at a half dozen ad agencies, including two that started the so-called creative revolution: Carl Ally and Jack Tinker. He has won four Clios; ten 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in The One Show; four 1st place Andys; gold and silver medals from The Copy Club of New York; several medals from the International TV & Film Festival; a Bronze Lion at Cannes.
Jim received a BA from Harvard. He has also had a novel published by HarperCollins and has sold screenplays to Columbia and Universal.
Carol Bokuniewicz
Creative Director/Branding
She brings extensive experience as a creative director, art director and graphic designer to client campaigns. Prior to Watermelon Social, Carol founded the first all woman ad agency in New York. Her clients included CBS Television, USA Weekend, Scalamandre Silks, Osh Kosh B'Gosh shoes, Mikasa Retail Stores, Sam and Libby shoes and Absorba Childrenswear.
Before that, Carol was founding partner of one of the leading design firms in the country. M&Co produced ground breaking work that included corporate identity programs, advertising, annual reports, product design, record covers, promotional materials and custom publications for Bloomingdales, Revlon, Audubon Magazine, National Lampoon, The Talking Heads, The Rolling Stone, Billy Joel, Manufacturer's Hanover and Carnegie Hall.
Independent clients have included Lifetime Television, Viacom, Paramount, Fox TV, Hearst, Meredith Corporation, Warner Books, Nick and Eddie Restaurants and Lincoln Center.
Larry Lynn
Development Counsel
Larry brings forty-four years of institutional fund raising experience to his development practice. The four nationally renowned organizations where he has served as chief development officer encompass a broad spectrum of non-profit activities, including primary, secondary, and higher education, scientific research, social services, health care, public television, and the performing arts. He has conceived and executed capital campaigns ranging from $15 million to $325 million. Departments under his leadership have won awards from PBS and the American Association of Medical Colleges.
He began his career at what is now the National Center on Employment and Disability. Its Human Resources School for severely handicapped children, and Abilities, Inc., its demonstration work facility, are world-renowned. In 1979, he joined American Ballet Theatre as part of a team assembled by its then-new artistic director, Mikhail Baryshnikov. Eight years later, the new president of Thirteen/WNET, flagship of the PBS system, recruited him to head Membership and Development and launch Thirteen’s first capital campaign. In 1991, Larry became Vice President for Development for NYU Medical Center, responsible for the planning and execution of a $325 million capital campaign and a $45 million annual effort.
A frequent speaker at fund raising conferences, Larry is the author of a teleplay entitled “Cracking the Big Gift” commissioned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He has served on several non-profit boards, including The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, and the Hudson Valley Children’s Museum. He is Mayor of the incorporated village of Grand View-on-Hudson in New York.