about us

pioneering content marketing for over 25 years in financial services, b2b, retail and associations

in the beginning

We started with one magazine. Now we work with 30 clients in four verticals on comprehensive content programs, from digital experiences to print engagement, social strategy to video views, podcasts to paid. Things change. Partnering with brands to deliver thought leadership strategy + content + creativity doesn’t.

we’ve come a long way

Imagination opened for business on Nov. 7, 1994, with one airline magazine and three employees in a loft above a Chicago pizza restaurant. Today, we’ve grown to 100-plus staffers in two cities, Chicago and Washington, D.C., working on content programs across four verticals. We've been named content marketing agency of the year and one of the most creative content agencies—twice. Pizza still helps fuel our creativity, naturally.

we’ve come a long way

check out our
creativity in action

let us show you

our work

thought leadership

Our capabilities deepen and evolve as our clients’ goals shift, and as we master innovations in our industry and technology. But the commitment to our founding principles remains the same: creativity with credibility, quality content with strategic smarts, honesty and partnership with our clients, and thought leadership with—yes—imagination.

dare to be great

We don’t settle. We push each other to create the bold strategy, the content hub, the lead, the post, the video, the infographic, the podcast that goes far beyond expectations. We don’t regret the idea that gets rejected. We regret the good idea we didn’t try. Our internal CTA is: Dare.

As an agency, we’re different, but in a good way. “Work hard, play hard” doesn’t begin to cover it, since we hire journalists, strategists, content creators and other experts who equate creativity with fun.

Are you an imagineer?

dare to be great

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to work here

see for yourself

James Meyers

Founder, President and CEO

There’s nothing that brings out James' passion more than custom publishing, content marketing and leading one of the planet’s most talented and enthusiastic workforces.

Taking that dedication to content marking a step further, he served as chairman of American Business Media’s Custom Media Council and was named 2009 Custom Media Innovator of the Year.

Prior to starting Imagination, he was president of Macmillan Business Publishing, where he oversaw six publishing companies including SRDS and other B2B publishers.

James received a bachelor’s degree in marketing and advertising from the Indiana University School of Business, and completed an advanced advertising management program at Northwestern University and the Darden Business School’s Leadership Program at the University of Virginia.

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Doug Kelly

EVP, Design, and Co-founder

As one of the founders of Imagination, Doug once served as the company’s entire design department. Now he’s in charge of the company’s branding, as well as directing the design on print and digital projects.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from Iowa State University, he worked as a graphic designer and art director at Hartmarx, Inland Architect magazine and SRDS. Over the course of his career, he has won more than 150 professional design awards. In his free time Doug paints abstract landscapes and plays the drums in rock bands.

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Todd Cywinski

EVP, Client Strategy

Todd loves working directly with Imagination clients to understand their business and marketing objectives, as well as partnering with them to develop strategies and implement content marketing programs. A former client of Imagination who has spent his career working at banks and investment companies, as a management consultant for the financial services industry, and on the agency side, Todd brings a unique and valuable perspective to Imagination and our clients.

A Chicagoan at heart, Todd has lived and worked in Australia, Asia, Canada, Europe, across the U.S. and (finally) now lives in Chicago again where he spends time with his wife and two daughters enjoying all the live music, theater, architecture, food and excitement the city has to offer.

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Erin Slater

SVP, Business Development

As SVP, Business Development, Erin is responsible for positioning the company’s growth strategy, cultivating partnerships in Imagination’s four vertical markets (financial services, associations, B2B and retail) and growing awareness of Imagination.

Since joining Imagination 12 years ago, Erin has championed the company’s journalistic, high-quality approach to companies looking to launch content marketing programs in digital, print, social and broadcast media. Prior to joining Imagination, Erin worked for Gannett Co. and News Corp. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

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Simona Covel

SVP, Content

Simona has led the vision and execution of numerous award-winning content programs that have reached millions of American homes and businesses. She works with Imagination's talented creative teams to create best-in-class, audience-first content programs. A former Wall Street Journal reporter and Inc. magazine editor, Simona has reported and written on an array of business, financial and investing topics, including foreign exchange, fixed income markets and leveraged finance, as well as an extensive range of business-building subjects. From boardrooms to trading floors to factories, she has interviewed everyone from Fortune 500 CEOs to senators to inventors. Simona is the author of the recently-released book, Marketing Your Startup: The Inc. Guide to Getting Customers, Gaining Traction & Growing Your Business.

One-part Midwesterner, one-part East Coaster, Simona holds an undergraduate degree from The University of Michigan and a master’s degree from New York University.

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Cyndee Miller

VP, Content

Cyndee leads a wildly talented troop of content rock stars creating everything from white papers to tweets. She works with clients to create cross-channel content that meets their business objectives—and makes readers want to soak up every last character.

