CEO

John Barnes is CEO of Mercury Media and is responsible for leading the strategic direction and day to day operations of Mercury Media.

He has over 25 years of experience leading both full service advertising agencies and diversified media companies. His broad range of marketing communications experience gives him great insight into building businesses and integrating multiplatform services.

Over his career he has run the communications programs for some of the leading marketers including P&G, J&J, Kodak, Unilever, Nabisco, Frito Lay, Holiday Inns, Hyundai, Kia, New Line Cinema, Adidas, Philips, Jenny Craig, DiTech, Dish Networks, Tourism Australia, CBS, Lifetime, Labatt, Stanley Tools, Petco and many more.

Prior to joining Mercury, he served as Managing Director of Carat, West, where he played an instrumental role in establishing Carat as a dominant West Coast media company. He previously served as Managing Director for Ammiratti Puris and Lintas in New York where he led the marketing campaigns on behalf of numerous blue chip clients.

John is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Chief Financial Officer

William A. Cunningham is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Mercury Media, where he is responsible for the financial and accounting operations of Mercury Media.

Cunningham previously held positions as Vice President and Controller of Lin TV Corp, a public television and digital media company, where he helped the company grow from 11 stations to 27 stations and assisted with its Initial Public Offering (IPO). He also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of SF Broadcasting, a joint venture between Savoy Pictures Entertainment and Fox Television Stations, Vice President, Finance & Administration for Fox News, Inc. and Vice President, Finance & Administration with WTTG-TV, a television station owned by Fox Television Stations.

Cunningham is a certified public accountant with extensive experience in accounting system implementation, SEC reporting including Sarbanes Oxley, and operational and financial accounting.

No team in the business has more experience and greater depth of knowledge than we do.

Mercury professionals are the best—with the expertise, drive and innovative thinking to help you achieve optimum performance.

Senior Vice President, Short Form

Prior to joining Mercury Media, Maria Eden was the co-founder and President of Direct Response Media, Inc. (DRMi), a full-service media agency based in Wayne, Pennsylvania. With more than 30 years of successful direct response media management experience, Maria has expertise in all aspects of media including television, newspaper, magazine, radio and inbound telemarketing. She also has extensive experience on the client side. As Media Director for National Liberty Marketing (now AEGON), a leader in direct response advertising, Maria developed an in-house television media buying service and grew billings to $22 million over four years – a pioneering and extremely successful effort in the direct marketing industry. Maria has also held positions as Media Director for Byrnes and Takiff, working with major clients such as Union Fidelity. While in this position, Maria worked to establish and grow Union Fidelity’s veteran’s insurance and medical supplement products. Previously, she was East Coast Account Representative for NICE Corporation (now Convergys).

Maria earned a Master’s degree from Syracuse University and is a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), Electronic Retailers Association (ERA), and former Director of the Response Magazine Advisory Board and a member of the DMA Broadcast Council.

Vice President, Managing Director, Short Form

Gina is Vice President, Managing Director of Mercury’s Philadelphia office and is responsible for the growth and strategic direction of the short form division. She brings over 20 years’ experience in direct response media buying and management. Gina is instrumental in building Mercury’s short-form business in both revenue and staffing perspectives. Her superior skills in effective communication, leadership, and business development have allowed her to grow from her previous role as VP, Director of Media. During those three years, she played an intricate role in the development and success of a myriad of campaigns. Prior to joining Mercury she was Vice President, Media at Direct Response Media.

Vice President Client Services, Short Form

Nikki Kearney is Vice President of Client Services in our Philadelphia office and is responsible for overseeing the Client Services department with a focus on client management, program analysis and campaign development. She also manages the Media Operations department which handles all operational program setup/integration. Prior to joining the Mercury Team, Nikki served as the Associate Director of Account Services at Direct Response Media and prior to that was the Marketing Manager for LA Weight Loss Centers, Inc. where she planned, developed, and implemented campaigns across media, including television, radio, print, direct mail, and online. Nikki brings a breadth of experience to all areas of creating and executing successful direct response campaigns on national, regional, and local levels. Nikki graduated with honors from Penn State University with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Business.

President, Performance Guarantee Group

Beth is President of Performance Guarantee Group in Boston and is responsible for leading the strategic direction and day-to-day operations.

Since joining Mercury in 2001, she has led the firm to significant year-over-year growth by attracting clients that include Mandalay Bay Resorts Group, Neutrogena,LifeLock, Liberty Medical, Boost Mobile, Conair, Vegas.com and many more well-known brands. Prior to joining Mercury, Beth held leadership positions at both AIG and Liberty Mutual and brings more than 20 years of leadership experience guiding teams to successfully help clients significantly and measurably grow their businesses.

