all together now

Mark creates and drives the overall Commerce House vision. He’s fiercely entrepreneurial – one has to be to open his own agency – and incredibly passionate about the ideas created inside our walls. Having worked in large holding company environments for most of his career, Mark’s goal is to ensure brands have a world-class independent option when it comes to agency partners.

When it came time to launch his own agency, Mark left a position as EVP/OperatingBoard Member of McCann/New York. There he oversaw the Kohl’s DepartmentStores and Clearasil business and led the start-up of TAG, dedicated to young adult marketing. Prior to that, he served as GM of McCann’s four Southwest region offices.And when McCann acquired Temerlin McClain, Mark became the Dallas agency’s COO— overseeing such accounts as Texas Instruments, i2 Technologies, La Quinta Inns and Suites, 7-Eleven, Federated Department Stores, SCI Corporation, Green MountainEnergy and Toshiba Computers. He came to McCann by way of O&M, where he was aSenior Partner and Group Management Supervisor for PepsiCo International and GTE.Mark cut his teeth in New York at Grey, Young & Rubicam and Deutsch.

Fueled by a genuine passion for his clients’ businesses, Mark relentlessly pursues new ideas and ways of looking at existing businesses, elevating his involvement to a higher, more emotional plane. This is what drove him to quit his successful career in NY and start an agency in Dallas without a single client. Only a dream and the drive to make it happen.

Mark and his wife, Pam, live in Dallas and have two children. He’s active in community affairs, serving on the boards of the Thanks-Giving Square Foundation and Dallas FilmSociety. He’s also worked with Boys and Girls Clubs, Dallas Symphony, Junior League,March of Dimes and Cattle Baron’s Ball. He loves to travel and combines that with a passion for food, planning trips around great restaurants. To offset his love of food, Mark runs. He’s completed 10 marathons

It’s not often someone begins their advertising career in business development, but Ashley’s anything but typical. Just three months into her first job, she negotiated her first client/agency partnership. As a Principal at COHO, she heads business development and manages the digital and social media teams. Her background in strategy and planning provides a unique perspective as she approaches new opportunities.

Ashley came to COHO via LA, where she led strategy on some of the world’s most dynamic brands – Audi, Nissan, Infiniti, Fatburger, Bosch home appliances, VCAAnimal Hospitals, SKYY Vodka, and World Gym, to name a few. Ashley’s personal and professional life come together while navigating grocery aisles and menus with celiac disease. It isn’t easy today, but doing it before few outside the medical community had even heard of it is even more challenging. But that’s Ash. Her life depends on her diligence – something she brings to bear on all aspects of it. Even work. She explores intrepidly – in search of what is exactly right for all of us.

Ashley never stops moving. Whether chasing her young children or her youngish husband, competing in semi-pro ballroom dancing or heli-skiing in her favorite place,Jackson Hole. She played Division I soccer at SMU, helping her team win four straight conference titles. And also completed degrees in advertising and psychology.

15 years at Commerce House. How’s that for a big number? It’s no sweat for Anthony, who manages all things finance and operations. Chief among them, he makes sure the dollars and cents between our house and our clients’ are in order. That allows us to focus on the work, and clients to focus on goals.

Anthony brings deep financial and strategic planning experience to every table. And while he’s more comfortable in jeans than a suit, he manages accounts with precision, discipline and attention to detail. Around the office his work besties call him Tony, and(we’re just putting this out there) his high school nickname was “Antron.”

Anthony and his wife live near the edge of civilization in a small town north of Dallas, and they love it that way. His favorite basketball player is their son, and he’s a natural born cheer and soccer dad for their daughter.

Nancy is a business and brand strategist specializing in development and planning. But that doesn’t begin to do her, or her talent, justice. She’s a little crazy and a lot brilliant; friendly, insightful and one of the best storytellers we know. It would be easier to list the brand challenges Nancy hasn’t tackled than address all the brands she’s helped lead over the years.

After 17 years in the agency business, Nancy began her own strategy practice, where she helped solve problems for agencies and corporations, including MasterCard, UNWorld Food Programme, Texas Instruments, Hallmark, BBDO, DDB, and The IntegerGroup. She’s been an equity partner in a tech start-up – one of Entrepreneur’s Top 100Brilliant Companies, 2012 – and a contributing author to Mapping the New World ofAmerican Philanthropy.

Nancy leads the strategic effort at Commerce House across all of the brands that we serve. Some of her latest work includes KERA, Samsung, Texas Health Resources, Sabre, Temple Fork Outfitters, Tetra Pak and many more.

Leigh is a creative director and writer. He’s here to make the agency’s work better – across all brands and disciplines. And it can always be better. One way he does this is by asking questions. Leigh loves questions. His favorite part of the job is figuring out the right questions. This generally leads to better answers.What do you think?

Before calling Commerce House home, Leigh did time at Leo Burnett, Temerlin McClain and TracyLocke, helping build brands like Allstate, Sony, Reebok, MillerLite, American Airlines, Nationwide, Dallas Morning News and Doritos. Before agency life, he was assistant editor at Alcalde, UT/Austin’s alumni magazine.And he spent summers umping Little League baseball.

As an Account Principal at Commerce House, Jaya leads her accounts with unwavering enthusiasm and boundless energy. Her ability to listen and understand our clients’ marketing challenges is matched only by her fearlessness in meeting them head-on.Jaya brings a strong strategic background to every account, getting to know what makes a business tick, as well as what drives consumers.

Before joining Commerce House, Jaya spent 6 years influencing marketing and product strategy through customer insights as a Sr. Market Researcher at Amway. During that time, she became a LUMA Certified Lead Instructor of Human Centered Design.Jaya graduated from the University of North Carolina with a bachelor’s degree inHealth Policy and Administration. She then went on to earn her MBA from MichiganState University. When Jaya isn’t thinking about her clients, she’s likely cheering on her beloved Tar Heels, gardening with her husband and two children or working on a home improvement project.