Leadership

Meet the Team

Our leaders lift everyone around them because AUC believes every voice matters. More than encourage inclusive collaboration, we celebrate how it leads to better outcomes, shared passion, and collective accountability. Learn about our leaders' experiences that get further unified every day.

Christi Geary, Head of AUC

As Advantage Solutions' Executive Vice President, Agency, and Head of AUC, Christi is a transformative strategy and marketing executive with 20+ years of success in leading brand building, omnicommerce, media, innovation and insights for some of the world’s largest CPG companies. With insatiable curiosity, she is a life-long learner and futurist who excels at demystifying ambiguity by unearthing breakthrough opportunities and translating them into bold growth strategies. A champion of people and the power of possibilities, Christi unites and energizes teams to creatively solve complex business challenges and build iconic brands – while having a great time together. She is a passionate advocate for serving the community, pursuing health and wellbeing through fitness, exercising her creative spirit through art and writing, and spending as much time as possible with her husband and two teenage girls. Expect her to lean into uncertainty with positivity and relentlessly ask, “What if?” and “What’s next?" 

What do you bring to AUC? 

An entrepreneurial spirit and can-do attitude based on the fundamental belief that we can change the omnicommerce game for the better. I’ve built and led award-winning teams and results for more than 20 years with a breadth and depth of experience across marketing, sales, media, strategy and insights, painting the vision of what’s possible and defining the pathway to succeed.

What’s your secret advantage?

I believe everything is possible – there is ALWAYS a solution, even (sometimes especially) if it does not manifest as we expected. Fueled by a growth mindset, insatiable curiosity, and a sincere appreciation for the power of humanity, there is no situation that cannot be solved without a little imagination and teamwork.

What’s a unifying theme from your career?

Running towards the challenge, for that is where the magic lies. Change is inevitable and, when embraced as an accelerator to greatness, opens the window to where you can truly make an impact. My career roles have all begun as ambiguous whitespace and/or unnavigated chaos – this is where I find the best opportunity to learn, make a difference and have fun.

What’s your favorite commerce channel? 

Social commerce – as it seems to know me better than I know myself, with an occasional algorithmic blip that taps into my absurd sense of humor. The growth of this aspect of omnicommerce is tremendous and offers us the opportunity to truly create personalized relationships with our shoppers.

What lesson or advice do you return to time and again?

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
– Henry Ford

“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does.”
– Serena Williams

Positive mindset and belief in self will be the differentiator in your success, health, and happiness in life.

Dino de Leon, Executive Creative Director

Dino has been creatively solving marketing problems for decades. With a traditional advertising background, his curiosity and passion for challenging norms led him to leadership roles with digital, promotional, and shopper agencies. The consistent theme being to deliver unexpected, strategic, and successful ideas for world-class brands.

What do you bring to AUC?

Having vision is only part of the role. Equally important (and more challenging) is communicating it in a way that inspires others to see, understand, and contribute to the same vision. Whether working with creatives, colleagues, or clients, I inevitably get wrapped up in the passion and possibility of the work. The constant refinement of ideas, and balance of pioneering with performance, make the process rewarding. It helps a lot if it's fun, too.

What's your secret advantage?

I'm curious and I question things. I believe by observing, collaborating, and constantly changing your perspective, you can connect dots and, together, create unexpected work that works.

What's a unifying theme from your career?

Finding ways to explore new and diverse areas at every step of my career. Working for agencies focused on design, branding, multicultural, direct, digital, promotional, and now, commerce has given me a dynamic view of how consumers experience brands.

What's your favorite commerce channel?

Social media is like a real-time, global bazaar, an exciting portal to new products, businesses and artists. But flipping through record crates is pretty hard to beat.

What advice do you return to time and again?

Progress > Perfection

Favorite hometown hang

Catch me cycling around White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas. Literally. I am trying to race you.

Jessica Ruscito, SVP Media

A marketing leader focused on brand strategy, media activation and performance marketing, Jessica has deep experience in building and leading award-winning teams and omni-channel campaigns. Inspired by the ever-changing digital landscape, she has had the opportunity to lead large global go-to-market strategies combining paid, owned and earned channels.  With experience across a wide variety of industries including CPG, Retail, Tech, Apparel, Fitness, Sports, Healthcare, B2B, Juvenile and Auto - she is excited to bring her expertise to the AUC.  Her approach to marketing embraces the power of data coupled with consumer personalization to drive measurable impact and meaningful connections with consumers.  

What do you bring to AUC?

Experience. I’ve been fortunate to spend time on both the agency side of the business and client side and across a wide variety of industries.  This allows me to bring a unique perspective to my work in that I understand the importance of the team dynamic and the importance of fostering a relationship between client and agency that creates a one team mentality. And that is where I have always seen the best success.

What’s your secret advantage?

Curiosity.  I am always finding myself asking questions, challenging the status quo and uncovering ways in which my team and I can work smarter (not harder) to achieve our/our clients goals.

What’s a unifying theme from your career?

“If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.”  This has always been a motto of mine in life and work.  Granted… with age I am a bit more cautious and will be trying something like bungie jumping or snake handling!  But I truly believe that you must lean into and overcome things that cause you discomfort to truly grow.

What’s your favorite commerce channel?

I can’t pick just one, nor should any brand.  Everything is shoppable these days and you never know where inspiration – to buy – might hit you. Either through a time of connivence (BOPIS, Apple Pay) or inspiration (Instagram, Pinterest) I am constantly amazed at how easy it is for consumers to find, price compare and buy all from the palm of their hand.

What lesson or advice do you return to time and again?

A motto that I adopted early on in my career was to ‘spend your client’s money like it’s you own.’  This simple shift in mindset brings the role of media into perspective and I’ve found it helps my team to focus on strategies that drive both effectiveness and efficiency.