Cyndee spent nearly two decades working as a writer, reporter and editor covering marketing and advertising. She double majored in English and French while also working on her college’s grammar hotline. She still enjoys diagramming sentences (sometimes in French).

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Kate Hamilton

VP, Digital Marketing

As a trained storyteller and journalist, Kate creates astute marketing strategies that leverage compelling content, multichannel platforms and distribution technologies to create opportunities for audiences and clients to engage and converse. Prior to joining the Imagination team, she worked for several marketing agencies, developing holistic strategies for a wide range of clients including P&G, Massage Envy, Fannie Mae, Tetra Pak, Nike and Walgreens. Kate blends curiosity, a thirst for data and her diverse background in content marketing and account management to provide stellar solutions for her clients.

Before transitioning to digital marketing, Kate spent nearly a decade as a B2B journalist, working across editorial, web and social media to reach audiences and disseminate information in engaging ways. She double majored in Journalism and Communication Studies from the University of Iowa, and is the founder and publisher of LoganSquarist.com, a hyperlocal news website serving Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. In her spare time, you can find Kate belting out karaoke tunes, knitting woolen garments or training for her next half marathon.

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Tiffany Toft

VP, Design

Tiffany leads an awesome team of designers creating killer work targeting audiences from math teachers to bakers to CEOs. Whether creating an infographic or a print magazine, the team is out to create designs as smart as they are pretty. Of course, that sometimes means tapping into her superpower: translating client goals and requests into designs that deliver.

With more than a decade at Imagination, she knows where all the secrets—and the files—are buried. Tiffany has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Mizzou. She started down the path of magazine reporting, but she didn’t really like writing anything beyond the lede. Designing pages was way more fun. And still is.

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Jaime Painter

VP, Client Strategy

Jaime knows associations are the O.G.s of content creation. And given that storied history of creating stellar expert content, she loves dreaming up new and creative ways for associations to kill it in content marketing.

Jaime partners with Imagination’s association clients to ensure the resources, time and efforts behind all that great content are backed by a solid strategy rooted in brand and business goals.

Prior to joining Imagination, Jaime worked for several global associations and received a bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University. In her spare time, she can be found exploring the Chicago craft beer scene or cranking out a classical tune on her violin (but, no, she will not play "Cotton-Eye Joe").

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Michelle Fox

VP, Client Strategy

Michelle is a natural born connector with 15+ years of marketing experience. She collaborates seamlessly with her colleagues and clients to consistently drive towards strategic user-centric programs that yield powerful results.

As Vice President of Client Strategy, Michelle is responsible for leading strategic initiatives for her clients while ensuring that her agency teams are aligned to deliver on client business and user objectives. Michelle is an active member of the marketing community and is a frequent networker. In her spare time, Michelle can be found out and about enjoying live music or at the local coffee shop practicing her novice knitting skills.

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Janet Ortaggio

SVP, Finance

Janet oversees all financial aspects of Imagination, including accounting, banking, insurance and the company 401(k) plan. A native of Chicago, she received her bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University. Janet is a CPA and a member of the Illinois CPA Society.

Janet began her accounting career with Deloitte and later worked at Carson Pirie Scott and Co. and the Chicago Sun-Times and the Sun-Times Media Group. She has relished watching Imagination grow and evolve for the past 18 years. When she's not crunching numbers, Janet loves to travel (recent trips include Brazil and Ecuador) and check out Chicago's theater scene.

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Rebecca Rolfes

EVP and Co-founder

Rebecca has been a journalist and editor since first being published at 14 (it helps when your family owns a newspaper). She has worked in both the United States and Europe in every medium—print, both newspapers and magazines, broadcast, film, digital and social. She's done everything from translations to speechwriting. Nothing, however, has been as challenging and rewarding as helping found Imagination and building it into an award-winning custom content agency.

Rebecca earned dual bachelor's degrees from the University of Kentucky in English and French. She holds a Maitrise en Politique Internationale from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. She is the author of The Competition Within: How Members Will Reinvent Associations. Rebecca hates snow and so works remotely from a sunny office in Savannah, Georgia.

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what’s new

Get the latest news about Imagination—and our wins for our clients.

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it’s nice to be noticed

We’re grateful for industry awards—and even happier when it means our content is making a name for our clients.

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about us

pioneering content marketing for over 25 years in financial services, b2b, retail and associations

in the beginning

we’ve come a long way

we’ve come a long way

check out ourcreativity in action

let us show you

thought leadership

dare to be great

dare to be great

see what it’s liketo work here

see for yourself

our thought leaders

James Meyers

Doug Kelly

Todd Cywinski

Erin Slater

Simona Covel

Cyndee Miller

Kate Hamilton

Tiffany Toft

Jaime Painter

Michelle Fox

Janet Ortaggio

Rebecca Rolfes

what’s new

it’s nice to be noticed

what’s new

it’s nice to be noticed

check out our
creativity in action

see what it’s like
to work here