Grand Junction, Colorado: You may know this Western Slope community for its wine tasting, world-class mountain biking, outdoor recreation and laid-back lifestyle. But marketing?
Well, yeah. That lifestyle thing? It draws smart, creative people who want to get away from the crowds and the noise and the long commute and just do good work while creating the space to play. We figured it out almost three decades ago when we launched our little marketing & advertising agency in Grand Junction, and we’ve loved it here ever since.
Our People
Those smart, creative people who flock to western Colorado for the lifestyle? We work with the best of them. Our partners include designers, developers, videographers, photographers, writers, PR professionals and deep thinkers who make our whole a whole lot more than the sum of its parts. But at the core of RSM stand the people who bring it all together, have the experience to fully understand and represent our client’s business development imperatives, and the expertise to implement the strategies and manage the tactics needed to produce measurable results.
Dan Ryan
President, Creative Director
As founder of Ryan & Associates Advertising, managing partner of Ryan, Whitney & Company, and now president of Ryan/Sawyer Marketing, Dan has worked for nearly 30 years emphasizing the effective execution and delivery of creative production across all traditional and digital media.
Dan brings specialized expertise in brand development and brand management to our clients, and his work can be seen across a broad base of industries. On the creative side, Dan’s philosophy is simple: meet our clients’ marketing and communication needs by giving lucid statements to strong ideas. Over the years, Dan has applied this philosophy steadily and effectively for the benefit of literally hundreds of businesses in western Colorado and beyond.
In his spare time, Dan can be found on the golf course, the handball court, in his living room playing guitar with his adult children, and in the wilderness of Colorado’s high country. Dan also holds a private pilot’s license and has been known to dabble in community theater.
Julie Hober
Client Services Manager
Julie got her start in advertising and marketing during college when she realized that she had an annoying habit of remembering commercials and jingles from her childhood. So, after college, she took a job at an ad agency outside Detroit where she cut her teeth in the ways of agency life. Working with a team of people focused on bringing her up through the ranks, she learned the importance of digging to the heart of the client’s issues and goals and meeting those desires via strategically designed messaging and critical evaluation of all work for the client.
After moving to Grand Junction and working the client-side for several years, Julie learned more clearly what drives client decisions. She got her hands dirty handling everything from soup to nuts for the marketing of the company.
Julie brings account management experience along with critical thinking and strategy development to RSM. Julie received her Bachelor’s degree in Communication from The American University in Washington, DC and her Master of Science in Advertising from Boston University.
Bridgett Gutierrez
Account Manager, Digital Strategist
Bridgett has been helping customers maximize their media budgets, increase overall business reach and create compelling advertising campaigns for over ten years. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Business/Marketing from Colorado Mesa University in 2006 and quickly began work as an Account Executive and Media Manager at a local, Colorado agency. Throughout her career, Bridgett has become a digital marketing expert, completing Google Analytics certification, multiple social media workshops, implementing results driven SEO programs and establishing successful online marketing strategies for local and national customers.
Bridgett’s approach to marketing revolves around establishing measurable, clear goals from the start of each business relationship and looking for opportunities to add quantifiable, noticeable value to each client’s marketing efforts.
Tom Sawyer
Consultant/Marketing Strategist
Though no longer a principal of RSM, Tom Sawyer still applies his marketing and business development acumen to our clients on a project basis. A serial entrepreneur, business strategist, author, inventor and coach, Tom has led a variety of successful product development, product positioning and product introduction projects with special emphasis on applying the sales and marketing process to profitability goals.
Tom also has extensive experience in developing and implementing sales systems that integrate Internet marketing technologies with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and processes. He has a deep understanding of ‘what works’ when it comes to leveraging technology to achieve the marketing, sales and customer relationships that organizations deem necessary for their success.
John Martin
Art Director
John has crafted a long and distinguished career in the graphic arts, working for advertising agencies, art departments of manufacturers and retailers, and as a freelance illustrator. He won an Edison Best New Product Award for his work on Wild Oats Markets’ private label line of products. John has been a stabilizing force at RSM for nearly two decades, anchoring our graphic design department in the deep expertise that comes only from experience.
A passionate gardener, dedicated bicycle commuter and lover of the red rock canyons of the Colorado Plateau, John has called Grand Junction home since 2000.