Big ideas. Bigger impact: How storytelling powers nonprofit success.

Rio steers the creative direction and marketing that will help organizations to develop, enhance and grow their brands. Rio's career began as an art director and copywriter for Wells, Rich, Greene Advertising, the top award-winning agency in the U.S. at the time. Rio next became Creative Director for George Lucas and Steven Spielberg where she was responsible for developing the worldwide branding, advertising and merchandising for their films, setting record-breaking precedents for box office and licensing revenue. She started an agency with Lucasfilm, Francis Ford Coppola, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures as her first clients. Rio next met Glenn Sagon, our CEO, when he was Columbia Picture's Global Creative Director. Soon after, they began working together. Non-profit clients include the International Olympic Committee, American Heart Association, United Nations, Ford Foundation, United Way, and over 100 more.

Glenn drives the multi-channel marketing strategies that build revenue and donations for our clients. He is a creative thinker with a keen business acumen delivering measurable results and groundbreaking work for prestigious global brands. Clients have included The Department of Homeland Security, Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments, The Non-Human Rights Project, Fulfillment Fund, Valley Presbyterian Hospital and many more. Glenn began his career as an Art Director for Foote, Cone, Belding working on national corporate accounts. He next became an award-winning Creative Director for Columbia Pictures where he produced campaigns for “Ghostbusters,” “Big Chill,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Gandhi” among many others. This broad range of opportunities has led Glenn to the philosophy he has today: "Every great brand begins with a great story. You must connect emotionally with your audience."

With 25 years of experience on both the agency and client side, Renée quickly develops a deep understanding of an organization and its development needs to deliver marketing programs that move the needle. With strong brand stewardship and marketing skills (domestic & international, strategic & tactical), she has led creative teams and developing and executing innovative campaigns for non-profits, and national and global consumer and trade brands that expand awareness and drive revenue. In fact, Reneé brought her marketing prowess to the non-profit, National Charity League, Inc. (NCL), and as their CEO, helped to increase its footprint by more than 50% over three and half years. She's also helped lead the marketing efforts for non-profits Kid Healthy/One OC and the Petersen Automotive Museum and serves as a non-profit board advisor. Renée has worked with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, Bexa Equity Alliance, providing breast exams to the underserved, and with Laura's House, a domestic violence center.

Greg is a seasoned bilingual brand and communication strategist with over a decade of experience across diverse regions, including South Africa, the broader African continent, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the USA. He leverages his experience across multiple sectors to ensure that brands are positioned strongly, with a unique and ownable brand territory for developing creative concepts and ideas. Greg’s communication strategies align with full-funnel marketing, ensuring that every brand interaction builds valuable connections. Greg has a deep understanding of the full digital and traditional communication ecosystem. Greg has been instrumental in developing marketing and communication models aimed at driving growth for brands. He is adept at Google 4 Analytics and digital marketing. More >

Janice is an award-winning journalist and creative writer. Her articles, opinions and stories have been published in USA Today, The Detroit News, The Seattle Times, and Essence Magazine, among many others. Prior to her journalistic career, Janice held multiple senior positions at Fortune 500 companies in the philanthropy, healthcare, aerospace, car, public relations and consumer goods sectors. She was Vice President of Corporate Communications for WellPoint, Inc. Prior to that she was Director of Philanthropy and Diversity Communications at American Honda Motor Company. Earlier in her career, Janice was Vice President Public Relations position at Grant Jacoby / Chicago, Director of Public Relations at The Boeing Company Europe, and Manager of Media and Public Relations at the Sara Lee Corporation. Janice has conducted media relations, speech writing, interviews and reputation management for several Fortune 100 companies.

Chris is our resident science geek, and we couldn’t do any of what we do without him. He is an expert at discovering consumers’ hidden desires using psychology, big data, and computational linguistics. Based on large datasets of hundreds of millions of people, he converts real world human behavior into inferred psychological states; for brands, understanding the audience’s psychological and emotional drivers to join, try, purchase, or repurchase is key.

