Core Team

core_header

Meet the Yates Advertising core team.

Susan Yates, Founder and President

Prior to launching Yates Advertising, Susan founded and managed FCB Direct San Francisco as Senior Vice President/ Director of Client Services. Starting with a staff of 2, she built to a staff of 35 and a client list that included Citibank, Pacific Bell, Hewlett-Packard, VISA, California First Bank, and Clorox. Additionally, while working at Grey and Cohn and Wells, she had the opportunity to partner with top-tier clients like Bank of America and Borland.

Susan has over 20 years of marketing communications experience. With a strong background in strategic planning and execution for major corporations, she is adept at the process of designing solutions to marketing challenges, and then shepherding them through the process of creative development, acquiring buy-in from stakeholders, and then executing with a strong attention to detail.

Fun fact: Most mornings at sunrise, Susan can be found rowing a single on Richardson Bay in Sausalito. She says it’s an amazing way to start your day!

Christopher St. John, Creative Director

A former Vice President, Creative Director at Publicis Groupe, Christopher has led creative teams in developing award-winning advertising for such clients as Google, Sprint, AAA, Webex, Wells Fargo, and Electronic Arts. Over the 20+ years that he’s been in the business, he’s had the chance to hone his skills at both brand and direct-response advertising. Christopher’s articles on marketing, business, and social trends have appeared in Create Magazine, nytimes.com, and sfgate.com.

A recent high-profile project: Christopher was the creative lead in developing a new animated Safety Campaign for PG&E. After a year in development and testing, the campaign garnered excellent recognition and response rates over 2015-2016. Media included TV, video, radio, print, OOH, online banners, and email.

Fun Fact: Christopher wrote a speech for ten-time Grammy winner John Legend, which he delivered at a university commencement ceremony.

David Greene, Interactive Director

David’s background combines in-depth user experience skills with advanced technical knowledge to enable Yates Advertising to provide sophisticated online solutions for our clients.  He’s gained these skills through 20+ years working with some of the world’s largest brands, like AT&T, Humana, eBay, Logitech, Symantec, Bank of America, Sprint,  MacAfee and PG&E.
<br>
The combination of UX and technical skills give David the ability to understand projects from business, creative and technical perspectives, and that enables us to develop and implement solutions that meet a wide variety of goals.
<br>
Fun fact: In his younger years, David designed a music history game for the band Aerosmith, and  co-founded Tribeca Interactive (a division of Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Productions) to bring the game to life.
<br>

Mary Hill, Production and Account Services

Mary is one of the most experienced production directors on the West Coast, and one look at her background shows you why. She’s held top production positions at such leading San Francisco Bay Area agencies as Ketchum, FCB and Cohn & Wells, working for top tier clients like Bank of America, Citibank, and PG&E.

She’s managed the print production, data processing, and lettershop at Yates Advertising for over 20 years. Her precision and attention to detail is just on the right side of obsessive, and she’s a whiz at finding ways to save production dollars without compromising quality. And these qualities also make her a great account person.

Fun fact: Mary is a sports stat and trivia fiend.  Every year on her daughter’s birthday, she also celebrates the anniversary of the 1884 exhibition game when the Dodgers and the Giants played each other for the first time. The Giants won.