Our team
The people behind the name
Our multi-disciplinary team works together to ensure your employee communications work, that they are effective and that they get the job done. With skills ranging from writing and mathematics to taking you on sailing tours in Puget Sound, we’re here to help you reach your goals — and have some fun doing it!
Get to know us
Glenn Bonci
Managing partner
How do you get great results? Glenn has a few secrets that guide his approach to successful communication:
Employee satisfaction rules the day. The user experience must be the No. 1 goal. This primarily means simplicity. Empathize with the audience. The decisions they are making are important and they must be respected enough to be given information that is understandable, brief, well designed and well structured.
Ordinary writing and design yield ordinary results. Ordinary makes everything beige. To capture people’s attention, you need to be different.
Writing supports design supports writing. Great writing with ordinary design is workable, but not effective. Great design with bad writing will never fly. You need great writing combined with strong graphic design to be truly effective.
Brevity is absolute. Brief messages are heard. Complex information requires commitment that few have time to make. The goal should be to engineer communications so the audience can get the message and gain understanding with the least amount of effort.
Great communication is hard work. It takes patience, analysis, rewriting, fact-checking, agonizing, more rewriting. It takes effort!
Kiyo Patrick
Partner
A math whiz who accidentally found her way into the world of communications, Kiyo has discovered that she is a natural at understanding employees’ information needs. She helps clients throughout the country define, refine and implement communication strategies.
She started her career in HR at Towers Watson as a group benefits consultant. She worked with large clients to develop long-term health care strategies, track plan performance and implement new programs and vendor partners. Kiyo also served as the West Division financial lead for the Towers Watson Pharmacy Practice and as a national subject matter expert on employer-sponsored onsite health care.
She then joined Caesars Entertainment to serve as the interim director of benefits, which gave her valuable insights into the complexities of a large employer with a cutting-edge benefit program, multiple unions, locations throughout the country, and constantly shifting priorities.
Midori Tanouye
Partner
Midori has a keen ability to view things through the eyes of the audience. She knows when the audience will get the message – and when they won’t. And when she thinks they won’t, she simplifies, reworks, revamps, rewrites. She thinks. Works it through. And, in the end, she vastly improves.
Benefits is a tough topic. A lot of rules. Midori knows the rules. She knows how to be perfectly precise while maintaining a conversational style.
One of the best writers in the benefits business, she brings a keen acuity and lucidity to all she does.
When she’s not knee-deep in open enrollment, Midori likes to spend time with her girls, read, get outdoors, walk and enjoy the world.
Kelley Hardin
Partner
Kelley understands the employer’s perspective on HR. She knows what it takes to successfully manage large-scale benefit programs and end-to-end initiatives such as open enrollment, benefits outsourcing, transitioning to a new insurance carrier or implementing a new piece of legislation. She’s been there, she’s done it and she gets it.
Before teaming up with the HR Creative Group in 2012 (when we were the Adobe Group), Kelley was the director of benefits for Starbucks Coffee Company and a member of the Starbucks Benefits Department for over 13 years.
While at Starbucks, Kelley served as the company’s subject matter expert on the ACA, and was instrumental in assessing the impact of it on both the organization and its partners. Kelley regularly presented ACA updates and compliance recommendations to senior management. Kelley also participated in many discussions with individuals from the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Treasury and members of the Obama Administration on the effects of the ACA.
Kelley returned to work with the HR Creative Group in 2016 after 15 months as a national ACA subject matter professional for EY, advising clients on compliance and reporting requirements.
Andrea Gates Sanford
Graphic designer
Andrea has been producing graphic artwork with the HR Creative crew for many years and still loves every minute of it. Honest!
She thrives on producing beautiful layouts that reflect the messaging simply and cleanly. Skilled in all forms of design technology, she started her career using an X-acto knife and typesetting machine — now she’s online and in clouds. She’s got a darn quick turnaround and loves ensuring every “i” is dotted and every “t” is crossed, no matter what the typeface.
She is a ring steward for Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and it’s the best week of her year. She is slowly learning to play the cello and enjoys all kinds of crafty things but primarily spends her free time training and competing with her two talented Doberman pinschers.
Jamie Marks
Graphic designer
Jamie creates dynamic, functional design that help ensure employees get the message. She is passionate about meeting client needs while keeping designs fresh and engaging. She believes that collaboration and a people-first focus are key in making a stellar final product.
Jamie’s passion for art and technology led her to the design world, and she hasn’t looked back since. When she is not working, you can find her chasing her dog at a local park, spending time with family, or searching for the best comfort food in Seattle.