Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis has announced the promotion of five long-term employees — Melissa Baer, Christine Coppinger Whalen, Jamie Kronfeld Markowitz, Abi O’Donnell and Marisa Van Brunt Mourot – to senior vice presidents.
“We’re thrilled to elevate this veteran group to SVP — they lead their respective businesses with the passion, determination and entrepreneurial spirit that embody the core values of our firm,” SSM&L CEO Shawn Sachs said in a statement. “While the agency has grown to over 250 employees globally, we’ve worked hard to maintain a strong company culture supported by promoting from within. Over the last decade plus, these five executives have worked their way up and contributed to the expansion of the agency across services and sectors. We are excited to continue to invest in their abilities to create impactful opportunities on behalf of our company and our clients.”
At the same time, the company announced the opening of a London office with former employees Bec Macfie and Anoushka Yousuf as its first hires. Clients include Wimbledon, Yinka Ilori, The AI Summit, Unyoked and Rapman as well as long time talent clients based in the U.K. and EU.
Baer originally joined SSM&L in the NY office, spearheading consumer PR campaigns. She eventually founded the brand integration division to drive entertainment and cause marketing services, global partnerships, paid integration/ branded content deals, and both sponsorship sales and strategy for clients across the company. Her team’s portfolio includes Acura, Golden Globe Awards, Shipt, The Michelin Guide, Scope Art Show, Re:wild and more. Baer is currently based in the LA office, where she oversees a bi-coastal team.
Coppinger Whalen leads consumer brand work for the agency, overseeing a bi-coastal team out of the New York office and focusing on strategic communications for clients across various sectors, including consumer tech, CPG and lifestyle. She has worked with global brands such as Activision, Adobe, McCormick, Roku and Monteverdi Tuscany.
Kronfeld Markowitz joined the agency in 2014 and now leads the Entertainment & Advocacy department. Based in New York, she oversees strategic communications for a wide range of clients, representing well-known nonprofit organizations such as Feeding America; emerging and established talent including Dove Cameron and Eva Longoria; and issue-driven campaigns ranging from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Make March Matter to the Washington NFL team name change on behalf of IllumiNative. In 2020, she helped launch the largest GoFundMe in history, America’s Food Fund, founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and others.
Based in New York, O’Donnell leads the agency’s events business, overseeing a bi-coastal team that develops and executes communications campaigns for more than 60 major events each year, including awards shows, festivals, conferences, nonprofit galas and industry events. Clients include the Academy of Country Music Awards, Advertising Week New York, The ESPYS, Golden Globes, New York City Ballet galas and People’s Choice Awards. Additionally, she leads brand accounts such as Mercedes-Benz USA.
Van Brunt Mourot leads the global Talent & Influencer Integration team from the agency’s New York office. Since joining the agency in 2012, her clients have included Waze, USTA/US Open, American Red Cross, Wimbledon, Longchamp and Shipt.