Our Team

Jon began this whole deal (Vetta-Zelo that is) nearly 12 years ago. He honed his creative chops as the VP of Creative Services at both John Ryan Company and Xperex Corporation until taking the plunge into agency ownership. Typical thoughts you may have on Jon’s work is that,  “He just gets it.” Which is true. His ability to tackle creative with an innovative and results-oriented eye has lead VZ into some awesome international, national, and high profile projects. His determination and work ethic is endless, and we have the cell phone and email records to back this up.

Jim oversees the agency’s strategic and project management offering. He works with our clients, preferably over an expense-account lunch, to vet through their current business needs to develop thoughtful and successful strategy, with timely on-budget execution. His experience includes over 20 years of creating award-winning global campaigns. If he tells you that he started in business at age five, it’s a slight exaggeration. He’s held senior level positions at Allianz Life, Baker Tilly, Carmichael Lynch, and John Ryan Company. If you have a spare hour to kill, bring up University of Wisconsin football and get yourself comfortable.

Print, Broadcast, Retail and Interactive all share one thing in common – providing value to the end-user. Another thing they share are 20 years of Jay’s life. Whether designing an album cover for the Jayhawks, the on-air identity for Twin Cities Public Television or retail experiences for Bank of America, the purpose was always the same – bridging the gap between client objectives and customer needs.

Ang recently landed from Los Angeles and has been in the not-so-standard-industry of all things media, documentary, film, interactive, television and web.  When she’s not wrangling for VZ, Ang is an avid yogi and runner… most recently sprinting after 2 boys under 2.

Megan’s years of dynamic experience in marketing communications, video production, digital and entertainment marketing have made her a resourceful and discerning project manager with an eye for design and detail. She thrives under pressure and lives to get the job done well for her clients. When the job is done, Megan can often be found at a show, enjoying the live music scene. To stay cool, calm and collected, she’s an active runner and yogi.

Rachael began her career in the creative field as a graphic designer, where she developed a passion for driving and executing both traditional and non-traditional projects. She has extensive experience in marketing communications, event planning, display/tradeshow design and digital marketing. She loves to interact and build strong relationships with her clients, while making sure projects are on time and on budget. She is highly motivated to solve problems and drive successful strategic business objectives. Rachael’s “2011 Bucket List” consists of running the Boston Marathon in 3 hours and taking home her new Great Dane puppy this summer.

Marc has called VZ home for a good 4 years, building the foundation of the design department with his wisdom and perpetual “best work yet” projects. Known as a “problem solver” he’s been supplying us with creative design for web, interactive, print, mobile, you name it. He is also a UW-Madison alum, therefore obviously cool & smart. In his free time he likes to bowl, ski, run marathons, and life coach.

Matt is a man of many talents. In addition to churning out smooth designs for web, interactive & print, Matt’s a musician, avid cyclist and like Benjamin Franklin, only tries to sleep 3 hours a night. Matt honed his design skills at U of M-Duluth. After graduating, Matt worked at BlueCross BlueShield before landing at VZ. Matt’s strong work ethic can be traced back to his summers working in the lumberyard. He one day hopes to own Strokes on vinyl.

Another Wisconsin import, Melanie is our cool creative design chick (every office needs one really). Jon plucked her right out of the Art Institutes Portfolio Show to join our team. She formed her design perspective by lifelong dabbling in painting, drawing and photography. In addition to her VZ work, she volunteers for AIGA  reDesign to assist in promoting sustainable design.

Willie a.k.a. Limitless Exposure, LLC is a strategic development partner to VZ. A St. Paul native, Willie knows all things web. Regardless of the task at hand- whether a complicated custom CMS, interactive flash, mobile app, website- he understands the technology and tools to create the best tools.  He’s been doing development since 1995, so he has seen code evolve for quite some time.  Willie and his team strive to relentlessly stay at the cutting edge of the technology so that they can always bring the most modern, innovative approach to each and every project.

Skaht spends most of his time behind technology of some sort, either fiddling with endless lines of javascript or twisting knobs and shaping sounds.  He’s played developer for VZ for nearly a decade and spun records for close to two.  Also, occasionally lasers come out of his eyes, but we’re not sure which occupation this is a hazard of.

Rock (AKA’s Rock-Solid) is the VZ mascot, a very docile German Shorthair spending his days on a plush sleeper cushion and every so often lifting his head as if to say, “Why are agency people so loud?” Quiet as he is, he serves as the springboard of conversation and creative inspiration.

A new addition to VZ, this 3-month old Great Dane pup, Diesel, has already out-grown two collars and two kennels. Rapidly headed torward 200 lbs., he sure knows how to have fun, clumsily running around the office like a baby elephant (with his dumbo-like ears), surely annoying the tenants below us. His puppy antics have even reinvigorated Rock, who has rediscovered the joy of bones and the forbidden red couch in JT’s office.