Meet our team
Since 1998 our seasoned team of Sages have been creating award-winning print and digital direct response and marketing communications.
Partners
Anne Kottler
President,
Founding Partner
Anne has more than 30 years of experience in direct marketing, where her responsibilities have included various executive positions such as president, publisher, marketing director and creative consultant. She manages new business development and client relationships for the agency and keeps everything running smoothly.
Rachel Konieczny Kottler
Vice President
Rachel (she/her/hers) is an award-winning direct marketing professional who has spent a decade specializing in direct response fundraising for nonprofits and advocacy organizations. Before joining Sage Communications, Rachel developed and managed the entire digital division at her prior agency. At Sage, she oversees campaigns for key accounts and works on new business development.
Josef Kottler
Founding Partner
Josef founded Sage Communications in 1978 to meet the creative needs of the natural foods industry and nonprofits. After 12 years as associate publisher of a leading social change magazine, he reopened the agency in 1998 to produce winning creative for the financial, publishing and nonprofit sectors. Having written hundreds of successful DM campaigns, he’s considered a leading expert on direct response marketing.
Creative Sages
Joe Schovitz
Associate Creative Director
Joe has close to four decades of creative direct-response experience, collaborating with a wide variety of national accounts. Implementing and overseeing projects, he now brings his results-oriented creativity to Sage’s nonprofit sector.
Natalie Welburn
Senior Art Director
Fueled by coffee and sometimes chocolate, Natalie is a virtuoso of visual communications with over 25 years of vast design experience, from identity and branding to collateral and direct response. Having logged 15 years and counting at Sage, she holds the record for seniority. Natalie is passionate about all things creative, from type design to cake design.
Rachel Pearson Lord
Senior Art Director
With 20 years of B2B and B2C marketing design experience, Rachel is both creative and strategic. As a results-driven designer, she has been using her talents to help Sage clients achieve their business goals for over 6 years. Her prior experience includes creating successful print and digital direct response at in-house agencies for BJ’s Wholesale Club, Vistaprint and ARAMARK.
Mark Quattrocchi
Senior Art Director
Mark is an accomplished Senior Art Director with almost three decades of experience in corporate branding and marketing communications. He combines extensive client-side expertise with in-depth agency know-how to conceive and execute top-level strategic marketing materials for our corporate clients.
Sally McMorris
Art Director
Sally is a highly experienced art director that has worked in multiple marketing disciplines—print, digital, and experiential design—collaborating with many top-tier Fortune 100 companies. Her design expertise delivers compelling visual solutions that are strategic and ignite action.
Tim Blacklock
Digital Production Manager
With 20 years of print and digital design and production expertise, Tim manages all of Sage’s HTML programming and testing, primarily for email and landing pages. Outside of work, he enjoys time with family, video gaming and karaoke. And, as a distant relative of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz, he’s a tiny bit famous.
Derrick Alderman
Production Artist
Derrick cut his teeth working on the presses at Quad Graphics and moved into print production shortly thereafter. He has mastered working with design software and is Sage’s “photoshop whiz.” Derrick has worked with a variety of large and small clients, creating and overseeing diverse projects from large-scale booth signage to direct mail to executive presentations.
Paolo Chiaravalli
Programming Guru
After 25 years in the U.S. and spelling his first and last name, Paolo often wonders if he should change his name to Paul Clearvalley.
Gina Gallagher
Senior Copywriter
Gina is an award-winning, versatile writer with more than two decades’ experience developing communications for leading financial services firms. Blending her strategic thinking and creativity, she delivers compelling copy that inspires action — and bottom-line results.
Lori H
Senior Copywriter
Lori began her career as a copywriter in 1996. Since then, she has worked both on-staff and as a freelancer for agencies both large and small, major enterprises, corporations and other clients in the worlds of advertising, news and online media properties. Her specialties including delivering on-brand, on-strategy, on-time copy and knowing the right questions to ask. When she’s not writing for clients, she is either working on her next piece of science fiction, listening to music or at the nearest beach.
Robin Clarke
Senior Copywriter
Robin is an expert storyteller and copyeditor. Her direct marketing promotions have inspired people to donate millions of dollars to worthy causes. She has worked on numerous magazine promotions, annual reports and marketing materials and has forged strong commitments between organizations and the audiences they want to reach.
Steven Yenzer
Senior Copywriter
Steven is a digital and direct mail copywriter with over ten years of experience and a focus on nonprofit fundraising. He has written for some of the largest nonprofits in the world, including the Humane Society of the United States, Feeding America, and City of Hope, as well as Democratic and progress causes like Biden for President and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Rob Zodda
Senior Copywriter
Rob began his writing career at age nine, cranking out a family newspaper on a giant Gateway computer. These days he’s a senior copywriter and creative strategist who crafts engaging messages and meaningful experiences for some of the biggest brands, from financial services to e-commerce. He even got to script a video for one of his favorite celebrities—but you’ll have to ask him who.
Steven Simmons
As a former Web Developer, Steven ventured into the email business full time about 10 years ago and has never looked back. When he isn’t coding emails, he enjoys spending time with his family as well as being a sports and movie buff.
Andrea Loy
Senior Copywriter
Andrea is an Illinois-based Senior Copywriter with 20+ years of experience in direct response marketing for a variety of financial, automotive, telecom, and nonprofit clients. She enjoys everything from creating big-picture creative platforms to concepting direct
mail and email that drive response. In her free time, she loves to explore creative writing and considers herself to be equal parts tree-hugger and animal-lover.
Irena Bosworth
Project Manager/Account Director
Irena Bosworth brings over 20 years of marketing experience across multiple verticals. She has spent her career both on the client and agency side with a birds-eye focus on relationship management and customer experience. A proven, accountable leader, Irena is results-driven who fosters strong partnerships with each engagement.
Supporting Sages
Randi Swartz
Proofreader
Randi has many years of experience in editing, proofreading, print production, purchasing and project management. In her last position at an event production and B2B company, she managed the printing and distribution of magazines, newsletters, books, collateral, marketing, and on-site materials, and gave the final approval on all marketing emails.
Mike Trotman
Proofreader
Susan Roberts McWilliams
Proofreader
Susan has many years of copyediting and proofreading experience, especially with magazines. Much of her work has involved food content and recipes. She loves eating and tolerates cooking.
Lauren Willis
Content Director & Producer,
Intercultural Productions
interculturalproductions.com
Fan Stanbrough
Web Designer/SEO expert
Website Partner
bbdsdesign.com
Drita Protopapa, MA, MPH
President & CEO,
MAPA Translation & Voice Over, Inc.
mapatranslation.com
Four-Legged Sages
At Sage, we not only talk the talk, we also walk the walk. And enjoy doing so with our four-legged Sages, who are all rescue dogs.
Jilly
Jr. V.P., Leads and Follow-ups
Reggie
Director of Tail Wagging
Jeti
Sr. V.P., Sniffing & Retrieving
(In Memoriam)
