Cali Tran

President & Chief Executive Officer

Cali Tran is the President and CEO of Valassis, the leader in marketing technology and consumer engagement. Cali has risen to become CEO due to his vision, his track record, and his passion for transforming the omnichannel experience for both consumers and marketers. In early 2019, Cali was promoted to President of Valassis, charged with aligning and strengthening the online and offline, data-driven business. Previously, he served as President, Valassis Digital from 2014 – 2018 and led the division through an exceptional trajectory of consistent profitable growth through organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions. He is deeply committed to empowering associates and building award-winning solutions that help improve consumers’ lives and drive exponential growth for clients. Prior to Valassis, Cali served as the Senior Vice President of Technology and Business Development at MacAndrews & Forbes, the parent company of Harland Clarke Holdings. He is also a founder and investor in high potential, market disruptors. His portfolio includes Ancestry (pre-Series A team), GoPlae (co-founding investor) and Adavium Medical (seed investor). Earlier in his career, Cali was a principal at North Bridge Venture and Growth Equity Partners, where he invested in wireless and digital media technology entrepreneurs.

Cali earned his Bachelor of Arts in history, cum laude, at Bowdoin College and his MBA at Harvard. He had the privilege of serving as the Chairman of the Fund Directors of Bowdoin College from 2011-2015 and has the honor of being the Co-Chairman of the OneVietnam Network since its founding in 2009. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Dr. Ellen Chan.

John Jenkins

Chief Operating Officer

With two decades in digital media, John has served as our executive operations and finance leader since September 2014. Before Valassis, John led corporate development at Tremor Video (NYSE IPO). At Tremor, John was deeply involved in both strategy and M&A. Prior to Tremor, John held general management and business development positions at foundational digital media companies like Adify (sold to Cox Communications), Flycast Communications (NASDAQ IPO, sold to CMGi), and CompareNet (sold to Microsoft).

John received an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a Member of the board of directors for Lifelong Medical Care, a regional health care system dedicated to providing services to the underserved. When not in the office, he can be found chasing his two young girls or at his local CrossFit gym with his wife.

Susan Rothwell

Chief Revenue Officer

With more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing, Susan Rothwell is the Chief Revenue Officer. Under Susan’s leadership, the Valassis Digital Sales team has grown by 35%. She has added two specialty divisions: GDM and Mid-Market sales, launched new products, led sales enablement and training, and achieved year over year double digit growth. Susan is deeply committed to building and empowering high-performing teams that deliver innovative solutions to help grow clients’ businesses.

Prior to Valassis, Susan began her career in copier and software sales. She worked with the Polaroid Corporation for 14 years and was promoted to various positions including sales leadership, new business development, partner relations, training and marketing.

Susan earned her BS from La Salle University and is a two-time winner of Century Club. She is passionate about her family, working out and women in leadership. She is the Executive Sponsor of the Valassis Women’s Network and works with the Network of Executive Women.

Michelle Engle

Chief Marketing Officer

Michelle leads the Valassis marketing organization which is hyper-focused on driving revenue and amazing experiences for our clients. The marketing team includes PR, Internal & External Communications, Vertical Marketing, Product Marketing, Event Marketing and our phenomenal UX and design team.

She is a seasoned veteran of the startup and technology space with more than 20 years of experience building products at iContact, Channel Advisor, and JP Morgan. Michelle holds a BA in Economics and International Relations (with a minor in Japanese!) from Bucknell University and an MA in Economics from New York University.

When Michelle isn’t spending time with her family and kids, she enjoys being a keen runner who loves to travel (especially for a race). Michelle spends her remaining free time volunteering with Super Cooper’s Little Red Wagon Foundation and serving on the board of Girls on the Run of the Triangle.

Susan Lee

Executive Senior Vice President, Business Development

Susan Lee leads Business Development & Strategy for Valassis. Her focus is on developing and executing corporate growth through strategic initiatives, partnerships, and M&A with a focus on industries undergoing transformation.

