Our Staff

	Bryan Mattimore was founder and President of the Mattimore Group, an 18-year-old creativity consulting and ideation facilitation company before co-founding the Growth Engine Co. in 1999. He is one of America's top experts in applied creativity, ideation facilitation and innovation management. In his career, he has facilitated more than 1,500 marketing and business strategy ideation sessions. He is the author of the bestselling book, 99% Inspiration, A Real World Guide to Business Creativity, selected as the American Management Association's membership offering/book of the year; and inventor of the creativity training game, Bright Ideas. His articles on applied creativity have appeared in dozens of magazines including Advertising Age, Reader's Digest, The Futurist, Omni and Success. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, with a major in psychology.
	Gary Fraser is co-founder of The Growth Engine Company and a veteran of 25 years of creative marketing and brand management at some of the world's top consumer products firms, including General Foods (Kraft), Chesebrough-Ponds, and Unilever. He and his Oral Care team successfully tested and launched Mentadent Toothpaste, turning it into a quarter of a billion dollar brand in three years. In his marketing career, Gary received two Golden Effie Awards for Effectiveness in Advertising, was named Marketer of the Year by Brandweek Magazine, and won three Edison awards as a marketing innovator. While at Unilever, he was also the director of Marketing Services and created their first company-wide innovation council. Gary is a graduate of Middlebury College with a major in economics, and received his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
	Jane Snyder has a diverse background that includes experience in children's publishing, consumer products, and online retail. In 1990, she was a founding editor at Candlewick Press, the prestigious children's book publisher known for its high-quality picture books and novels and assembly of celebrated authors and illustrators. While at Unilever Home & Personal Care, Jane led new product extensions for Mentadent Toothpaste and drove interactive marketing efforts for that brand which, in 1996, was ahead of its time in this regard. Jane spent five years at Amazon.com and was a pioneer in the field of email and database marketing in the late 1990's, helping the company establish itself as the market leader in that realm. Later in her tenure at Amazon, Jane managed content development for the Toys, Video Game and Baby Stores and drove highly effective web site optimization and cross-promotional efforts for these product lines. Jane is a cum laude graduate of Wellesley College and received her MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
	Rebecca Fretty is a classically trained, twenty-year veteran in marketing, advertising and operations across a broad array of companies obsessed with consumer insights and relationships. She lead brand positioning, long term strategic planning and new product development in Personal Wash, Skin Care, Deodorants, Oral Care, Laundry and Prestige Fragrances while at Unilever. In the pet supply industry, Rebecca rebuilt the Animal Health division and lead social media initiatives at Hartz Mountain Pet Supplies. Within the social sector, she was President & CEO of the YMCA of Greenwich, CT, revitalizing the institution's relationship with the community and expanding services. In the real estate industry, Rebecca helped Houlihan Lawrence with corporate positioning and communication. Rebecca double majored in Economics and Music at Agnes Scott College and received her MBA from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business. She also attended Harvard Business School Executive Program, Strategic Perspectives in Not for Profit Management.
	Mary Lauren Factora originally started her career in healthcare as an RN at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. She later worked as a travelling nurse in Louisiana, expanding her critical care skills. Pursuing the "business" side of healthcare, she attended Columbia Business School while interning at Johnson & Johnson in the women's health division. In 1997, she transitioned to brand management at Unilever, where she worked on the Mentadent, Vaseline and Suave master brands over the course of her tenure. In 2006, Mary Lauren joined Acme United as Director of First Aid. Leveraging her healthcare and CPG background, she immediately relaunched the PhysiciansCare Brand working with B2B industry leaders, such as Staples and OfficeMax, to develop new products and a product mix to satisfy workplace first aid regulations. Mary Lauren is a cum laude graduate of Georgetown University and received her MSN and MBA from Columbia University.
	Elona Logue’s professional experiences include strategic planning for America’s foremost non-profits and new product development for national consumer brands. Prior to joining The Growth Engine Company, Elona was Vice President of Strategic Planning at Charity Brands Marketing. As the lead marketing specialist for the agency’s largest non-profit clients, Elona successfully developed cause-related marketing partnerships for The American Red Cross and The American Heart Association, among others. Elona created partnerships designed to boost corporate brand equity while raising millions for her client’s life-saving causes. While at Unilever Home and Personal Care, Elona led cross functional teams as an innovation specialist for Caress, Mentadent Toothbrush, Suave and Pond’s brands.  Elona holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She earned a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications, and won the prestigious Advertising Student of the Year Award.
	Amanda Marino has worn many hats over her 30-year career, working in both marketing and real estate services at companies such as News America Marketing and Jones Lang LaSalle. She brings her project development skills, knowledge of retail and interest in consumer packaged goods to the Growth Engine team, where she hopes to expand her marketing and innovation experience. Amanda graduated cum laude from Boston College in Business Administration and Marketing and is currently obtaining her MBA from Fairfield University.

Our Extended Team

• Business Strategists
• Package Designers
• Industrial Designers/Structural Engineers
• Copywriters
• Qualitative and Quantitative Researchers
• Trend Experts
• Consumer and Trade Promotion Specialists
• PR Experts
• Freelance Ideators
• Creative Consumers
• Ideation Facilitators
• Technographers