Meet the team
Mitch Gerson
CEO
For 30 years, Mitch has assisted clients of all sizes and industries in his various roles at the largest recruitment marketing agencies in the world, including as an influential founding member of a top 3 digital recruitment marketing programmatic platform startup in NYC.
Mitch is one of the most experienced professionals in the Recruitment Marketing industry. His award-winning experience spans delivering digital strategy, streaming radio, SEM, SEO, programmatic, websites, job boards, digital billboards, and more to some of the most well- known brands and companies in the world.
Mitch has been there with his valued clients to always find a way to get the job done – no matter what the challenge.
He’s inspired needed change, and has helped companies through the good times and the bad, with a number of client relationships turning into long-term friendships.
If you need someone in your corner who’s got your back – you’ve found the right partner.
Fun facts: When Mitch isn’t going on amusement park rides with his wife and kids, or cheering them on from the sidelines in Theater, Soccer or Tennis, he’s likely working on his 80’s video game and pinball arcade in his basement. Yup. The 80’s are back, and they live in his basement.
Justin Vajko
EMPLOYER BRANDING AND SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT
Justin Vajko (vay-koh) is a professional speaker and award-winning marketer who is passionate about connecting great employers to great employees.
That’s why we’ve added Dialog, a strategic TGA affiliate headed by Justin Vajko, to help our clients enhance their existing recruitment marketing strategies, and generate more job applications from qualified applicants by building their reputation online using video, online reviews, and social media.
Fun facts: Justin lives in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin with his wife and three kids in their first home where he’s on a steep learning curve wrangling non-working appliances and fixing leaky faucets.
Andy Roane
RECRUITING AND RPO EXPERT
Andy brings more than 20 years of human capital industry experience to help support and expand The Gerson Agency’s offerings. That’s why we’ve added Arpeoh, as a strategic TGA affiliate headed by Andy Roane to service these important needs in tandem with our recruitment marketing efforts.
Andy is a well known accomplished recruiting expert having worked at a Senior level at Yoh RPO, and PeopleScout where he’s led successful RPO engagements with multiple Fortune 500 companies. He’s also served as Managing Partner of ITB Recruiting, a sales and IT recruiting firm, and developed new sales channels in his role as Vice President of Sales for Monster.com. When you need to hire fast and supplement your team, Andy’s your guy.
Fun facts: In his spare time Andy enjoys spending time with his family, watching the various Chicago sports teams, finding and sampling Chicago’s best pizza. When possible he tries to spend as much time north of the Illinois border at the lake wakeboarding, sailing, kayaking, and paddle boarding.
Peter Gargiulo
GLOBAL CREATIVE DIRECTOR, RECRUITMENT & EMPLOYER BRAND EXPERIENCE
After graduating with a B.S. in Biochemistry, Peter realized creative was his true passion—and talent—dropped medicine and picked up a Mouse. Peter now has over 30 years of professional design experience, more than 10 of those with a leading digital recruitment ad agency in Manhattan. He’s comfortable in front of the computer, behind the camera, or coming up with the next conceptual ad campaign. Born and raised in New York, he now lives in New Jersey with his wife, daughter, and Pointer mix. He is an avid (fair weather) cyclist and hiker.
Fun facts: Peter dabbles in costume creation and cake decoration with his wife (he’d love to share his past creations for his daughter, just ask him!).
Chelsea Craig
SOCIAL MEDIA REPUTATION EXPERT
As a recognized expert in online reputation management, Chelsea works with businesses to protect their online reputation by growing and leveraging their online customer reviews on behalf of The Gerson Agency clients by way of Rhino Reviews, our strategic TGA affiliate.
Every client receives a unique strategy based on their current reputation, where they wish to go, and headwinds they might encounter. Chelsea is your go-to expert at improving both the external (Google, Yelp, FB, etc) as well as internal (Glassdoor, Indeed) reputation, taking businesses from a reactive to a proactive position.
Fun facts: When Chelsea isn’t battling Google and fake reviews she can be found on the ski slopes making 5-star turns
Jesse Wroblewski
Marketing Director
As our resident Marketing Director, Jesse’s true passion is always focused on helping brands desperate for distinction. He’s also a well-known speaker, author (his latest Marketing book on disruptive advertising is coming out this year); artist and overall – dare we say – marketing genius. With over 20 years of marketing experience across all mediums, if you need to stand out, he’s probably already working on a plan.
Fun facts: Jesse’s art is sought out by collectors if you’re lucky enough to grab one of his limited edition creations. He’s meticulous in his designs, and the next time you meet him, just ask to check out some of what he’s created. He also has an extensive collection of genuine carnival carny items that he restores & repurposes as art.
Janie Sayavong
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION SOLUTIONS
Over the last ten years, Janie’s transformed how companies attract, select and hire. She’s led the Talent Acquisition function for some of the top public and private companies where programs and processes she’s built are still being leveraged today.
