Executive Biographies

Bill is the mastermind behind Envision Sales and Marketing (ESM). As he will tell you, there are many marketing and sales "professionals" out there that someone can hire – but very few who have the skills, creativity, and integrity also needed to truly help organizations with their marketing, sales, and business development efforts.

Not only is Bill a very bright, energetic and passionate sales guy, he has extensive corporate and entrepreneurial experience. His experience spans a wide variety of industries. Bill has lent his talents to corporations such as Carnation, a division of the Nestle Corporation, 3M, North American Philips, and Brach's Confections in upper executive positions in the sales, marketing, and business development sectors. Bill has achieved tremendous successes throughout his extensive professional career, and is responsible for growing business in excess of one hundred million dollars with giants such as Disney, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Marriott. Bill prides himself in real selling techniques, to ensure his clients monitor and maintain profitability.

Bill's vast professional expertise has helped to launch a number of exciting new products and companies, building them from the ground up, such as the Poultry Pal and Vac-It, a soon-to-be launched product from a company Bill created called Widgeteer, Inc.

Bill hails from Michigan, where he earned a degree in Business Administration from Alma College. Bill also enjoys spending time traveling, relaxing at his lake home retreat and being with his family.

Steve Birke retired after 38 years from Target Stores in 2008, where he has VP/GMM of Home. From 2000 to 2008, he was responsible for the $3-$5B Housewares/Home Décor, Home divisions. The Home divisions include storage, cookware, kitchenware, kitchen appliances, floor care, tabletop, beverage ware, furniture, lighting and decorative accessories. Additionally, Mr. Birke was responsible for Target’s Gift Registry (Club Wed). Prior to this, Mr. Birke was the Vice President of Electronics, from 1988 to 2000, where he was responsible for audio, video, video games, telecommunications, office products and cameras. Mr. Birke was in strategic planning reporting directly to the CEO and was involved in the creation, planning and implementation of the company strategy. Mr. Birke began his career at Target in 1970 and has over 38 years of retail experience. He has extensive experience in strategic planning, inventory management, product selection and development, vendor negotiation and relationships, in-store merchandising, packaging, marketing/advertising, and store execution.

He served as interim President and CEO of Wireless Ronin Technologies (2008-2009) and President and CEO of Lawrence Merchandising Services (2009-2010).

Mr. Birke currently serves on the board of directors of Wireless Ronin Technologies (RNIN), Automated Members Services, Enviroscent and is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota.

Laurel lives and breathes all things marketing: market plan development, research, brand identity, messaging, interactive and web media, public relations, customer relationship development, direct marketing campaigns, social media, and database and loyalty marketing (just to name a few).

Like Bill, Laurel's experience stems from the corporate world. Her career there spanned a wide range of cross-functional roles, not only in the realm of marketing but also in the areas of sales and business development. Yet her true passion came forth during her time as Marketing Director for Speedpass Network, a venture of Exxon Mobil Corporation. Her creative juices flowed freely as she led teams to create Speedpass' brand and messaging platform, comprehensive communication plan, and its website.

Earlier, Laurel's roots were formed in the area of database marketing and customer relationship as she developed and sold unique customer loyalty programs for Mobil Oil's U.S. retail outlets. Laurel also had a successful career as a Sales Manager and Officer at NationsBank (now Bank of America).

Originally from Virginia, Laurel has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate business degree from Georgetown University. She enjoys equestrian pursuits, and spends free time running around with her kids.

Andreas has over 25 years of international marketing experience with organizations that include Seagram, Esker, Surfcontrol and JSB. He has managed strategic and tactical marketing, perfecting the art of online campaigns. Ten years ago Andreas formed Bloofusion, an online marketing agency that enables companies to take advantage of search engines, turning web sites into effective sales and marketing channels. By focusing on search engine marketing as a long-term strategy Bloofusion will help your company attract potential clients. The Bloofusion Team in the US (California) and Europe (Germany) work for clients of all sizes, from small, innovative startups to public companies.

Julie is an amazingly organized and highly adaptable member of the ESM team. With her accounting and bookkeeping prowess, Julie ensures that projects are on task and clients are fully satisfied with all aspects of ESM's work. Julie brings extensive experience to ESM, in organizations both large and small. She has worked magic in her role as the single "do all" accounting person in a small-sized firm, and has equally impressive results when providing executive and corporate support in larger organizations. She prides herself on her ability to draw insight and solutions from a growing base of knowledge and experiences (the advancement of her education is a top priority).

Every the epitome of a team player, Julie displays excellent analytical skills and is a master of multi-tasking and managing expectations with regard to deliverables. She also rivals Deb with her project management capabilities. For fun, Julie is an avid participant in her son's activities, enjoys camping in the great outdoors, and passionately looks to give back to her community.