She has always been at the center of advertising, technology, and innovation with more than 18 years of professional experiences at critical points in the history of AOL, Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company, Viacom, and Univision. She then joined MaxPoint as an early employee and led Strategy & Business Development through a period of hyper growth, international expansion, eventual IPO, sale, and integration with Valassis Digital.

Susan has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree from New York University. A native New Yorker, she is now based in North Carolina with her husband and two children.

Curtis Tingle

Senior Vice President, Product

Curtis Tingle is Executive Senior Vice President, Direct Mail/FSI at Valassis. He is responsible for the growth and transformation of our RetailMeNot Everyday print products—primarily focused on making them work harder for our clients. Recognized as an industry thought leader in promotional strategy, coupon trends and evolving consumer purchase habits, Curtis brings over two decades of partnering with marketers to drive exceptional results through multi-media campaigns that engage and activate consumers.

Curtis is dedicated to our communities and our team; he is Executive Sponsor of our Giving Committee and a team coach for our Women’s Network. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Western Michigan University with an emphasis in marketing and finance in 1997. He spends his free time with his greatest passion—his high-school sweetheart wife and their three children.

Jay Webster

Executive Senior Vice President, Product & Engineering

Jay Webster has over 20 years of experience working in almost every aspect of technology startups. Before joining Valassis, he was Co-founder and President of Choose Energy, where he was responsible for capitalization, operations, product, technology, business development, and media. Previously, Jay served as Chief Product Officer for Sharethrough, an innovative advertising technology company; Chief Product Officer for Quova, an IP geolocation company acquired by Neustar; President and COO of Consorte Media acquired by Audience Science; GM of Lead Generation for Yahoo!; GM of Performance Marketing and CTO for BlueLithium acquired by Yahoo!; VP of Engineering for Adteractive, Inc.; as well as President and CTO for Fathom Online.

Jay also regularly serves as an advisor to startup companies. Past successes include Kefta acquired by Acxiom, Lift Media acquired by WebLoyalty, Marin Software (public: MRIN), Edgespring acquired by Salesforce, and BrandAds acquired by Extreme Reach.

Jay spends his free time as a musician and advocate for music education, serving on the board of Little Kids Rock for over a decade, and is a competitive triathlete.

Lisa Pick

Senior Vice President, Chief Counsel and Compliance Officer

Lisa leads the Valassis legal team which provides legal support and counsel to all business units within the Valassis enterprise. She also serves as the Valassis compliance officer. Lisa provides guidance as to strategic initiatives, alliance arrangements, corporate restructuring and acquisitions, commercial transactions and employment matters. Lisa joined Valassis in 2015 and has over 25 years of legal experience. She holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan.

Laura Lofthouse

Senior Vice President, Media Delivery Team

Laura leads a 400-plus member team that services a wide range of clients from global to hyper-local - focused on delivering the right offer to the right consumer at the right time. Due to her extensive leadership experience, she has been recognized for providing strategic direction, continued process improvements, aggressive cost containment and creating an engaging culture. Over her 30 years at Valassis, Laura has gained extensive experience in client services, targeting and manufacturing. She possesses a well-rounded understanding of the business and the industry. Laura attended West Virginia Institute of Technology and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in printing management.

Mark Dennis

Senior Vice President and General Manager, NCH

Mark is responsible for NCH business results across diverse product offerings, services and operations in the U.S., U.K, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland and Mexico. These responsibilities encompass the leadership, management and development of over 1,500 dedicated employees.

With more than 35 years of leadership experience at NCH, Mark has a track record for delivering business results by providing value to clients that contributes to their success, and achieves long-term customer relationships. He has led the company through innovation of its data and analysis capabilities while building upon the company’s solid reputation as a trusted third-party intermediary in every country and market we serve. Mark surrounds himself with strong leaders, recognized and respected for their commitment to client-centric excellence, transparency and integrity.

Mark is an avid sports fan with a special interest in the game of baseball, wishes he were a better golfer, advocates for Golden Retriever ownership and the proud father of three children.

