Women of Influence - Events, Pics and Calendars - Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minnesota

Join us monthly for lunch & conversation led by Minnesota Monthly's Sue Zelickson. Our hope is to inform, inspire, and motivate you while contributing to a local charity.

NEXT: Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Kathy McCuskey, CEO of Yamamoto

Kathy McCuskey has more than 23 years of business and consumer marketing experience specializing in business management, business and marketing strategy development, team management and growth. Her experience spans retail, healthcare, consumer goods, financial services, technology, restaurant, and outdoor and recreation with top brands like Disney/Buena Vista, Kmart, Nickelodeon, Department 56, American Express Financial Services, Dairy Queen and Suave Hair Care.

Kathy has used this wealth of experience to most recently build on the strengths and deliver future direction for Yamamoto, a full-service ad agency and one of the Twin Cities’ top 20 largest agencies. Just one year after joining as CEO, Kathy is already moving mountains. She recently led a company-wide rebranding effort that not only changed the name to literally mean “base of the mountain,” but led the agency in adopting the mantra that they “move mountains for clients” by harnessing the power of bold ideas and brilliant execution. The change has been good. 2011 was a record revenue year since the agency achieved 11 percent growth, added nine key clients to its roster and hired 12 new staff members.

Kathy’s prior experience has prepared her to lead Yamamoto’s next life. At Starkey Labs she built the multi-brand consumer marketing department from a team of four into a multi-disciplined team of more than 60 supporting millions of dollars in sales annually for the billion-dollar, international hearing health company. She has also focused on helping manufacturer/dealer organizations support their local points of distribution with marketing and advertising designed to drive traffic and increase sales. As vice president and management supervisor at Periscope she was the lead between the agency and key clients. She helped win the significant Papa Murphy corporate advertising account and went on to help secure the ad business for 14 Papa Murphy’s franchise groups. She helped the agency win a Silver Effie for the Twins Territory campaign.

Kathy has also held strategic leadership positions at other Twin Cities agencies, including Hunt Adkins and Campbell Mithun. Throughout her career, she has been known as a smart, creative and well-respected leader. She has a straightforward management style and approaches everything she does with a ferocious, can-do attitude that inspires those around her. She encourages everyone to succeed to his or her fullest potential and strives to make every work place a very positive and exciting place to do your best.

Tickets: $35

Proceeds benefit: Parkinson's Disease Foundation

Registration: 11:30 a.m.
Lunch & Discussion: Noon to 1 p.m.
1 non-alcoholic beverage included.

Parking note: You can park at the LaSalle ramp and purchase a discount $7 all-day parking pass from Minnesota Monthly at the event check-in (can pay cash, check, or credit). Present the voucher as you exit the ramp. LaSalle Court Parking: 811 LaSalle Avenue, Mpls 55402.

Hosted by Crave Minneapolis

Event questions? Please contact Alex Huerter at ahuerter@minnesotamonthly.com.
To order a corporate table or ask ticketing questions, contact Katie Kubes at kkubes@greenspring.com.

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