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MANAGEMENT |
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President
John’s marketing career started right out of
college when he was promoted from sales to
leading a sales team for a fast growing
insurance company. The owners of the company
allowed John great freedom to work on all manner
of marketing programs including incentive travel
programs where a full two hundred passenger
charter of agents and their spouses vacationed
in exotic locations around the world.
When John joined The GRA Group in 1975 with its
almost limitless creative marketing style he
knew he found a home for the rest of his career.
He now serves as President of the Company and
says: “I can’t think of anything more satisfying
than watching our company help other companies
exceed their sales goals through marketing plans
that put fun into doing business.”
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John Rich |
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VP Operations
Now here is a man whose talents and experience
fit his job to a Tee. Cloyd is our director of
operations and VP Finance so attention to detail
is essential. Prior to joining The GRA Group in
1993 Cloyd rose to the rank of Captain in the US
Army (discipline and detail); received an MBA in
marketing from Case Western Reserve University
(accomplishment and goal driven); and served for
seven years as an account executive for GRA
(understands our business and customer needs).
Put all that together with his unflappable will
to help others and uncanny sense of humor and
there simply isn’t a better man for his
position.
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Cloyd Hildebrand |
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INCENTIVE PROGRAMS
DEPARTMENT |
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Director of Incentive Services
Garry
joined The GRA Group in 1998 and since then has held
positions in both sales and creative development. Taking
advantage of his vast experience Garry is now Director
of Incentive Services where he heads up our travel,
premium, and logo divisions.
Speaking of experience, consider since graduating from
The University of Toledo Garry has served as Regional
Vice President and local President of Sales & Marketing
Executives International; he is a member of both the
Advertising Specialty Institute and Promotional Products
Association International; and he served for 6 years
with the National Exchange Club Foundation for the
prevention of child abuse. Add to that resume his time
as past President of his local Rotary Club and winning
election after election as a city councilman and you get
the idea grass doesn’t grow under this man’s feet.
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Garry Gibbs |
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Incentive Coordinator
Recognizing a great opportunity, Gigi opened her own
travel agency and began organizing international
racing events for the American Motorcycle
Association. Traveling with her husband Jack and
two young sons as he raced throughout Europe, she
coordinated group travel and took hundreds of
racers, support crews and spectators along for the
ride.
33 Years later, 10 of those with The GRA Group
(after recognizing another great opportunity),
Gigi’s expertise in negotiating the lowest cost on
group air contracts while coordinating arrangements
for our most demanding and detailed clients is
second nature to her.
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Gigi Penton |
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Incentive Coordinator
Mary joined the GRA Group in June of 2006. Although new to GRA, Mary is a
seasoned Travel Agent of 20+ years with a past
specialization in Cruises. Her love of cruising is what
got her into the travel business after a time as an
Insurance Agent. Mary has been in the Service
industry all of her working career and it shows in her
attention to details and service to our clients.
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Mary Bole |
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Incentive Coordinator
Debi joined
The GRA Group in 2005 as an incentive travel
coordinator. Prior to becoming a member of this family,
she worked in the retail travel industry for 17
years, holding a variety of diversified positions
including an agency manager, group coordinator and
master cruise counselor.
The variety of positions Debi has held over the years
brings a wealth of knowledge to the service she provides
the GRA clients.
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Debi Comber |
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Incentive Services
Ken
joined The GRA Group in 1998 and work on the development
and operation of the travel programs.
Ken’s history in incentive travel goes
back 46 years when he was hired by one of the largest
incentive and premium companies in the industry. He
learned the trade well and his abilities led him to
eventually open his own travel and merchandise company.
We are fortunate to have Ken on our staff where his
immense knowledge and extensive connections in the
industry provide a priceless service to The GRA Group
and our clients.
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Ken Thompson |
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SALES/MARKETING
DEPARTMENT |
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Solutions Provider
Since receiving
his MBA from the University of North Texas thirty years ago,
Tim has spent his career developing and delivering
successful plans in the container and steel industries; and
since 1993 working his marketing magic with The GRA Group
helping wholesale distributors surpass their sales goals.
