Principals

Each team is backed up with senior team members acting as experts to make sure the brand communications stay on course. Our unique structure allows clients to benefit from agency-wide resources across all our offices while knowing that their core team is always there. The team's mission is to transform the best business-building ideas into measurable gains in the marketplace. What no one is ever allowed to forget around here is that even though we're all expected to become one of the most respected practitioners of our respective crafts, in the end what matters is the total package of solutions the team brings to each client.

Joe Takach
FOUNDER & CEO
Joseph Takach, CEO and co-founder, guides the overall creative direction and management of The Meridian Group. A recipient of numerous awards for advertising excellence, Joe knows what it takes to produce effective, results-driven advertising. He is a past President of the Advertising Federation of Greater Hampton Roads, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Better Business Bureau's Advertising Review Program and Hotel Sales & Marketing Association International of the Virginia's and various hotel associations. On the rare occasions when Joe's not in the office, he often escapes to the islands with his family. Joe's true passion for the advertising business results in a "Whatever-it-takes" attitude that drives The Meridian Group.

David Stearns
VICE PRESIDENT, CONSUMER TEAM LEAD
David L. Stearns applies equal measures of marketing skill and financial savvy to his work for The Meridian Group's clients. Combining his M.B.A. training with practical experience in financial services, mall retailing, apparel and grocery accounts, Dave is a valuable resource.
No stranger to hard work, he makes it a point to learn as much as possible about his client's business. Dave's been known to dig up new information about their business before his clients learn of it. Away from the office, Dave relaxes with quiet activities such as fishing, gardening and sailing.

Elizabeth Lester
LAUNCH PRESIDENT, INTERACTIVE TEAM LEAD
Elizabeth Lester comes to Launch Interactive with over 12 years of experience in advertising and marketing, with specific expertise in email marketing and the Internet. Before joining Launch Interactive, she was Director of Marketing for Homes.com, where she built marketing programs to increase sales productivity and to cost-effectively drive more homebuyers to Homes.com. Prior to Homes.com, Elizabeth was a Senior Marketing Manager with Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the interactive division of The Washington Post Company. There she developed online advertising programs, email marketing initiatives and brand awareness campaigns. She started her career on the agency-side providing account management for large telecom providers (Verizon, Sprint, and US West.) She is a graduate of William and Mary.

Terry Kelley
VICE-PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, CORPORATE TEAM LEAD
Terry is the original co-founder and President when Kelley, Reilly & Smith Public Relations served as a division of The Meridian Group fifteen years ago. Terry came back to Meridian two years ago after working with some of the biggest names in sports and media. He says, “It was an extended seminar working with some of the best and brightest people in the industry."
Terry also helped found TeamLink in Atlanta where he served as Senior Vice President for Business Development. Under his guidance the company became the world's largest sports information system and revolutionized the way information moved around the world. More importantly, he forged relationships with all of the nation's media outlets by integrating them through TeamLink.

Terry Kelley
DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTING, ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM LEAD
Director of Finance and Administrative Team Leader Brenda Rust brings invaluable leadership and over two decades of accounting experience to The Meridian Group. In her role as financial director, she prepares timely and accurate financial reports for the agency's management team and applies her problem solving skills to survey comparison reports that help direct the rest of the agency's various teams. Brenda's previous accounting experience, ranging from the construction industry to sport boat sales and repairs, provides a solid foundation for her position at The Meridian Group. No stranger to long hours and multitasking, Brenda attended night classes while working full time to earn her accounting degree from Old Dominion University.