The leadership of an organization defines the culture and ultimately the service and product you receive. Through daily application of three key values...SMART, FAST, and KIND...our leadership team has built a solid foundation for corporate culture, as well as client service. This is how we define our firm...and ultimately what you will experience.
Smart • grasp the business situation quickly • anticipate challenges • create solutions
Fast • think on our feet • respond quickly • maintain flexibility
Kind • always consider the client's best interest • possess a "no problem" attitude • care
We invite you to get to know the leadership that closely monitors the implementation of these values: Kevin Olsen, President & Principal Gary Vlk, Executive Vice President & Principal Brad Zulke, Chief Operating Officer & Principal Kimberly Medaglia, Vice President Steve Koppel, Vice President Mark Ledogar, Vice President
"Kindness is an interesting word in business. Yet we have found time and again that if kindness is a key part of our internal culture and guidance system it becomes a natural extension of how we treat clients, strategic alliance partners and each other."
Kevin Olsen President & Principal
Kevin Olsen's distinction for pushing the limits of creativity during his twenty plus years in the event marketing industry launched him into his ultimate creative endeavor in 1995, establishing One Smooth Stone. Since the company's inception, Kevin has led a team of communication and event professionals that consistently delivers tangible results for clients. Drawing on knowledge gleaned from interaction with very diverse industries, Kevin is always looking to generate innovative ideas and collaborate with his clients.
His active participation in MPI (Meeting Professionals International) since 1990 is reflective of his commitment to the industry. He has served on several MPI International Leadership Committees and is further investing in MPI by serving a second term on the trustee board of the MPI Foundation. As a faculty member, Kevin has shared his industry expertise with those professionals attending a wide variety of MPI educational events, including "Institutes," "CMM," "PEC/WEC" and a host of local chapter offerings around the country.
In addition to giving back to the industry, Kevin is also devoted to giving back to the community at large. The Foundation of One Smooth Stone, established in 1999, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping "a world in need." The foundation has given over $400,000 away to charitable organizations around the world. Kevin has also served on the Public Awareness/Marketing Committee and the Executive Advisory Board for Trinity International University, as well as the Board of Directors for GingerCare Christian Academy.
"You can have all the great ideas in the world. And we can evaluate the potential all day long. But it comes down to some solid project management, and some proactive communication and really thinking through each step. So when it comes time to deliver, you know that it's going to happen. There are no questions."
Gary Vlk Executive Vice President & Principal
Gary Vlk's foresight into the changing needs of clients has allowed One Smooth Stone to evolve from producing meetings and events to a firm that can address an organization's marketing challenges and help them move from strategy to implementation. His extremely skillful management coupled with his insightful reasoning makes him a trusted advisor to his clients and the One Smooth Stone team.
Successfully interacting with a variety of personalities to facilitate compelling client input, Gary has created powerful methods of communication for both internal and external events that repeatedly exceed clients' expectations. Gary has applied his extraordinary project management skills to produce events and campaigns of remarkable complexity... the 150th Anniversary of the Archdiocese of Chicago's "Mass in Grant Park", teleconferences with multiple up/down links in 15 cities, and an eight city world-wide theatrical production...to name just a few.
With an exceptional ability to quickly understand an organization's business strategy and leverage that insight to create truly strategic communication solutions, Gary has helped One Smooth Stone develop an impressive list of repeat clients over the last ten years. Gary also provides leadership as a director of The Foundation of One Smooth Stone and is a member of the International Association of Corporate Entertainment Producers.
"We are very grateful to our clients who, once they have engaged us on a project, seem to keep tapping us on the shoulder and say, "What else is it that you can do for me? What's next? How do we grow this experience?"
Brad Zulke Chief Operating Officer & Principal
Brad joined One Smooth Stone after 15 years of leading a $400 million Investment Management & Trust Company in the greater Chicago area. As the CEO, he created short & long term strategic plans, as well as the communication campaign to achieve their objectives. His strengths include forward thinking skills, change management and vision casting to encourage actionable steps for successful achievement of goals.
Brad has been affiliated with One Smooth Stone since its inception...first as a charter member of its board of directors and then on January 1, 1998, as the third principal. Brad serves as the company's Chief Operating Officer and also as a director of The Foundation of One Smooth Stone.
While primarily responsible for the daily operational and financial management of One Smooth Stone, his unique understanding of publicly held firms allows many of our clients to feel a real sense of advocacy in the area of satisfying shareholders.
Formerly Director of Marketing for Trinity International University, Kimberly Medaglia has a unique ability to execute a project from strategy and message development through implementation. These talents make her a valuable resource in managing successful accounts for One Smooth Stone.
Upon arriving at One Smooth Stone in 1997, she pushed the limits to expand One Smooth Stone's capabilities to include strategizing and delivering integrated marketing communications solutions. Whether strategizing a recruitment campaign to hire undergraduates, synthesizing and writing a company's positioning platform, or attracting the attention of CIO's through creative marketing, Kimberly's commitment to excellence ensures results.
Kimberly is a faculty member for MPI and the Exhibitor's Show in the areas of marketing, creativity and innovation and event design.
Prior to joining One Smooth Stone, Steve was a vice president with Edelman Public Relations Worldwide where he provided strategic internal communication counsel to Fortune 100 companies. He was also involved in the development of Navistar's Face-to-Face executive communication program and counseled numerous executives, including the CEO and his key leaders. His article based on the work for Navistar was published in the Journal of Employee Communication Management.
His marketing communication experience includes several years as the director of marketing and communications for the Society for Information Management, an organization consisting of CIOs, VPs of IT and other senior executives. And his media relations experience includes a stint as the media relations manager for SIGGRAPH, the world's largest computer graphics tradeshow, attended by more than 1,000 media representatives.
Since joining One Smooth Stone in 1999, Steve has produced events in more than 10 countries around the world. He also provides strategic marketing communications counsel to a number of Fortune 500 companies.
During his eleven years of event marketing experience with the world's largest association management firm, Mark's focus was quite diverse, including everything from logistics management, registration, and attendance promotion to tradeshow operations and sales, advertising, and sponsorship development. While Director of The Convention & Trade Show Division at Smith, Bucklin, & Associates, Mark served as General Manager and Show Director of one of the 200 largest tradeshows in the country, as well as oversaw a team of 75 event planners who managed over 600 events annually.
Here at One Smooth Stone, Mark has leveraged his particular interest and strength in the area of tradeshow management and sales, sponsorship program development, and sales and strategic communication planning to benefit our clients. Mark's ability to combine detailed project management with high-level strategy and message consultation provides unique value to our firm and our clients.
Mark is a faculty member for the Exhibitors Show, Meeting Professionals International and International Association of Exposition Managers in the areas of creativity & innovation, trade shows and event design.
