DISTRICT 6 OFFICERS
All of your district officers are available to help with your AAF needs.
Dave is a Marketing Consultant for Spectrum Reach in the Flint Michigan DMA. Dave has been in the digital and traditional media arena for over 20 years and has worked at several media outlets along the way, including a CBS television station TV5, a large radio station group and the MLive Media Group. Dave is past Governor of American Advertising Federation (AAF) District 6 in 2016, representing Michigan, Indiana and Illinois and is also a AAF Central Region Past Chair. Dave is also the current President of the AAF of Greater Flint and has run many events, both at the local and District levels, of AAF. These include the District 6 National Student Advertising competition, the District 6 American Advertising Awards and several AAF Greater Flint American Advertising Award competitions. Dave has been a leader within the AAF at the local and District levels for over 15 years and was awarded the Silver Medal Award in 2015.
Secretary/Treasurer
Lisa Verkamp
YMCA of Southwestern Indiana
222 NW Sixth Street
Evansville, IN 47708
812.492.6714
Lisa Verkamp, Marketing Director for the YMCA of Southwestern Indiana, has been in the advertising industry since 2004 and made the leap onto the client side in 2013 working as a department of one managing all marketing and communications for the YMCA. She has served on the Board of Directors for AAF-Greater Evansville since 2009, having served in every major executive role throughout her tenure. Verkamp is a graduate of the University of Southern Indiana, where she also teaches as an adjunct instructor of Advertising Strategy in addition to her full-time work at the YMCA.
Incoming Governor
John K. Addis
Addis Enterprises
908 E Mount Hope Ave
East Lansing, MI 48823
517.4892830
John has been active in new media production since the very beginning of the web. A nationally award-winning designer, John has personally tackled more than 500 unique projects for businesses, organizations, and individuals. His work has been discussed and highlighted in local and national press, including CBS News, CNN's Lou Dobbs, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and even parodied on The Tonight Show.
Whether in his capacity as Chief Strategist for client campaigns or through his hobbies of music, writing, and photography, John is passionate about the creative process and enjoys the personal challenges behind every endeavor. He currently owns and operates Addis Enterprises, a 15-person full-service design and marketing firm in Lansing, Michigan.
Lt. Governor
Bridget Lescelius
Associate Instructor, Advertising
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Bridget Lescelius holds an MBA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; MS in Public Relations from Boston University; BS in Radio-TV from Southern Illinois University. She is currently working on her Ed.D. in Higher Education.
Her career spans over 30 years in advertising and marketing, including vice president and partner of Spark in Phoenix, Arizona; senior associate of marketing at the Institute for Supply Management in Tempe, Arizona; partner at The Big Idea, Inc. in Alexandria, Virginia; senior account executive at The Washington Agency in Washington, D.C.
She was responsible for the development and execution of marketing plans and programs, managed and directed client marketing/communications strategies, public relations efforts, and market research projects. Bridget has worked with a wide variety of clients, from engineering firms, economic development and tourism interests to government agencies, associations, small businesses and Fortune 500 companies.
Bridget returned to her alma mater in 2017 as an instructor of advertising at Southern Illinois University’s School of Journalism and Advertising where she teaches a variety of advertising classes from copywriting to digital advertising. She has three sons: Sam, Noah and Ben, the youngest one who just graduated college. To her surprise, Bridget was the ultimate soccer mom, with two of the boys playing college soccer. All three have successfully launched in Tucson, New York City and St. Louis. Which makes her very grateful and very proud. Her husband Mike runs a music recording studio, serving the southern Illinois area.
Lt. Governor
Matt Hanson
Purdue University Northwest
2200 169th St, Anderson 382
Hammond, IN 46323
219.613.8104
hansonm [at] pnw.edu
Matt is a 20+ year veteran in the digital marketing space. He juggles a lot of projects on a weekly basis including running the digital marketing efforts for his clients, leading the digital marketing curriculum at Purdue University Northwest, running a student-focused ad agency and digital marketing competition, and acts as both the Director of External Engagement for the College of Business and the Director of the White Lodging Professional Selling Lab at Purdue Northwest.
He has been part of winning work for various American Advertising Awards in the past, and he even led a team of students to win the National Student Advertising Competition in 2014 for Mary Kay – who knew makeup was going to be his specialty? Most recently, he was recently accepted into the Society of Innovators who celebrate the most innovative ideas in Northern Indiana.
Marissa is an award-winning strategist whose work has translated into effective earned media, brand activation and stakeholder engagement for clients ranging from late-stage start-ups to major brands and cultural institutions like Google, Johnson & Johnson, and Harvard, with ghostwriting published in Information Week, Huffington Post, VentureBeat, and Inc.
Ever curious about human behavior and the art of a good brief, her passion for bringing people together – through shared space or common ground – shines through in all she does.
After working at boutique and global agencies for more than a decade, she now owns her own consulting firm, Goodfellows Creative, specializing in experiential design, integrated marketing planning, audience research and branding (copy and strategy). Recently, she founded Great Lakes Tinned Fish and is loving the new creative and leadership challenge of spinning up a CPG brand from idea to execution.
Outside of the office, Marissa is deeply committed to the arts, civic engagement, women’s empowerment, local food ecosystems, and enjoying life by the water.
Student District Officer
Ashleigh Spence - Southern Illinois University
Ashleigh Spence is a graduate student at Southern Illinois University in the Professional Media and Media Management M.S. program with a focus in Advertising.
She graduated in 2023 with a major in Linguistics, with minors in both American Sign Language and Journalism. She was on the presenting team for 2023’s Indeed NSAC case, coming home with 1st place in district 6.
She works as an account director and lead strategist & copywriter at Saluki AdLab, a student-run advertising agency under advisor Bridget Lescelius. Through her leadership in AdLab, she works on accounts such as the Illinois State Police, Quatro’s Deep Pan Pizza, and more.
Chair
Chris McDonald
Designworks Advertising
12745 S Saginaw St
Grand Blanc, MI 48439
810.606.8065
Chris' volunteer experience with the AAF began in 1998, the year he started his advertising agency, Designworks Advertising, where he is Principal and Creative Director. His home club is AAF Greater Flint, where he served on every position before moving up to the District 6 leadership track. He was a four-year NSAC district chair during this time, and was District 6 Governor in 2012-13. He then stepped back to help his home club where he has served two separate four-year tenures as American Advertising Awards chair. Chris also served as the AAF Central Region Chair form 2022-23 and currently serves as the Immediate Past Chair and on the planning committee for the 2023 Central Region Conference. He has been an active member on the AAF Greater Flint Board since 1998. Chris' involvement with AAF national has been significant as well, serving on the national AAF Executive Board of Directors, the national American Advertising Awards committee, the Council of Governors, among many other roles. Chris was honored in 2011 to receive the AAF Silver Medal Award. His volunteer work is not just for the AAF. He is board member of the Grand Blanc Athletic Foundation, and other athletic boosters for Grand Blanc High School, his alma mater. He founded and coached for 10 years a regional youth travel baseball organization and was board president during that time. Chris is a University of Michigan alum, Go Blue!