Russ Reid

Leadership

“The best talent, creativity and technology should be put to work to solve the most pressing problems facing our world today.” —Russ Reid

Clients often comment on our “deep bench.” At Russ Reid we pride ourselves on seeking out the best people in the business and the brightest minds, then giving them a cause and a working environment that inspires them to excel. We have leaders at all levels of the company, and our senior management team has worked together here for more than a decade.

26 year(s)

14 year(s)

25 year(s)

17 year(s)

Director of Strategy Development, Media & Interactive Services

“I don’t think you can do it.”

That is the very, very last thing you should ever say to Lisa. Because she will prove you wrong.

Oh yes, she will.

You might not pick up on her tenacity right away, because in many ways, she's so easygoing and just downright nice. But there, along with a razor-sharp mind and focused energy, is the rock that won’t be broken.

A former philosophy major, Lisa is always thinking. Always exploring better ways of doing things. And that’s why she’s back with Russ Reid.

For the third time.

Lisa’s take is that, “Every time I go away, I come back better equipped to serve the agency and our clients."

Frankly, it’s hard to argue with her.

She engineered the most radical increase that Operation Smile has ever seen. Their donor base increased 560%, and income went up almost 600%. She was on point for the launch of World Vision Canada's phenomenally successful gift catalog and Best Friends Animal Society's winning new acquisition strategy.

When Lisa wasn’t achieving great things for Russ Reid, she was learning and exploring at Foote, Cone & Belding; Grey; McCann-Erickson and Direct Partners. There, in the commercial sector, she became a direct marketing and strategic planning expert on numerous commercial accounts.

She also developed a real understanding for what makes great brands.

Now that she’s back with Russ Reid, she’s helped refocus and revitalize the agency’s brand. And she successfully launched our interactive division and branding practice.

So what’s next for Lisa?

Whatever it is, just don’t tell her that it can’t be done—unless you’re prepared to admit you were wrong.

17 year(s)

Executive Creative Director

The second daughter in a family of eight children within an 11-year span, Robbin learned at an early age how to creatively manage lots of unruly personalities.

"It was the perfect training for life in an ad agency," says Robbin.

From early on she was also an avid, if not passionate reader and author, penning her first novel, "a mystery set in post-war Germany," she says, at just eight years of age. In high school, she took this skill to the next level. She studied Spanish, French, German and Russian. At Occidental College, her gift for linguistics and philosophy led to a National Science Foundation Fellowship at MIT.

But a funny thing happened on her way to becoming a career academic.

Robbin's consuming interest in creative writing, and a new love in her life led her to move across country and begin her career in direct response advertising.

As a junior copywriter, she wrote a direct mail package that beat the control package for a major client by 700%.

From that point, her career took off like a shot.

Racking up one successful campaign after another, Robbin quickly became SVP and Creative Director at Wonderman West/Young & Rubicam Direct. Then she left to become EVP at Brierly and Partners, where she ran creative, and later strategic planning. There, she helped create Customer Relationship Management programs, with enormously successful campaigns for United Airlines, Hilton, Hertz, Time-Life, UPS, and others.

Since joining Russ Reid in 1994, she has led the agency in pioneering new approaches and strategies in fundraising, which resulted in Echo Award-winning DRTV and DM campaigns, and record-breaking catalogs.

Looking back, it seems like Robbin was meant for this job all along as she deftly manages our unruly group and leads us all to more creative ways to translate our ideas into great results.

22 year(s)

17 year(s)

Director, Washington, D.C.

Mark was not your typical paperboy.

Like other paperboys, he was a kid who worked hard, racing around the neighborhood on his bicycle, delivering the news. But he did something extra--he actually read the papers he delivered.

So began Mark’s passion for the big issues--which led to him becoming a reporter at Yale. Later, Mark landed his first big job as Press Secretary for Louisiana Congressman Bob Livingston. The Congressman was searching for someone from New Orleans with campaign experience. That wasn’t Mark. But he was prepared and persuasive. He got the job, which led to the opportunity of a lifetime--the chance to work for a man headed for the Oval Office.

