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Collaborative
An agency built upon the belief, value and importance of teamwork and open communication.
Relevant
Keeping on top of the latest marketing and digital trends and bringing that curated knowledge forward.
Pragmatic
Innovative approaches targeted on business goals.
Attentive
Listening to you, your audiences and your organization – gaining insights – focusing on solutions.
Accountable
Results-driven performance, measured against key goals, supported through data, analytics and reporting.
Insightful
Thinking through problems and reaching comprehensive conclusions.
meet our Leadership team
John Zoppi
Managing Partner & Founder
John Zoppi
Managing Partner & Founder
John leads the charge in business development for Method Engine.
John’s career began in network broadcast production with The American Broadcasting Company in Chicago, working with Oprah Winfrey and Eye On Chicago. Later, John produced commercials for John Deere, Burger King, AT&T, and Citibank.
As Director of Media at Cognitive Arts, John led the content team to produce dynamic rich media that supported cutting-edge simulation-based training systems for Fortune 100 Companies.
As a Digital Account & Business Unit Manager with VSA Partners, one of the top brand and design firms in the country, John worked with some of the most admired and iconic brands in the world, including Harley-Davidson, IBM Global Services, and Land’s End.
Billie Knipfer
Digital Marketing Account Director
Billie Knipfer
Digital Marketing Account Director
Billie Knipfer is a marketing strategist and manager with over 20 years of experience developing brands and communications for companies large and small. She utilizes design and technology as tools for problem-solving business challenges. Regardless of the medium, Billie works with teams to create striking, concept-driven deliverables that differentiate clients from competitors, convey clear messages and intent, and drive results.
Billie has worked across multiple industries, some of which include banking, carpet/flooring manufacturing, construction, entertainment, fine art, food & beverage manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, insurance, mobile phones, non-profit, and retail (food, clothing). A few of her former clients include Motorola, Gucci, Johnsonite Flooring, and the U.S. Mint. Each client has unique challenges and objectives, so Billie adapts and creates processes and solutions that are customized to their specific needs, processes, and budgets.
Brian Wendle
Business Growth Strategist
Brian Wendle
Business Growth Strategist
Brian is a business strategist with 15 years of experience supporting clients ranging from local non-profits and early-stage start-ups to global corporations across healthcare, manufacturing, technology, consumer goods, and education. With a background in both brand/creative advertising and media, he helps clients clarify their messaging, align their operations, and build smarter growth strategies.
Brian brings a cross-disciplinary perspective to every project—balancing creative insight with strategic discipline, and prides himself on solving real business problems. With a focus on delivering value for all stakeholders rather than chasing short-term, unsustainable gains, Brian believes in building brands and businesses for the long-term by serving people first.
Ray Mendez
Brand Strategist & Creative Director
Ray Mendez
Brand Strategist & Creative Director
As a brand strategist, Ray’s role is to unearth the most valuable truths of an organization, work with its leaders to envision a new future and collaborate with specialist talents to realize that vision. As a creative director, Ray creates inspiring stories with words, images and digital experiences to connect the employees of organizations to their customers. He has won numerous awards for creativity, including a Cannes Gold Lion.
Ray is an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience as a lead strategist and creative director at small and global network agencies like TBWA Chiat Day, Saatchi & Saatchi, J Walter Thompson and New York boutique, the Concept Farm.
He has a proven track record of leading brand transformations in New York and Amsterdam. Some of the brands he has helped increase trust for are BNY Mellon, the Empire State Building, Institutional Investor, Russell Investments and non-profits like the Dutch Safety Council, the National Women’s Law Center, The Rockefeller Foundation and NY Cares. He has taught ‘Rapid Brand Transformation’ at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY.
Drew Pyle
Media & Paid Search Director
Drew Pyle
Media & Paid Search Director
Drew is an experienced leader in the marketing and advertising industry. Of all of his professional interests he is most passionate about the interactive media space and all things digital. Drew has a special interest in media metrics and analytics and loves to put data to work to improve our clients’ businesses. Drew brings a great deal of digital media planning and buying experience to his role as Media Director. He has worked across many different verticals and he most notably has a great deal of automotive experience both on the OEM side (Ford Motor Company) and on the agency side (where he ran digital media planning and buying for his client Mercedes-Benz USA). As Media Director, Drew heads up our media planning, buying, and strategy efforts including display advertising, pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, and media insights and analytics.
