Leadership

Murad Sabzali Founder & Managing Partner

Finding it difficult to make up his mind, Murad studied biology, finance, and marketing. In fact, he still talks about getting an M.D. and CFA, at the same time. Putting aside his insecurities and the need for greater knowledge, Murad brings strong marketing communications experience from both start-up and established companies to Chempetitive Group. Prior to founding Chempetitive Group, Murad held key marketing communications positions with several chemical companies, including Kaltron-Pettibone, fobchemicals.com, and MSDSonline. Murad has also held account management and public relations (and sometimes analyst relations) positions at Slack Barshinger. Murad is experienced in the development of effective advertising, public relations, and customer-generation programs. In addition to writing a book, experimenting with acrylic paints, figuring out fly fishing, and learning to play the guitar, Murad serves on the Board of a local not-for-profit profit organization. He received his B.S. from Northern Illinois University. He hopes to one day get a Ph.D, an M.D., a J.D, and a D.D.S. He is the co-founder of the rocking duo Bass Pairs.

Jeff Bergau Founder & Managing Partner

Jeff is the firm's chief morale officer. He is not bothered by much. Unless, that is, it involves exploitation of the trite, like the word "solution" in marketing materials. He offers Chempetitive Group clients a solid mix of corporate and agency experience. Before co-founding Chempetitive Group, Jeff held corporate communications positions with life sciences companies Monsanto Company and Calgene, Inc., and marketing agency positions with Slack Barshinger and Cramer-Krasselt. Jeff also served as Vice President, Communications, for the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization (IBIO) and is a past biotechnology contributor to I-Street Magazine. Jeff has significant experience in the development and execution of strategic marketing, issues management, and crisis communications programs for life sciences companies, and he has served as a company spokesperson in both print and broadcast media. He received his B.A. from Columbia College, Chicago, and his M.A. from Syracuse University. He is a co-founder of Bass Pairs and hopes to travel the world playing Zeppelin, man.

Steve Johnson Senior Vice President & Director of Client Services

Steve is that guy that you want on your squad. Not because of his .470 OBP in high school baseball, but because he’s that ego-free guy who always seems to have the right answer. Of course he understands what it takes to create strategic marketing programs that generate high returns on our clients’ marketing investments. But he also has an uncanny ability to take a challenging situation and find a simple and effective course of action. Before bringing his skills to Chempetitive Group, he spent 18 years at Slack Barshinger, where he was a partner, directed a host of client services, and played the role of staff psychiatrist. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and Business Administration from Illinois State University a very long time ago.

Erik Clausen Executive Vice President, Public Relations & Lead, West Coast

Erik is a professional storyteller, who dabbled in public affairs before realizing that there are better stories to be told in life science PR than in politics. Erik brings two decades of communications and international experience to his role leading the PR team at Chempetitive Group. Previously, Erik founded a U.S. office in San Francisco for European communications consultancy College Hill Life Sciences. Prior to that, he served as Vice President at international PR agency Schwartz Communications, where he worked for nearly a decade and ultimately led the firm's West Coast Life Science and Healthcare group. Erik was also a Chief-of-Staff and Press Secretary for a Massachusetts senator in Boston, and cut his teeth on the legislative communications team at California lobby house Livingston & Mattesich. Erik earned his Bachelor's in Environmental Science from California State University, Sacramento. In addition to being experienced in developing strategic communications programs that achieve business outcomes by influencing key audiences, Erik is a (very) amateur distance runner, who hopes to someday run the Boston Marathon without embarrassing himself. That shouldn't be difficult after the hazing he takes around the office as a Red Sox fan.

Don Barshinger Executive Creative Director

Don Barshinger has spent his career writing, guiding marketing communications efforts and eating McDonald’s. Early on, Don had a misspent youth working at various consumer agencies (which may explain the McDonald’s thing), such as Y&R and BBDO. Although he enjoyed the glamorous Mad Men life, Don saw that the future was in business-to-business communication. For nineteen years, he was a principal at Slack Barshinger, an integrated business-to-business marketing communications agency. At Slack Barshinger, Don lead a 25-person creative department, developed long-term brand-building strategies and helped find new ways of helping clients grow their business. Don also served as the agency’s president for many years, helping to grow the agency into a major force in b-to-b marketing.

After leaving the agency to pursue the carefree life of a freelance writer and creative director (Don was somewhat delusional at this point), Don almost immediately began working with the fine folks at Chempetitive. For three years, he has played a key role with many of Chempetitive’s clients, both creatively and strategically. He enjoys working in a variety of media, including print, video, online and live presentations.

David Vukits Vice President, Strategy & Insight

David never met an insight he didn’t like. After spending years as a client geek, he saw the light and embraced the unbridled joy of agency life. He has spent his time organizing disparate piles of client information into useful, actionable works of strategic art for large and small shops including Rapp Collins and RTC. A glutton for punishment, he’s attempted to build a better mousetrap by developing a number of processes and models to understand customer behavior, and brand attitudes and perceptions. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from Marquette University and an MBA in Advertising from the University of Illinois.

Ken Li Director, Public Relations

Ken escaped from a lab several years ago by disguising himself as a public relations professional. Since then he has been delivering award-winning programs for start-up and Fortune 500 companies. Ken offers Chempetitive Group's clients media relations expertise coupled with a science background. Prior to joining Chempetitive Group, Ken headed the technology/B2B practice at public relations agency Dome HK. Ken has a strong track record generating both trade and national media. He started his career as a research scientist who studied cholesterol metabolism and development of innovative pocket protectors. He received his B.A. in Chemistry and B.S. in Biochemistry from Cornell University.

Michael Yared Director, Digital Strategy

The Force is strong in Michael. After building one of the Internet's most popular gaming networks, forging an alliance with LucasArts, and then founding his own online marketing agency, Michael traded in his light saber for an opportunity to lead life sciences companies through the information superhighway. Michael keeps the Dark Side of marketing at bay through building and optimizing Chempetitive Group clients' online activities. He developed his powerful combination of business, foosball and computer science skills at Indiana University, where he received his B.S and a cocky attitude.

Tommy Torres Creative Director

Tommy, the silent ninja, brings a diverse skill set to the Chempetitive Group. Trained in martial arts, RC racing, track motorcycle racing, and creative design, Tommy serves as the Kato to Don Barshinger, the Green Hornet. Although he will never let you know it, or you may not hear him, he has quietly won numerous awards for his work over the past decade. His deeply thoughtful creative approach ensures that Chempetitive Group clients get strategically sound and visually impactful communications, every time. He's amassed communications experience with agencies such as Slack Barshinger and DoubleTake Design and has also run his own design firm. Tommy received his B.A. from the Illinois Institute of Art.

Tony Stephenson Senior Account Director & Lead, London

Despite his secret desire that America return to its form as British colonies, Tony leads Chempetitive's London office. He provides marketing, branding and life science PR services to Chempetitive Group’s clients across Europe as well as access to the region for clients in the U.S. Tony brings 12 years of communications experience, covering both agency and in-house, and has served in a variety of roles. Most recently, Tony helped shape and communicate life science brands in roles at Imperial College London and College Hill Life Sciences. He earned his B.A. in History from Anglia Ruskin University with a special concentration in American History. Needless to say, Tony delights in using his intimate knowledge of American History to realize his Colonial dreams.