Obscure fact about yourself?

It is a dream of mine to someday host SNL!! The process of creating this show in one week and the talent you will be surrounded by just has to be an amazing experience.  Most importantly I love the healing power of laughter.

Stephanie Rogers, SVP Commerce Intelligence

Both a student and teacher of the digital world, Stephanie is constantly learning and sharing knowledge. For 25 years, she has brought her entrepreneurial spirit to every facet of digital marketing from planning through measurement while leading agency relationships, building teams, and instituting offerings.

What do you bring to AUC?

An entrepreneurial spirit with keen interest in digital media and cultural trends. I've built and led teams for 25 years, developing and delivering services across strategic planning, media planning and buying, and measurement and analytics.

What's your secret advantage?

I thrive in creating order out of chaos. In today's world, we are inundated with information, options, data points and opportunities and it can be challenging to connect the dots. Especially in the Media & Analytics space in which I live, where technology, tools, and techniques change frequently. I create processes and frameworks that help us harness all that's available in a digestible and actionable way — while maintaining just the right amount of “chaos” to fuel innovation — is my secret advantage.

What's a unifying theme from your career?

Lifelong learning, curiosity and innovation. I began my career in the early days of digital marketing. More than being comfortable with change, I expect it and enjoy continuously learning new frameworks, tools and technology to succeed.

What's your favorite commerce channel?

Sephora does a fantastic job unifying its physical and digital shopping experience. Recently a store associate scanned my face with a device, showed me matching foundations from over 8,000 SKUs and attached them to my profile for future reference.

What advice do you return to time and again?

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

Favorite thing to do when you're not working

Travel. I absolutely love seeing new places and am energized by learning about people, food, art and culture.

Fahim Naim, SVP Amazon

Former Amazon category manager turned agency founder, Fahim started eShopportunity, a leading ecommerce and Amazon growth consulting firm. His team of a dozen Amazon specialists is now fully integrated into AUC and supports categories like beauty, health and personal care, and hardlines.

What do you bring to AUC?

I have experience on both sides of the table with Amazon. Inside, I hired, trained and learned from the best. Outside, I launched an e-commerce consultancy that helped brands achieve unprecedented success with Amazon. I am obsessed with Amazon. During my journey, I have learned how critical a strong and functioning team is in achieving ambitious goals and the benefit of hiring people who are smarter than you.

What's your secret advantage?

I put in the time to stay on top of all things Amazon, even in my “free time.” I'm scanning forums, LinkedIn, mastermind groups, and more daily to see what people are talking about. This helps me stay ahead of the curve and eliminate our blind spots.

What's a unifying theme from your career?

Get things done. No matter my role — senior financial analyst to category manager to CEO — I roll up my sleeves and focus more on solutions than problems. The only constant is change, so I believe you must have passion and agility to conquer challenges thrown your way.

What's your favorite commerce channel?

Surprise: It's Amazon. I spend most of my day on the platform for work or personal shopping. I am that guy who buys cereal, clothes, and toothpaste on Amazon.

What advice do you return to time and again?

“Bias for action.” This is a leadership principle from my time at Amazon that focuses on moving fast but sensibly and continuing to reevaluate along the way.

Favorite hometown hang

Representing at a Miami Heat game.

Kathryn Longhurst, SVP Account Management & Digital Retail

Before Advantage, it’s fitting that Kathryn spent her previous decade at Hasbro because she has been a real Transformer for AUC. Her previous experience in integrated marketing, including brand strategy, analytics, and digital marketing and media, helped break down internal silos and unify our shopper and ecommerce teams into one integrated omni account group.

What do you bring to AUC?

Having spent time on both the agency and the brand sides gives me a unique perspective and enables me to solve problems for our clients that I have most likely experienced myself at some point.

What’s your secret advantage?

I never back down from a challenge and believe that each one is an opportunity to influence change for good.

What’s a unifying theme from your career?

Algorithms. In every role I’ve held over the last 10+ years, our success has been dependent upon knowing and understanding the science behind channel algorithms. Whether it be YouTube, Meta or any retailer.com, you are only as good as the content that consumers see. I’m naturally curious and finding ways to stay ahead of and gamify winning against the algorithm has followed me throughout my career.

What’s your favorite commerce channel?

#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt

What advice do you return to time and again?

Don’t adapt to the energy in the room.  Influence the energy in the room.

Believe it or not:

Back when I played tennis competitively, I could serve and hit targets with my eyes closed.

Danielle White, VP Project Management

Danielle White, VP Project Management, has spent her entire 20+ year-long career in project management and she has a law degree on top of that!

What do you bring to AUC?

A strong sense of partnership, positivity and creativity. People don’t normally think of business operations or project management as being creative, but there are so many elements in which one needs to construct processes and solutions in a very imaginative way.

What’s your secret advantage?

My adaptability and collaborative approach enable me to work effectively with cross-functional teams and contribute to the overall success and growth of the agency.

What’s a unifying theme from your career?

Alignment. I strive to ensure all portfolios, projects and teams are consistently directed toward achieving the agency's strategic and financial goals.

What’s your favorite commerce channel?

Any social media shoppable posts and stories, such as Instagram, Pintrest and TikTok Shop. The seamless shopping experiences these platforms provide with rich and engaging content has been a game changer for our commerce experience.

What lesson or advice do you return to time and again?

I always return to having a mindset of continuous improvement and learning. Remain agile, capable and prepared for the opportunities and challenges that will inevitably arise.

What work of art changed your life?

“The Wall” by Pink Floyd was a staple album in my childhood home and I always find myself returning only to find new themes and connections.