Vice President, Director of Client Services, Performance Guarantee

Kristi is Vice President, Director of Client Service of Mercury Media Boston. Kristi brings motivated and tenacious leadership to the Mercury team and her tireless work ethic, attention to detail and commitment to quality ensure that each client’s goals are thoroughly exceeded. Kristi offers over 12 years of client management, marketing and strategic business development experience to Mercury’s clients. She managed client services in traditional media and creative agencies including Gyro Worldwide, Arnold and Hill Holliday.

Kristi holds a BA in History and BS in Education from Villanova.

Senior Vice President Media, Performance Guarantee

As Sr. VP of Media for Mercury Media Boston, Cheryl leads a team of 20 direct response media professionals for the Performance Guarantee Group. With over 15 years of experience in direct response media, Cheryl prides herself on the strength of her long-standing relationships within the industry. She has an in-depth understanding of metric analysis via direct response marketing ensuring Mercury continues to provide savvy, effective and cost efficient media plans with high ROIs across various industries. Under her leadership, Mercury Media became the first agency to provide clients with Direct Response national cable sponsorships, create quarterly media package deals across numerous networks and provide clients with guaranteed media results against their marketing objectives.

Cheryl has her undergraduate degree in Advertising from Hofstra University and a Master’s degree in Communications from Clark University. She is active in the Electronic Retail Association, Electronic Media Marketing Association and is a member of the JW Greensheet Green Ribbon panel.

Vice President, Director of Client Services, Long Form

Olga Ackad manages the company’s Long Form client services division in Santa Monica. Olga embodies client service attitude we value at Mercury. She is driven to exceed client expectation. She is fully dedicated to closely managing the media campaigns for each of our clients making sure we are getting the most out of their media spend. Her team advises clients in all aspects of a direct marketing campaign in order to maximize performance. Olga has a well-rounded and all-encompassing knowledge of the Direct Response industry.

Vice President Media, Long Form

Joel manages the company’s Long Form buying division in Santa Monica. Under Joel’s strategic leadership, Mercury Media owns and manages some of the largest broadcast, cable, satellite, Spanish and Canadian paid programming schedules in the current media landscape.

Joel joined Mercury in 2002 with more than 17 years of direct response advertising experience. As Media Director for Williams Worldwide, the largest direct response advertising agency in the 90’s, Joel negotiated profitable national cable and broadcast media schedules for Kal Kan, Sega, Braun, Hoover, Princess Cruises and Philips. He also held a leadership position at WorldLink, the country’s largest direct response sales organization, to become Director of Sales for both the LA and NY offices. Managing direct response sales for the FOX Sports and Comcast Sports national and regional networks, Schaeffer created profitable direct response schedules for Ameritrade, Bose, Dell, Phillips, Sears and Sprint.

Joel holds a BA in English Literature from California State University Northridge.

Mercury iMarketing approaches interactive marketing as an integrated program; not a series of independent projects.

President, Mercury iMarketing

Keith Kochberg has been a leading figure in the field of online marketing for more than 15 years, developing and implementing industry-leading best practices in search marketing, affiliate marketing, and online media planning and buying. Since co-founding iMarketing in 1999, Keith has turned the agency paradigm on its head, providing Internet retailers and Fortune 500 companies with results-driven programs to acquire customers online. Through his vision, iMarketing functions not as an outside resource but a direct extension of its clients’ operations, enabling them to expand their online media mix, develop and grow online sales channels, and create unique, cost-effective strategies that meet specific business goals.

In addition to his role at iMarketing, Keith is actively involved in a number of trade associations and a frequent speaker at industry events. He is a co-founder of Affiliate Metrix and a founding member of the USAMC. He has shared his insight and experience as a keynote speaker at Commission Junction University and other events including Affiliate Solutions and Affiliate Summit.

Prior to launching iMarketing, Keith was the Director of Business Development for Dash.com, a leading online shopping service, where he acquired 60% of the company’s overall member base on a cost per acquisition basis. At Dash.com, Keith managed affiliate marketing, member acquisition, merchant relations, and co-branding initiatives. Keith began his online marketing career launching one of the first e-commerce Web sites for a direct-mail book company.

Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations, Mercury iMarketing

Joe Kochberg has had an impact on the sales and marketing, strategic planning, financial management and operations for some of the world’s best-known brands. As a co-founder of iMarketing, Joe brings a unique intersection of analytics, marketing, and finance experience to provide clients with programs that best support their exact goals and needs.

