Karen MacKenzie, president. Nationally respected
food-and-beverage communicator. Knows who's who, what's what and what
will be what next. Founded her own agency in 1989 with experience
at Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations, Bozell Advertising, Kraft Foods
and the local NBC Television affiliate in Boston. Karen is a member
and past officer of the International Foodservice Editorial Council;
active in the International Association of Culinary Professionals
and the New York Women's Culinary Alliance; and serves as co-president
of Les Dames d'Escoffier (San Francisco chapter). She is a recipient
of a National Clarion Award for Communications Excellence and has
six Kraft Creativity Awards.
Bruce
Falstein, partner. The brains of the operation – or just
the last person to edit this page. Once a speechwriter for PepsiCo
and the former editorial voice of Betty Crocker (don the pearls, lose
the cigar), he started on the media side, first at WBZ-TV in Boston,
then at NBC News in New York, then moved to print as journalist and
editor. Misses cigars.
Holly
Hansen, senior vice president- food communications. Award-winning
professional chef, accomplished food stylist, recipe developer, event
and media tour planner, food journalist (most recently on staff at
Wine X magazine). And boy, can she cook.
Christine
Piccin, vice president- wine communications, is a widely
published food and travel writer. Her work has appeared in Bon Appetit,
Saveur and Sante, among other epicurean media. An award-winning chef,
Christine is a ten-year veteran of white-tabletop establishments and
teaches aspiring chefs. Through her work she has managed to master
the fine points of pétanque and marry a Frenchman (the former a requirement,
apparently, of the latter). She also serves as president of the Sonoma
County (California) Culinary Guild.
Linda
Low, operations director. Organizational genius, detail obsessed,
production maven, runs projects like clockwork. Joined us from a graphics
and packaging design firm where she managed winery and food manufacturer
accounts. Hula dancer, outrigger paddler.
Deb
Viola, art director. Clean, crisp and clear. (And so are
her designs.) A former senior art director at Satchi & Satchi in San
Francisco, Deb translates client message points into moving and memorable
advertising, graphic identity, collateral, web, and packaging.
Beth
Snow, account executive. Beth's background is in marketing
communications and online publishing with a culinary focus, most recently
with nationally renowned culinary educator and chef John Ash. Our
in-house web guru (earlier she helped develop a best-selling recipe
database software), Beth's lifelong hobby is collecting vintage cookbooks,
which explains her preference for the print medium, rare.