In 1986, Mark left Congressman Livingston’s staff to become Chief Speechwriter for Vice President George Bush. At Ronald Reagan’s White House, he watched history unfold from a ringside seat.

Mark went on to join Cassidy and Associates, the most storied government relations firm in D.C. There he had many great successes and one startling personal revelation: “If I stayed with Cassidy, I would have had a lot to live on, but not much to live for.”

He remembered the inspirational work of two men he had met years before. They were helping transform the lives of children and families everywhere. So Mark called Russ Reid and Tom Harrison and walked away from his dream success story.

In 1994, Mark opened Russ Reid’s government relations office in Washington, D.C. It was just him, a desk, a chair, a phone--and no clients. Since then, he’s helped raise many millions of dollars for hundreds of nonprofit clients and their causes.

Now the former paperboy has written about the big issues of the day for USA Today, the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and Washington Times. But more than just reading and writing about major events in our nation’s capitol, Mark McIntyre helps make them happen.

14 year(s)

7 year(s)

Making policy--making sausage. They’re a lot alike.

That’s what Clay Boothby says--and he’s done both. He’s better known for helping to craft policy, but during his college days he also made sausage at a meat packing plant near his home in Maine. Both jobs require skill, hard work, and just the right blend of ingredients.

When he wasn’t making sausage, Clay also helped his father win a seat on their town council. This led to meeting Senator George Mitchell of Maine--who hired Clay as an intern.

Following the internship, Sen. Mitchell helped Clay get a job as an elevator operator--inside the U.S. Senate Building. The job had a big upside (no pun intended), because Clay could listen to senators craft and debate policy as he piloted them between floors. Soon he left his elevator job for a staff position with Senator Mitchell.

From there, he went on to work for Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania. After Boothby became one of Ridge’s top advisors, the governor nominated him to work in the Education Department, where he helped pass the landmark “No Child Left Behind Act.”

But a meeting with Russ Reid’s Mark McIntyre changed the course of his career. Mark convinced him that by joining Russ Reid, he could help raise funds for organizations that were doing truly meaningful work. Now Clay works with groups like Youthville, in Wichita, KS, which provides adoption and foster-care services for abused children, and Christian Blind Mission, noted for their work with African children impacted by HIV and AIDS.

Clay Boothby has had a lot of different jobs over the years, but he’d be the first to tell you the ins and outs and ups and downs of all those jobs just didn’t compare with what he’s doing right now. That big smile on his face comes from knowing that he’s using all those skills and all that experience to make the world a better place.

6 year(s)

Eric Mitchell works long and hard to secure government funding for non-profit organizations.

But if you can’t find him on Capitol Hill--or in a meeting with his clients--check the kitchen. He’s probably working on another of his mouth-watering recipes. “I make my own barbecue sauce,” he says.

Eric grew up in Tampa, where he learned to love good barbecue, jazz and politics.

“My parents and grandparents had heated discussions about all sorts of things,” he says. “Social issues, international issues, civil rights…”

He came to Washington to attend Howard University, where one of his heroes, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, had earned his law degree. Eric intended to go on to law school, but that changed when he began working on Capitol Hill. During his 7 year tenure on the Hill, Eric worked for two senior members of Congress, including former civil rights leader, Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.

As Lewis’ policy advisor, Eric focused on appropriations priorities. He helped secure over $11 million in earmarks and helped secure federal support for Georgia State University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia Tech University and many other organizations.

He also advised Rep. Lewis on legislative issues pertaining to education, housing, transportation, energy, labor, urban development, and the environment. And he organized a Congressional Black Caucus Issue Forum to address the enormous infrastructure challenges facing large urban areas.

While working for Congressman Lewis, Mitchell met Mark McIntyre of Russ Reid. “The more I learned about Russ Reid the more excited I got,” he said. “The idea of helping organizations that help other people really appealed to me.”

Today, Eric serves Russ Reid as Vice President of Government Relations. He loves enabling clients to do important work, like helping abused children find healing and hope.

“These are kids who don’t know what it’s like to be loved,” he says. “Everything changes when they’re put in a positive environment where they are cared for and they can learn. It’s amazing to see them smiling and laughing. This is what it’s all about.”