Daphne Rothlisberger
Organizational Strategist
Daphne Rothlisberger
Organizational Strategist
As a Chief Marketing Officer, Daphne is a seasoned leader who has successfully navigated companies through various phases of growth and development for over 20 years. With her deep understanding of strategic planning and team dynamics, she has delivered transformative results that have reshaped organizations’ trajectories and improved their bottom lines. Having worked with top-tier agencies such as Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide, Daphne has collaborated with several iconic brands, including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Intel, American Express, Allstate Insurance, Starbucks, and many more. She is passionate about driving business growth and specializes in overhauling organizations at their core by crafting comprehensive plans that optimize operations and set them up for long-term success. Her collaborative leadership and relentless pursuit of excellence make her impact enduring and profound. Above all, Daphne is dedicated to revolutionizing businesses’ digital marketing landscapes. She champions strategic innovations that amplify team productivity, elevate brand visibility, and integrate robust, strategy-driven methodologies to drive performance.
John Bauman
Senior Technology Director
John Bauman
Senior Technology Director
John is a formally trained software engineer and rich media specialist. Over the past 30 years he has designed, architected, and programmed multimedia projects, web applications and industrial software in many fields including engineering, medicine, business, education, and advertising. He has extensive experience working with a variety of programming languages, web and mobile technologies, and media types. He is also well-versed in interface architecture and design.
Since John began his career in 1986 he has worked for several companies, including IBM, McDonnell Douglas, William M. Mercer, Cognitive Arts, marchFIRST, and Tandem Multimedia Partners. Past clients include Pacific Bell, Young & Rubicam, Motorola, General Electric, The Order People, The U.S. Postal Service, Lake Cable, PeerPoint Medical Education, and many others.
In 1993, John earned his Master's in Telecommunication from Michigan State University, where he specialized in the study and application of multimedia and virtual reality technology. John received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Michigan State University in 1986.
Lewis Williams
Creative Director
Lewis Williams
Creative Director
Lewis’ mantra is "There is no better story than life itself."
Experienced creative Lewis Williams has had successful careers at iconic agencies Leo Burnett, Burrell Communications Group and most recently Weber Shandwick where he held the position of EVP Head of Brand Impact. Having over 3 decades of Total Market and Multicultural consumer marketing experience, he’s partnered with CMO’s of some of the world’s best-known brands to create award-winning creative and drive strategic and emotional connections to their customers.
Lewis has been recognized as one of Adweek’s Creative 100, The Ad Club of New York’s Icons, Rock Stars and Innovators, winner of creative accolades from The One Show, Communications
Arts, London International Awards, Kelly Awards, New York Festivals, Clio Awards, Effie Awards and serves on the Creative Review Committee for The Ad Council. He previous served as a PR Cannes Juror and was a juror member of Cannes Lions 70. Glass: The Lion for Change.
Matthew Crofoot
Technology Director
Matthew Crofoot
Technology Director
Matthew has over 25 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and consultant partnering with small and medium sized businesses to build websites, databases and help solve their technology and business problems. He has a business degree from Boston University with majors in Information Systems and Marketing.
Along the way Matthew served as CTO and co-founder of Opinion Lab and has worked with hundreds of companies including: DDB, McKinsey & Company, DEC, Aon Insurance, Nationwide Insurance, State Street Bank, Ziff Davis, NAI and Cushman Wakefield – where he built and maintained a comprehensive Intranet platform for real estate professionals. He has a gift for being the perfect bridge between the business and technology worlds and speaking both languages fluently and in a way that people can actually understand.
Matt Barlow
Social Media Director
Matt Barlow
Social Media Director
Matt Barlow is an accomplished Director of Social Media with extensive experience in enhancing brand presence and engagement through innovative strategies and expert content creation. He has successfully managed social media platforms reaching millions of people and increasing followers organically by the hundreds of thousands. Matt has directed comprehensive social media strategies for multiple brands, growing their social media presence significantly while remaining aligned with business objectives and values. His skills in community management, influencer marketing, and content creation using Adobe Creative Suite have resulted in multiple viral posts and substantial organic impressions. With a strong background in digital strategy, branding, and analytics, Matt Barlow continues to drive impactful social media initiatives and has become a key player in the industry.