Previously, Joe held a variety of positions at Home Box Office (Time Warner) in both New York City and Los Angeles, from managing finances for several of HBO’s award-winning film and programming groups, to spearheading affiliate sales initiatives to market, promote, and distribute HBO and Cinemax throughout Alaska, Hawaii, Southern California and Arizona. In that role, Joe delivered the highest net subscriber growth seen on the entire West Coast in his first year, earning HBO’s Best in the West Award.

Joe began his career at Haagen-Dazs, where he worked first as an accountant and later as a business analyst, developing financial and operational strategies to maximize the profitability of regional distribution centers and international business units. He also served as the liaison between the Financial and Information Technology departments, affording him a deep perspective on the critical overlap between the two that continues to play a role in his ongoing client relationships.

Joe attended Rider University on an academic scholarship as both a Rider University Distinguished Scholar and a Garden State Distinguished Scholar, earning a degree in Accounting, and he holds a certificate in Marketing Strategy from Cornell University. Joe’s an avid CrossFit athlete and coaches several youth sports.

Vice President, Director of Client Services, Mercury iMarketing

John Golden has more than 12 years of online marketing experience encompassing affiliate, media, sem, seo, performance based campaign management and creative development. Working on both the agency and client side of business, he has used his knowledge of the online landscape and understanding of the underlying technologies to deliver results.

John has built cross functional teams geared toward creating efficiencies in the marketing landscape – bridging the gap between different media channels online and off and creating opportunities to scale. Over the last seven years John has been a Sr Account Director at iMarketing where his responsibilities have included the entire campaign lifecycle; planning, executing and optimizing online marketing initiatives to acquire leads or sales. He has guided the online strategy for companies including Dow Jones, Forbes Magazine, Blue World Pools and Hoveround whose subsequent online successes have earned recognition in the industry.

His approach is team based, involving the appropriate client and agency personnel and building a foundation upon which the best practices and new approaches can be brought forth more rapidly allowing technology to be a tool rather than a hindrance.

Vice President, Director of Search Marketing, Mercury iMarketing

Justin Henderson leads the SEM division of iMarketing and is a seasoned industry professional with nearly 10 years of experience in direct marketing, analytics, attribution and search engine marketing. He has held leadership positions with companies such as DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Business.com, DexOne Inc, Resource Nation, Inc. and Merit Direct LLC. With a proven track record of leading successful teams and programs, Justin demonstrates a tenacity that is unmatched and a determination and focus of effort that consistently leads to meeting and exceeding the goals of his clients’ marketing efforts.

Justin has managed search programs with annual spends in excess of $70M from strategic inception through implementation and advanced optimization. He began his career in marketing leading analytical initiatives and building consumer response models to maximize return on direct marketing initiatives. An inherent understanding of the web, tracking infrastructures and advanced analytics imbues Justin with the breadth of knowledge that enables him to empower the teams he leads with the tools necessary for truly comprehensive and successful marketing tactics. Combined with over 7 years of experience in search engine marketing, Justin has also managed and optimized programs in direct mail, print advertising, radio and TV media buying across the B2B and B2C spectrum and truly understands the new age of integrated marketing as it relates to response propensity, branding and cross-channel analytics.

Mercury en español is the most experienced turnkey, full service Hispanic agency in the direct response business.

Director, Mercury en espanol

As director of Mercury en espanol, the first full service Hispanic direct response specialty practice in the U.S., Marcelino has expanded the agency’s current in-language direct response television offerings to include a full suite of Hispanic, in- language general market, integrated direct response services.

As a strategic planner and media director, Miyares has developed marketed communications programs for varied clients such as Body-by-Jake, Citibank, MCI, Signature Group, Montgomery Ward, PepsiCo, Ameritech, PharMor, American Stores, Beneficial Finance, Chrysler, Chevrolet, McDonald’s, Toys R Us, Philip Morris and various other national and local clients.

Miyares began his career as Media Director and Account Planner for UNIMAR in Chicago. He built extensive retail marketing and telecommunications experience as a Strategic Planner. In 1991 he moved to Los Angeles and co-founded Tamayo Miyares Advertising, a marketing communications firm specializing in campaign integration for US Hispanic markets.

Miyares graduated from Northwestern University in 1987 with a BA in Political Science.

Director Business Development, Mercury en espanol

Patricia Testa brings her ample experience in Hispanic marketing and media to her management duties at Mercury en español, where she is responsible for the supervision of existing key accounts, as well as leading Business Development for the Hispanic practice. Prior to joining Mercury en español, Patricia worked extensively in the Hispanic media environment; beginning her career at Telemundo, she then became Network Sales Manager at Univision, and later headed advertising sales for HBO Latin America. Her advertising career includes account supervisory duties at DMB&B, Bermudez & Associates and DDB Needham. Patricia, born and raised in Chile, received a BA from UCLA and her MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.