Janie was most recently leading the Talent Acquisition function, and integral in developing the DEI strategy for a Fortune 500 Energy company while spearheading both company and grass-roots employee initiatives. She is the current President of the National Association of Asian American Professional (NAAAP) Colorado Chapter, the largest AAPI organization in the United States. Her expertise is second to none, and available to the Gerson Agency as a strategic affiliate.
Fun facts: In her available free time she is an avid hiking enthusiast, and global traveler. Hailing from Hawaii, if you need some local recommendations on your next visit, she’s a highly qualified resource to say the least.
Brendan Bailey
Creative Director
Brendan is not only an award-winning creative director, but he’s a true multifaceted creative talent. His skills include website design (he designed these very pages you’re reading right now!), video production, music editing & creation, he’s even a skilled indie video game designer, and voice-over artist.
Fun facts: Brendan has an impressive collection of over 40 full sized pinball machines mostly from the 80’s which is his favorite time period for pinball design. He leans heavily on his creative skills to restore them to look and play better than new. It’s quite the sight to see them all on at the same time.
Emily Wood
Digital Recruitment Marketing Expert
As the resident digital recruitment marketing expert on the team, Emily combines her analytics background with her passion for creativity to craft world-class paid advertising campaigns to reach the right audience at the right time to achieve her clients’ goals.
With over 8 years of experience in both advertising agency and in-house settings, Emily understands the challenges that businesses face when trying to get great results from their digital advertising campaigns. She loves partnering with clients to understand their business and goals in order to build truly effective recruitment campaigns.
Fun facts: Emily grew up in St. Augustine, FL (the oldest city in the US) and her first job was a tour guide at the St. Augustine Lighthouse. Feel free to ask her about ghost stories or the history of St. Augustine!
Sarah Joyce Strawn
SEO Specialist
Sarah Joyce Strawn is a seasoned digital marketing professional with over a decade of expertise in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Specializing in elevating non-branded visibility, Sarah crafts unique SEO strategies tailored to the needs of each business she works with. Her extensive experience spans various markets, including b2b, b2c, e-commerce, and local enterprises.
A respected industry thought leader, Sarah has shared her insights at prominent PubCon conferences for several years. She has a proven track record of guiding numerous businesses towards enhancing their online visibility through strategic SEO campaigns. Passionate about transforming businesses, Sarah excels in devising custom plans that drive tangible results, ensuring her clients achieve their quality traffic from organic search. If you’re looking for the best in SEO for your career site, she’s happy to help.
Fun facts: Before getting into SEO, Sarah coached competitive cheerleading and dance for 15 years and won the World Hip Hop Championships in 2015. She will still often go and volunteer at local school cheer practices in her free time.
Jim Durbin
Recruitment Advertising
Jim is affectionately known in the industry as the “Indeed Whisperer,” from his excellence in managing recruitment advertising. That’s why we’re adding his company Respondable as a strategic TGA affiliate. His role isn’t just fixing campaigns, it’s making sure advertising and hiring are connected at the hip – making sure your Talent Acquisition team has the tools and the data necessary to solve business problems.
His passion is building the next generation of leaders in Talent Acquisition in advertising, AI, data, and management.
Fun facts: Jim and his Dad love the television show Justified, which is why he started wearing the hat, and then the boots. If you offer him some smooth apple pie moonshine, he won’t say no.
John Rosean
Recruitment Research & Data Lead
John has spent the majority of his decades-long career in recruitment advertising heading up the research side of things, particularly in service of the creation of solid and data-driven employer brands. As the author of dozens of EVPs stemming from a tried-and-true research methodology comprised of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, John does not rest until everyone is completely satisfied with the output. John’s expertise also reaches beyond research and employer branding, having developed a multitude of custom-tailored and turn-key solutions geared to tackle challenges both common and uncommon.
Fun facts: When John isn’t working, he’s likely writing and recording his own full-length albums, or playing in local dives in punk cover bands. And when not taking advantage of the theme park capitol of the world with his Disney-loving family, he is probably pouring over a strategic board game (compliments of the recent “tabletop renaissance”). He may follow sports next to zero percent, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone better to talk movies, games and music with, going back much further than he’s willing to admit.
Riley Parker Gerson
CHIEF BARKETING OFFICER
After joining The Gerson Agency back in 2019, she quickly asserted herself as the one in charge. Quick to action when other dogs pass by, she’s sure to make her displeasure known barking from the Corporate Office’s windows (usually during Zoom meetings.) She doesn’t ask for a lot short of a minimum of three walks a day, multiple treats, and many belly rubs. When it’s crunch time, Riley is focused on the task at hand ensuring that we take out a moment to pet her.
She has yet to truly understand fetch, but that’s ok. We love her just the same.
Fun facts: Riley has a fondness for stuffed animals, with one in particular being her favorite. Not surprisingly, it’s a stuffed puppy toy, that Riley carries and cuddles with when she needs some downtime. We named it Baby – and Riley is sure to find baby when we ask her where she put her.
