VML Aggressively Expands Technology Team With Major Hire and Several Promotions

Perry Puccetti has been hired as executive director, technology, joining an existing leadership team that will continue to drive VML North America. He has more than 30 years of experience leading companies, with a background and specialty in the visualization and execution of technology-based solutions that solve complex problems. Puccetti will focus on bringing in new technologies, capabilities and cost efficiencies, benefiting partners and clients alike. He will report to Chief Technology Officer Jeff Geheb.

Prior to VML, Puccetti served as president and CEO of a Kansas City technology consultancy, where he led an award-winning rebrand and turnaround. He has worked with clients across government and commercial sectors including ConocoPhillips, Cessna, the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Science Applications International Corporation, Honeywell FM&T, Kansas City Area Development Council, Lockheed Martin, Harris Corporation, Microsoft and others.

Puccetti is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, has a master’s degree in technical management with a focus in program and operations management from the Johns Hopkins University and certifications in Six Sigma, CMMI and knowledge management. He was the founding chairman of KCnext, a member of the board of directors for Veterans’ Voices, and an advisory board member for The Bunker KC, a nonprofit serving veteran entrepreneurs.

Martin Coady has been promoted to executive director, marketing technology. Coady will leverage more than 20 years of industry experience to establish VML’s marketing technology practice.

This global practice will support VML’s teams and clients by utilizing the power of marketing technology solutions. The team will create integrated platforms from these solutions and align them with operational plans to achieve clients’ business goals.

Coady and his team will look to emerging industry trends to define VML’s marketing technology strategy. From this thought leadership, best practices for design, implementation and operation will emerge.

The team will work with clients to optimize their current state and examine possibilities for change to ensure their investments are providing value and that they are embracing new opportunities.

As part of this new role, Coady will lead VML’s marketing technology partnerships, drive technical analyst relations and help create VML packaged solutions.
Coady regularly speaks at industry events including the Adobe Summit, Acquia Edge, Gilbane Conference and Nedbank Digital Edge Live in South Africa.

He previously served as the managing technical director in New York, where he worked with clients including Ford, Bristol-Myers Squibb and FedEx and ran VML’s technology partnerships, which included Adobe, Acquia and Sitecore. He will continue to be based in New York and his promotion is effective immediately.

Kylie Schleicher has been promoted to managing director, technology. Schleicher is responsible for strategies and standards that VML-developed applications and digital experiences are certified against. She has helped – and will continue to help – improve the quality assurance capabilities across all VML North America offices, working directly with clients in the evolution of their approach to streamline validation and improve delivery confidence. During her time at VML, she has worked across a number of industries, with clients including Sprint, Mastercard, Ford and U.S. Soccer.

Craig Elimeliah has been promoted to managing director, creative technology. Elimeliah’s promotion comes just more than a year after joining VML in a newly created role as director of creative technology. Elimeliah has been integral in connecting creative, strategy and technology strategies. His role represents a new type of creative technology leader that pushes thinking forward through an understanding of the combined benefit of all three areas for client business. Elimeliah will continue to work across VML clients. His promotion is effective immediately and he reports to Jeff Geheb, chief technology officer.

Tiesha Miller has been promoted to group director, technology. In 2015, Miller helped start the VML Chicago office as director, digital strategy. In this new role, she will run the technology offering in Chicago. Miller has a diverse background of experience, including leading the technical implementations for brands such as Gatorade and serving as the product owner/ strategic lead for global, multi-brand, multimillion-dollar enterprise platform rollouts for companies such as Kimberly-Clark. Miller’s knowledge of marketing technology helps deliver digital strategic road maps, supply tool assessment and recommendations for business transformation, and provide a better understanding of how digital capabilities can further consumer engagement and impact on investments. Miller holds a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

About VML
VML is a contemporary marketing agency that moves brands forward by inspiring a human connection. VML’s clients include Bridgestone, Colgate-Palmolive, Electrolux/Frigidaire, Ford, the Kellogg Company, Kimberly-Clark, New Balance, PepsiCo, Sprint, and Wendy’s.

Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, VML joined the world’s largest communications services group, WPP, in 2001. VML has more than 2,500 employees with principal offices in 28 locations across six continents.