From selling cans and buying scrap to creating incentive
programs taking groups of winners to exotic places all over
the map, Tim exudes a plethora of enthusiasm, excitement and
experience that will enable his clients to reach and surpass
their profit and sales goals |
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Tim Merriman |
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ADMINISTRATION |
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AP/AR Coordinator
Before starting
with The GRA Group in 1998, Chris worked for over 30 years
at a direct marketing company in Cleveland as an Account
Manager. Chris understands the concept of bringing a job
into the company and following it through to its
completion. Chris started her job here as an incentive
coordinator. Currently she heads up the GRA
accounting and billing department where her attention to
detail fits the job description perfectly.
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Chris Blankenship |
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ART DEPARTMENT |
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Director of Creative Services
If years
of experience in graphic arts, an unlimited creative
imagination, and a drive to lead are prerequisites for a
Director of Creative Services then Julie is right at home
with The GRA Group.
Julie’s degree in Advertising and Fine arts coupled with her
years of service with some of Cleveland’s most avante garde
agencies have fine tuned her graphics skills to a very high
level. Not satisfied with just graphic ability Julie
spearheaded our company’s move into computer graphics and is
continually upgrading our systems and hardware. It seems
like there is no end to her requests for upgrades, training
and expansion; and that is a good thing for GRA and our
customers. |
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Julie Snyder |
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Graphic Designer
A longtime employee of GRA Bob started as a pressman in
the print shop 31 years ago. However, Bob’s wide array
of talents soon led him to be a sort of utility player
as he worked in the print shop, in graphic arts, or
wherever he was needed at the time. It wasn’t long
before Bob’s special talent for creativity landed him
permanently in our graphic art department. Having found
his home at GRA Bob is continually striving to create
graphic concepts that satisfy the client but more
importantly “sell” the clients program.
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Bob Crawford |
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Graphic Designer
A versatile artist/designer with
extensive experience in the advertising and marketing field.
After achieving a BFA degree from Ohio University, Marianne
was employed by some of Cleveland's top publishing,
advertising and Fortune 500 companies. Her experience ranges
from design to print production for magazine publications,
national brand ad campaigns, product labeling, packaging and
promotional advertising. She also earned another degree in
Graphic Communications. Marianne joined The GRA Group in
1994 with the immediate ability to produce artwork according
to the client's creative needs and budget objectives. |
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Marianne Vrnak |
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CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT |
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Customer Relations/Data Coordinator
Brandy, has been the liaison between the customer and
the creative team here at The GRA Group since 2001.
Her job is to gather all the information necessary to
fulfill creative requests.
Brandy also provides administrative support to the creative
and sales teams, cranks out reports, assists in developing
marketing programs and is a whiz at developing prospect
lists.
Brandy is one of those dedicated team players whose efforts
help everyone else on the GRA team look and perform their
best.
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Brandy Walls |
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PRINTING DEPARTMENT |
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Shop Foreman
Starting with
GRA fresh out of high school 37 years ago. Mike finds
it hard to believe he's had only one job all this time.
Mike has worked every position in the print shop and over
the last 20 years has held the position of shop foreman. He
has led GRA into four-color printing, address/mail/post
services and a host of other improvements to our printing
services. We would say Mike is an invaluable part of our
team, and Mike would say “GRA is one big happy family.”
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Mike Delaney |
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Bindery
Rob runs our
bindery- shipping & receiving department and has been with
The GRA Group since April of 1979. Thanks to Rob’s
dedication an skills our shop runs like a fine tuned watch.
He can handle nearly any task and if we listed all the
things he does around here beyond the print shop we would
run out of space. |
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Rob Gould |
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Pressman
Jeremy's
employment in The GRA Group began in 1993 as a part-time
worker in the printing department. In the sixteen years
here he has experienced how the computer age has improved
the technology of the equipment in the printing department.
The switch from two-color line work to full color photos and
designs has been both challenging and exciting. Jeremy
looks forward to more challenges ahead to help improve and
hone his skills as a printing press operator. |
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Jeremy Church |
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WEB DEPARTMENT |
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Web Developer
Newest
member of The GRA Group, Lisa has her Associates in Marketing
and Business Development and comes to us with a web design/graphic
design background. Previously Business
Development manager for a large Toyota dealership she
handled internet and print needs along with ADP
database management and lead generation. Lisa also
worked with the telecom industry for CoreComm and sister
companies ATX/Voyager.net
handling internet/intranet and print media needs.
The work she did with CoreComm helped
give her the experience we enjoy today.
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Lisa Brubaker |
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