Terry Horsmon is a marketing and operations executive with nearly 40 years of experience helping brands and agencies find value for their clients. As an operations executive, Terry has held senior positions at branding, media and advertising agencies in the US and Asia. As a brand marketing consultant, Terry has worked with agency groups at WPP, Publicis and independent agencies. At Branding for Humanity, Terry has worked in various capacities for over 30 years and currently heads our Operations team. His former work with Dreamworks Animation, BMW, Ford, and Nike has given him a broad view of the global marketplace. In fact, Terry’s international experience is vast, having worked in over 10 countries, including China for 11 years and he speaks fluent Mandarin.

With a father who was a blacksmith, woodworker, and physicist (in that order), Bill grew up learning that details matter, no matter what the task. And for over twenty years, Bill has put that philosophy into action at Sagon-Phior, directing and developing global and national marketing and advertising campaigns, as well as packaging, broadcast, and digital campaigns for our most high-profile clients. Bill knows no boundaries. He enjoys the rush of the creative process and the thrill of getting it right; to him, “getting it right” means crafting work that resonates with audiences while showcasing the absolute best of a brand. His unique ability to zero in on compelling messaging and captivating visuals comes from years of training in the entertainment industry and non-profit worlds. Since Bill has been with our company for over 25 years, he shares a large percentage of the non-profit clients listed on this site.

Stacey believes that anything worth writing about, must be worth reading about. With twenty-plus years of Public Relations expertise in the areas of non-profit, high tech, entertainment, healthcare, real estate, fashion, and business services, Stacey knows that every brand is its own unique creature and works her magic to make sure that the world, and everyone in it, knows too. Her ability to help make a non-profit's message or movement go national or global is unexcelled. Her non-profit client experience is quite extensive having included Non-Human Rights Project, National Charity League, Inc., American Cancer Society, HomeAid, Goodwill, Taller San Jose, Minority Pilot Advancement Foundation, Base 11, Relay for Life and the CHOC Foundation.

Russ has one foot in two worlds, the real and the digital, and he feels equally at home in both. That’s why he’s a master web specialist and Branding for Humanity's resident Digital Developer tech guru. With a master’s in fine art, Russ combines the problem-solving skills of a programmer with the aesthetic sensibility of a designer.

Involved in every online and app development project that we bring onboard, Russ manages all our development teams and can easily explain the most complex of programming challenges to the digitally inexperienced. For over 15 years, he has supervised and directed all our general web and microsite development, search engine optimization and marketing, interactive campaign integration, multi-platform programming and coding, e-commerce, web analytics, email marketing, online video, game, app development, and content management systems. His non-profit work has included Homeboy Industries, The Whole Child, The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Ready to Succeed LA, Safe Parking LA, Enrichment Works, The Wende Museum, The University of California (Santa Barbara), The United Way, The Iovino Prize, Woodcraft Rangers and many more.

Fernanda is a passionate digital strategist, social marketer, and PR professional with over a decade of experience in luxury branding, entertainment, and non-profits. She has collaborated with prestigious global brands such as Montblanc, Hyatt, F1 Mexico GP, and HOLA!. At Sagon-Phior, Branding for Humanity's parent company, Fernanda has driven audience growth and brand visibility for clients like Two Rodeo Drive, Versace, and Porsche Design. Her expertise lies in crafting compelling narratives, building strategic partnerships, and creating engaging content.

Every day, Colin understands the significance of finding creative ways to bridge the gap between information and understanding a brand. A man of many talents, including illustration, watercolor, photography and ink painting, Colin contributes artistically fresh and original ideas to all projects. As a designer, he enjoys, and excels at, collaborating with clients to develop their brand’s vision and then creating the designs to communicate said vision in an emotionally compelling and memorable way. Colin brings a vibrant youthful aesthetic to everything he works on. He is intimately in sync with the creative and social zeitgeist of our times. He knows what's new, what's cool and what's not. When Colin is not working on a non-profit project (though he usually is) he also applies his skills to the agency’s healthcare, technology, lifestyle and financial services clients. He applies strategic design ideas that can drive revenue for any organization. Before joining the Sagon-Phior team, he worked with, among others, Comic Con (which means, point blank, that he’s just plain cool).

