About us

Jerry is a thirty-year ad agency veteran. Most notably as co-founder of Dallas-based SWJ Advertising, which was later purchased by Havas Holdings Worldwide.

SWJ's core competency was retail/transaction-based marketing with an emphasis on measurable media programs. Clients included Pizza Hut, Sprint, CompUSA, Hewlett-Packard, CSK Auto, Golfsmith, Service Corporation.

Prior to SWJ Jerry was President of Los Angeles-based Italia Partners, with offices in LA, Dallas, Denver and Chicago.

Jerry has been recognized with numerous industry awards and honors for creative excellence and program performance. Jerry received his BA in Architecture from the University of Washington.

Dino is responsible for the creative lead across our portfolio of brands. Overseeing creative, production and talent as well as responsible for work across all media channels and the development of retail experiences.

Formerly Dino was GM/EVP/Creative Director for Italia Partners Chicago office. There he worked on national clients such as CompUSA, Sears, True Value and EAS Sports Nutrition. As VP/Creative Director for Sports Partners he created retail promotions and event marketing for Wendy’s, McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Service Merchandise. He has also created and executed national and regional promotions for clients such as General Motors, Chevrolet, Cadillac, AT&T and Subway.

Lissa’s favorite part of the work has always been in using real and authentic target insights to build strategic and honest brands. She’s been at it for over 20 years, since starting her career at DDB Chicago in the 1990s. Lissa has worked on global accounts that include Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, WM Wrigley, and Dell, Emerson and Pentair. When you don’t find Lissa immersed in solving the latest message or brand strategy, chances are she’s working alongside the creative team to help home in on the best ideas and refine the work for the biggest impact.

Brandi has over 12 years experience in the marketing/advertising industry. In her role as Account Executive at Wessels and Associates, she serves as a liaison between client and agency. Prior to joining Wessels and Associates, Brandi was employed with Axcess Marketing Group. At Axcess, Brandi was the Account Executive and Traffic Manager on accounts including CompUSA, Golfsmith and Service Merchandise. She was with Axcess Marketing from 1998-2010. Brandi received a bachelor's degree from the University of South Florida in 1995. She and her husband moved to Texas in 1998 where she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter.

Carlos has over 20 years of advertising experience focusing on the U.S. Hispanic market. Carlos has led Hispanic campaigns for several blue chip clients including McDonald's, Six Flags, Southwest Airlines, AutoZone, Fiesta, Academy Sports & Outdoors and Sears Optical. In 2005, Carlos founded The Creative Exchange, a Hispanic-centric creative, production, post-production agency. Wessels & Associates enjoys a strategic partnership with Carlos to provide our clients with a turn-key, Hispanic marketing resource.

Beatrice has been creating successful campaigns for clients of all types and sizes for more than 25 years. Most notably, she created the campaign that helped take CompUSA from three stores to over 300. Her work for Youbet.com resulted in the single largest handle of any wagering outlet in history – a 280% increase over the year before. Over the course of her career, she has worked on Mattel, McDonald's, True Value, Safeway, Lamps Plus, Guitar Center, JC Penney and Proactiv Solution, to name just a few. Prior to Wessels & Associates, she was the owner/creative director of the Ad Barn.