The Grillo Group Inc.

Maria Grillo

can see the forest and the trees at the same time. With logical precision and remarkable intuition, she clears the path directly to the solution. She could have been a great lumberjack. Lucky for her clients, Maria puts her big-picture perspective and problem-solving skills to work for them. She’s focused, but realistic and flexible. “That makes sense. Let’s try it.”

Maria’s talent and achievements as a designer over the last 25 years have been recognized by some of the profession’s most notable organizations and publications—Communication Arts, Graphis Poster, Print, and ID magazines, the New York Type Directors Club, and British Design and Art Direction.

Maria has taught aspiring designers and peers how to plan and implement branding and design programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Syracuse University’s Independent Study Master of Arts Program. She has served on the AIGA/Chicago Executive Board and as juror for numerous professional and educational design competitions. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Gabrielle Schubart

uses her aesthetic eye and strategic aim to tell you when it’s great design. If it seems to happen effortlessly, don’t be fooled. There’s meticulous method and practical purpose underlying all her work. “Are we trying to be cool? Or are we trying to be clear?”

Gabrielle has excelled in every aspect of her 27-year career: multi-talented designer, design firm manager, and communications professional. In addition to her mastery of project strategy, budgeting, design and production, she knows how to manage large, complex projects involving multiple creative disciplines.

Her work has appeared in a number of highly respected design publications. Gabrielle holds a BA in Portuguese Literature (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California, a BFA in Communications Design (highest honors) from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and completed coursework in the independent study Master’s Degree program in Advertising Design at Syracuse University. Gabrielle has served as a volunteer at Horizon Hospice for 11 years and is an active member of the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers (SEGD).

Kristin Cullen

attributes her love of grids to the geometrical street layout of her hometown, Chicago. Who knew vectors like 4200 North, 1100 West would lead to a career in graphic design? The major points of her career intersect as well.
A graphic designer, author, and educator, Kristin not only earned her master’s degree in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design and her bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, she also taught at both institutions and at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
Kristin’s design work has appeared in national and international exhibitions and has received recognition in numerous professional publications, including the Graphis Poster Annual, Graphic Design USA, and American Corporate Identity. She wrote and designed Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design, and her second book, Design Elements: Typography Fundamentals, is set for publication in 2012.

Max Russell

makes words work harder because he does the work before he writes the words. A quick study and a congenital collaborator, Max has a knack for putting clients at ease and for putting up with designers’ exacting demands. “How many words do you need? Zero problem. I’ve got a million of ‘em.”

As a marketing consultant, planner, and manager, Max has helped scores of organizations in both the private and nonprofit sectors evaluate the effectiveness of current marketing programs and investigate new or alternative approaches for greater efficiency and effectiveness. As a creative team member, he has helped develop, write, and manage highly effective and award winning marketing communications and public relations programs in the fields of manufacturing, finance, banking, insurance, health care, computers, high technology, engineering, education, publishing, and architecture.

He is a successful business writer and has collaborated with subject matter experts and academicians on five published books on risk management, corporate reporting and governance, new product development, and strategic sourcing. He holds an MBA in marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Charles Kratz

All aboard? Getting consensus or at least agreement often comes down to solid facts, reliable sources, and insightful interpretation. Chuck delivers on all counts, keeping project strategy and tactics on track with his research and analytical expertise. How? “I think before I ask. And I ask before I act.”

Chuck brings to the Grillo Group’s client engagements more than 25 years of experience as an independent business research specialist and marketing consultant in strategic planning, surveys, analysis, and research. His works spans numerous industries including health care, education, law, technology, human resources and a wide range of business disciplines.

Chuck holds an MBA-Economics/ International Business/Statistics from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He has also served as operations project manager for a subsidiary of Citicorp and as the director of the Mid-Continent Railway Museum. Chuck is an instructor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently writing a book on the history of corporate identity, a topic that he has been researching for several years.