Joe Martin
Business Growth Strategist
Joe Martin
Business Growth Strategist
Joe Martin is a Chicago business growth strategist who helps companies succeed by focusing on and prioritizing their one target customer.
An author and TEDx speaker, his ideas on company culture have been featured on FOX News, WCIU, and WGN Chicago.
With a strong interest in sports, music and worthy causes, in his spare time he plays ice hockey, performs at open mics around Chicago, and volunteers with the American Cancer Society.
Joe is a graduate of The Art Institutes and holds a BA, Web Design & Interactive Media.
Kristen Faust
Performance Marketing
Kristen Faust
Performance Marketing
Kristen M. Faust is a global digital and performance marketing leader with extensive experience in innovation, technology, media, and data-driven strategy. She has a proven track record of building and leading high-performing teams to drive successful campaigns across programmatic, e-commerce, B2B, and brand marketing.
With leadership roles at Performics, Omnicom Media Group’s Accuen, and Chicago Tribune Interactive, Kristen has driven transformational growth, spearheaded digital innovation, and optimized marketing performance for Fortune 500 brands. She excels in strategic planning, client management, and digital transformation, leveraging data-driven insights to achieve business objectives.
Kristen holds an MBA in Marketing and Strategy from the University of Maryland and a BA in Government and History from The College of William & Mary and she is currently working on her Level 2 wine sommelier certification at Kendall College. She is actively engaged in alumni initiatives, community leadership and other volunteer activities.
Hide Harishima
Technology Strategist
Hide Harishima
Technology Strategist
Hide is a senior level technologist and entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience at startups and enterprise companies, inspired to build purposeful technology products that engage customers and revolutionize how they work. With a proven track record in taking products from vision to delivery, and value creation through revenue growth, Hide is a committed product owner who takes end-to-end responsibility through leadership and collaboration. The mission is the delivery of quality-driven design and development solutions. Hide provides the strategic and technology direction to build more efficient and effective campaigns through customer data analysis.
Prior to working at Method Engine, Hide founded nLytics, which helped business to leverage their marketing, CRM, financial and digital data to make more informed decisions. Hide was also a CIO at Premier Research Group for 11 years, where he developed products that helped to extract and load data into business intelligence tools that provided cohort analysis for clients such as the NIH, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, and Bayer. He led a global team that resulted in the successful integration of people, culture, and systems for 8 acquisitions, which grew the company by 20 fold (in revenue) over 8 years.
Renee Mirko
Social Media Manager
Renee Mirko
Social Media Manager
Renee Mirko is a Social Media Content Creator who helps brands grow their online presence and build meaningful connections with their audiences. She has successfully expanded social media communities across multiple platforms by creating engaging, trend-aware content that resonates with users. Renee specializes in developing content strategies that increase visibility, strengthen brand identity, and encourage authentic engagement. With a strong understanding of evolving social media trends and digital culture, she helps brands stay relevant, stand out, and create lasting relationships with their audiences.
Steve Zoppi
Advisory Board Member
Steve Zoppi
Advisory Board Member
Steve brings more than 30 years of technology leadership experience both as an executive-level technology practitioner and a recognized industry analyst. Steve served as Chief Technology Officer at Sportvision, Inc. the pioneer and leader in real-time data acquisition, advanced visualization and augmented reality enhancements of broadcast sporting events. Previously, Steve has served as Chief Information Officer at TiVo Inc., the industry pioneer of Digital Video Recording, and as vice president of Operations for Hotwire, Inc, a leading online provider of discount travel. In 1999, Steve was awarded the distinction of META Group Research Fellow. Prior to this position, Steve held senior technology and programming management positions at Adobe Systems, Oracle Corporation, IBM, NASA/Ames Research Center, Esprit de Corp and Software AG of North America. Steve also guest lectures regularly at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business on a variety of technologies and technology-related business trends.