Owen Hannay
Chairman/CEO
Meet Owen Hannay, Marketing Guru and Digital Pioneer. The year was 1995 and the advertising world was about to be turned on its head by this thing called the internet. Owen blundered full tilt into the fray, trying to find ways to blend this new technology with proven, traditional marketing strategies and thinking. The result was a different kind of Agency. And a lot of firsts. The first HTML banner ever placed on the Internet. The first updatable creative. The first agency to use Digitally Informed Planning. Today, Slingshot is a full service, digitally centric, agency with over 100 employees in Dallas and Lubbock and one of the largest independent agencies in Dallas. A Dallas native, Owen earned his undergrad from University of Virginia and his MBA from SMU.
David Young
Chief Operating Officer
David may seem mild mannered, but plans to make your brand famous are brewing. He has 16 years of experience of leading big names like ATT@Home and HealthSouth.com and start-ups like iChoose.com. His fortes include: establishing consumer brands in any media and leading marketing teams in design and development of large websites as well building large databases. In addition to running Slingshot’s B2B practice, David oversees daily operations including the strategy, programming, web production and media functions within the Agency.
Karen Stanton
Chief Financial Officer
Karen’s energy will put a spark plug to shame. With over 25 years of financial and accounting experience from public accounting with a large global firm to advertising agencies ranging from worldwide, medium and independent operations—Karen has us covered in the money department. Karen is proud and vocal about being a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
Jim O'Rourke
Vice President of Media
Media is his bag and there’s 28 years of experience to prove it. As a media professional and strategic leader Jim guides the media vision for brands ranging from grassroots efforts to campaigns upwards of $100MM. Jim was most recently Director of Media at McClain Finlon in Denver. His career has taken him to major cities nationwide at shops like Young and Rubicam in New York, Tatham Laird and Kudner in Chicago and The Richards Group in Dallas.
Ned Bryant
Vice President of Technology
Ned is the cog that’s missing in your marketing machine. His technical expertise and unique perspective are key factors in helping us develop relevant creative solutions for our clients. His background consists of over 18 years of experience in software development, including stints in insurance, government, packaged software, and technical consulting. Prior to joining Slingshot, he worked at Intuit, developing tax preparation software, and at Stonebridge Technologies, providing consulting services to the telecommunications industry.
Paul Flowers
Senior Vice President of Account Services
Award-winning author. Former marketing agency owner. Listed in the inaugural edition of Who’s Who In Advertising. Our co-leader of account service has quite a list of accomplishments. His book, Underdog Advertising was winner of USABookNews.com Best Books 2006 National Book Awards in the “Business: Marketing & Advertising” category. His work has been recognized locally, regionally and nationally. Paul was also president of Flowers & Partners Marketing Communications for 23 years, before merging his advertising agency with Slingshot, LLC in December 2006, making Slingshot one of the largest independent advertising agencies in the Southwest.
Tony Balmer
Vice President of Account Services
Born and raised in Manhattan, Tony Balmer is an original Mad Man. From consumer packaged goods to corporate reputation to travel and tourism to seven years of car experience (whew!), Tony has the chops to run your account. His account experience includes Brown-Forman, Subaru of America, Exxon Mobil, Texas Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Hunt-Wesson (Wesson Oils, Orville Redenbacher, Rosarita, Hunt-Wesson New Products), and Hilton Hotels (Paris-Las Vegas, Las Vegas Hilton, Bally’s), to name just a few.
Bob Moler
Vice President of Account Services
An Effie Award. Three Telly Awards. Worldwide recognition as one of McDonald’s top 88 employees. Bob is big on striving for excellence and adds 25+ years of consumer marketing experience to the Slingshot team. With years spent in managing brands hands-on from the perspective of both client and agency, Bob has provided solid strategic thinking and creative problem solving to countless national brands such as the Frito-Lay’s Better For You portfolio of products, national marketing for TGI Friday’s and leading brand repositioning work for Sara Lee Foods premium deli meats and cheeses, among others.
Susan Levine
Vice President and Executive Creative Director
Susan Levine is a native New Yawka who is a semi-recent transplant to the Big “D”. After receiving her BFA at Syracuse University, she began her career as an Art Director in NYC working for advertising legends, Jerry Della Femina & Cliff Freeman. A few years later she landed a job at BBDO/NY where she quickly rose up the ranks from Art Director to Sr. VP Creative Director with award-winning work for clients such as Pepsi, Visa, and AOL. Her Super Bowl work for Pepsi featuring “The Osbournes” earned her an Emmy nomination and bragging rights which her parents promptly put to good use in Boca. Other awards for her mantle include a few Clios, a Lion, Effies, Addys and the London Internationals. Susan has also created her own brand, TORU, a charitable line of vintage rock ‘n roll style apparel for dogs or as they say upstate, dawgs.
Nicole Granese
Vice President of Insights and Strategy
Nicole aka Wonder Woman is an accomplished marketer with 13+ powerful years of brand strategy and marketing experience under her gold belt. Some of the brands she's worked her magic on include Samsung Mobile, Hyundai, Head and Shoulders, Cheerios, Dr Pepper, Borden and FASTSIGNS. Her insightful analysis and original thinking across multiple industries like B2B, technology, retail, and consumer packaged goods have proven invaluable. Prior to joining Slingshot, Nicole served as the Director of Consumer Insights and Strategy at Haggar Clothing Co. where she led market research and business analysis efforts and provided the strategic direction for all brand advertising including TV, print, online, and point of sale.