Gene Brandon

Executive Senior Vice President, Strategy

Gene’s focus is on driving growth and innovation across the company’s core solutions - Direct Mail Package, Free-Standing Insert and Neighborhood Targeting. Most recently, he served as Valassis’ Senior Vice President, General Manager of Direct Mail Package, which he knew intimately well from his early years at ADVO (acquired by Valassis). Capping off his sales career, Gene rose to Senior Vice President of National Sales, guided a team of 300, and instituted the Challenger™ model across all Valassis Sales divisions. He is a certified CEB Challenger trainer. Gene started his career with Estee Lauder in New York City, recruited from the University of Virginia where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Economics. He spent 10 years at Estee Lauder, building the foundation for client-facing roles throughout his career.

Mark Johnson

Senior Vice President, Restaurant & Retail

Mark Johnson is the Senior Vice President, Sales, Valassis, leading the restaurant, retail and automotive categories as well as the Valassis Solutions Center and for developing high-level relationships, actionable insights and integrated media solutions that drive revenue for Valassis and value for our customers. Throughout his career Mark has built best-in-class sales teams which provide value and insights to clients.

Mark has more than 35 years of print and digital media experience, including 27 years at Valassis. He has played a key role in product management, development, pricing, manufacturing, distribution and customer marketing. He has held various leadership positions including Vice President of Integrated Media Sales, Vice President of Sales, Neighborhood Targeted Products and Services and Newspaper and Print Solutions. He has spent a significant portion of his time at Valassis in front of our largest and most important customers, especially in the restaurant and retail spaces. Mark is a James O’Rourke recipient.

Before joining Valassis, Mark gained extensive publishing and retail experience with the New York Times Magazine Group as Director of Single Copy Sales where he managed marketing and distribution for numerous consumer magazines such as People, Sports Illustrated, Family Circle and Golf Digest.

Mark holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri. He also is a member of the Marketing and Advisory Board at his alma mater and is serving as a guest professor.

Tom Dolan

Executive Senior Vice President, Media Services

Tom Dolan is a seasoned veteran of the advertising industry, bringing more than a decade of senior management experience and knowledge from the biggest agencies in New York. Before coming to Valassis Digital, Tom spent more than four years at Catalina, helping build a $50 million in-store advertising product, leading the strategic partnership group, and launching online and mobile solutions as a member of the digital leadership team.

Tom earned his BA from the University of Notre Dame with a dual major in Anthropology and Pre-Med. Can you say career change? He adds to Valassis Digital’s triathlon chops as an Ironman finisher and even spent several years running his own company focused on this passion. Now, Tom’s main hobby is spending time with his sons and family in New York City. Get Tom talking about European soccer and you will be there for a while…

Sean Lewis

Senior Vice President, Operations

Sean’s leadership spans print and production operations, engineering and logistics. Prior to this role, he provided the same oversight for Harland Clarke’s operations network. Preparing him for that responsibility was his service as Senior Vice President of Harland Clarke Client Services with responsibility for client implementations, client configuration, production support, and billing services. Sean joined Harland Clarke in 1989 and has 29 years of quality, operations, engineering and client services leadership experience. He serves on the board of directors for the Check Payment Systems Association and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration.

Steve Hauber

President, Clipper Magazine

Steve Hauber is President of Clipper Magazine, a wholly owned subsidiary of Valassis. Steve applies his unique vision and experience to guide Clipper, which produces more than 500 local editions and has expanded its audience in the digital space with LocalFlavor.com and TotalLoyaltySolutions.com. He has advanced Clipper as a whole by focusing on the growth of its core advertising business, as well as substantial mergers and acquisitions. OneBrand Marketing, for example, is a direct mail platform that enables marketers to send direct mail as easy as it is to send an email.

Prior to joining Clipper, Steve was CEO of Gannett Healthcare Group and Vice President of Tegna Digital. At Random House in New York, Steve helped launch their travel site, Fodors.com. Steve has extensive digital experience, helping to launch Cars.com, CareerBuilder.com, and Homefinder.com. Steve’s 25+ years of marketing and advertising experience also includes significant time at The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Tribune. Steve earned a BA in journalism from the University of Mississippi and started his career creating and selling TV programming for CBS and New World Television. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Megan, and their three children.