Kristin has over thirty years’ experience designing programs, as a grant writer, project manager and lobbyist. Kristin holds a master's degree in program evaluation and administration with a focus on organizational management from CSU, Chico. She is the CEO/Founder of our partner, Grant Management Associates (GMA), specializing in funding identification, grant development and strategic planning for corporations, nonprofits and municipalities. For over 15 years, Kristin has led GMA in powering growth for more than 500 clients, helping them secure over $2 billion in competitive grants with a 90% success rate.

Stacy specializes in creative direction, messaging and creating engaging touch points throughout brand experiences. She is adept at developing brand identities from logo designs to brand guides and application templates for social media, digital marketing, presentations and print. Stacy got her start working for top ad agencies and boutique design studios in San Diego. After 13 years she moved to Orange County where she opened her own studio in Laguna Beach. She also served as a freelance art director for a top Orange County PR firm. This firm introduced her to cause marketing and she has donated over 600 hours of design since. She takes on one pro bono project a year as a way to give back. In 2017, she moved to Northern California to live closer to nature and has been working with the Sagon-Phior team over the past few years. Her accounts at Sagon-Phior have included the Children’s Cabinet, Saint John’s Medical Center Foundation, Good Worldwide’s The Iovino Prize, Iovino Foundation, ReSurge and United Nations Girl Up movement.

Video is one of the most effective mediums in marketing today. Chandler is our resident cinematographer, commercial photographer and video director. His attention to detail, collaborative energy, and willingness to solve problems quickly, have led him to work on many photoshoots, short film series, social media campaigns and more. Chandler’s ability to adapt to different challenges and environments makes him a trusted collaborator in delivering projects that exceed expectations. Areas of expertise include fashion, lifestyle, financial services, automotive, people, travel, and non-profits. For the past 10 years, Chandler has worked in all aspects of production. He has vast knowledge on production pain points, working within a team, and dealing with high pressure situations. We utilize Chandler’s production company, Ponderay Studios, to provide a full-service solution for our non-profit clients. In this way, we can seamlessly blend creativity, technical expertise, and strategic insight to offer our cause-driven clients end-to-end production capabilities from concept to final cut.

Parnell is recognized as a leading innovator in the swiftly advancing domains of digital asset creation. His artistry and influence extends beyond mere blockchain art, and digital collecting; as he is also a pivotal figure in the fashion and urban creative scenes of Los Angeles. His unique blend of creative expressions has resonated with many influential figures, reinforcing his position in the dynamic New Media Art landscape. He has a significant following and dedicated collector base who actively seek his original artwork, designs, and poetic perspectives. His creative prowess is evidenced by his contributions to various entertainment personalities and esteemed publications where he showcases his versatility across mediums. Notable collaborations include creating key art for iconic platforms such as Sports Illustrated, Billboard and Essence. Additionally, he has worked with celebrated artists like Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, Willow Smith and others.

Jennifer has worked in the accounting and account management fields since 2005. She really enjoys helping our leadership strategically plan and manage finances for the financial year. Her knowledge of support and troubleshooting software is vast and she brings a modern touch to budget management and systems flow. This has made working with our clients a very smooth operation. In fact, her operations knowledge and business skillsets are easily translatable to multiple business models and industries and her recommendations always complement the work we do with our clients. Everyone enjoys working with Jennifer because she is a people person first, while still balancing the rigor and detail required of a strategic financial executive. Jennifer’s lucid way of explaining complex financial and accounting issues to right-brained creative executives is a key talent of hers. The positive difference she has made to Branding for Humanity is tremendous.

Jesse has worked on our National Charity League, Inc., Go Red For Women, American Heart Association, United Way and Cancer Support Community client accounts. Jesse is a deep thinker, especially when it comes to visual communication. He has the gift of youthful spontaneous flair, which he injects in all projects. Regardless of brand identity, websites, corporate presentations of packaging, Jesse brings his experience as a Multimedia Art Director at FLYP Media, an Art Director at Dune Road Group, and owner of his own branding and custom apparel company to the Sagon-Phior team. By blending attention to detail, precision, and speed to create flawless art direction and design work for clients, Jesse excels at connecting an idea to the needs of an audience. A graduate of the University of the Arts Philadelphia, he is an artist and designer to his core.