Team | Virgo Communications Inc.

a few key people

Stephanie von Oppen

CEO & Managing Director
Emma Saba

Account & Creative Director
Sara Odle

Public Relations Manager
Kevin Thompson

Account Manager
Arlene Floro

Account Manager
Khalil Goodman

Account Executive
Janine Pollard

Design Studio Manager
Anson Aswat

Web & Graphic Designer
Victoria Bristol

Social Media & Acct. Coordinator
Jennifer St. Hill

Media Director
Tamika Smith

Finance Supervisor
Sancia Lynch

Front Desk Supervisor

Stephanie von Oppen

CEO & Managing Director

Highlights

Vice President, Account Director for the global public relations company Ruder Finn. She played a key role in ensuring integrated Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing campaigns for Ruder Finn’s major clients, such as Four Seasons, South African Airways and the Barbados Tourism Authority.

Vice President, Account Director at DMB&B for the multi-million dollar Korean conglomerate, the LG Group. Stephanie was responsible for rebranding LG’s global launch including supervising a $150 million global media buy, $8 million production, and a $5 million global tracking study. Her duties included managing worldwide production in Vietnam, Korea, Romania and Ireland.

Project managed various Proctor and Gamble accounts for 7 years at DMB&B in New York, and was Account Director for clients such as Citizen Watches, Vanity Fair, Turkish Tourism Board and the Barbados Tourism Authority.

At Young & Rubicam Advertising in New York, Stephanie project managed global account Colgate-Palmolive as the primary client/agency liaison between 35 countries ranging from Thailand to South Africa.

Consistently attends international tourism and marketing conferences such as World Travel Market, ITB Berlin, and the AMEX Luxury Summit as well as regional tourism conferences such as CHTA (Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association) and CTO (Caribbean Tourism Organization).

Emma Saba

Account & Creative Director

Highlights

Emma has been with Virgo Communications from its inception and spearheads the entire team. In addition to heading up the client services team, she has led the strategic and creative direction at Virgo, resulting in over 100 ADDY awards for the Agency, including numerous ‘Best in Show’ awards. Her deep understanding of the various aspects of marketing, including advertising, public relations and digital marketing, allows her to apply a multi-faceted perspective to every situation. A strategic thinker who understands the Caribbean, Emma has played a pivotal role on the Agency’s major regional Accounts, including Cable & Wireless, RUBIS and Virgin Atlantic.

In her past life as a producer for Tony Kaye Films in London, Emma worked with most major advertising agencies, including DDB Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather, and Saatchi & Saatchi, for clients such as Volkswagen, McDonalds, British Petroleum, Proctor & Gamble, KissFM, and Dulux..

As a past President of the Caribbean Advertising Federation, she has built relationships throughout the region, Emma holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Political Science from Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

Sara Odle

Public Relations Manager

Highlights

Sara has a wealth of knowledge in PR with over 20 years of public relations, media and advertising experience throughout the Caribbean region, including but not limited to, Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua, Anguilla, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Martin/St. Maarten, Dominica, Cayman Islands, BVI, Montserrat, St. Vincent, Turks & Caicos, Trinidad & Tobago, Belize and Netherlands Antilles.

She has maintained good relationships with the regional media since being lead regional media coordinator for Lonsdale Saatchi and Saatchi, working on several local and international accounts including Shell and Barclays Bank. Furthermore, she has managed public relations and advertising for The Barbados Mutual. She was responsible for Public Relations during the regional rebranding to the current Sagicor Financial, now one of the region’s most identifiable brands. Moreover, she was the Corporate Communications Manager with Cable & Wireless (Barbados) Ltd (now FLOW), with responsibility for public relations, strategic sponsorships, event management and media relations.

Along with being a respected Public Relations lecturer with the Barbados Institution of Management and Productivity (BIMAP), Sara is currently responsible for PR management on the high profile Louis Vuitton and Republic Bank brands.

Kevin Thompson

Account Manager

Highights

Kevin Thompson is a senior Account Manager at Virgo Communications. Drawing on over a decade of experience in the advertising industry, he manages a diverse portfolio of clients. His daily functions comprise liaising with clients on behalf of the agency, project management of various marketing activities and coordination of external suppliers.

Kevin has been responsible for the planning and execution of marketing campaigns for a wide range of products/services in Barbados and the CARICOM region. He has been exposed to numerous industries, such as oral care products, personal care products, home care products, banking, insurance, regional air travel, fuel products, fast food, automobiles and solar energy. He has worked with respected brands, including Colgate-Palmolive, Texaco, Toyota, Republic Bank (Barbados) Limited and the Insurance Corporation of Barbados (ICBL).

Over the years, Kevin has directed projects, which required strategic planning, market research, media planning as well as the production of advertising material for television, radio, print media, outdoor, online and point of sale. Some of the notable campaigns Kevin has been involved with are the rebranding of the Barbados National Bank to Republic Bank, the successful launch of ICBL’s Life Insurance Division and the launch campaign for Texaco with Techron fuel in Jamaica which featured Usain Bolt.

Arlene Floro

Account Manager

One thing this member of the Virgo team doesn’t lack is experience. Arlene has been in the arena of Marketing for 14 years. Throughout those years, she’s worked at Bowie Cross Advertising, SOJE Lonsdale, LIME, Unicomer Barbados and was the Marketing Manager at the Barbados Workers Unions Corporate Credit Union Ltd. She has worked mostly with regional brands and these include Courts, LIME, Lever Brothers and Glaxco Smith Klein. She has an Associate Degree in Mass Communication from the Barbados Community College and attained her Bachelors in Literature from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.

Khalil Goodman

Account Executive

Prior to joining Virgo Communications, Khalil Goodman was a journalist for six years developing his networking and copywriting skills. A well respected photographer also, he has made images for publications in Barbados, Trinidad and Chile, and shot commercial campaigns for brands as well as magazine editorials. Working as a Cultural Affairs Administrator for five years he was trained by the U.S. Embassy Bridgetown to develop digital strategies and messaging for social media platforms he was responsible for creating successful digital campaigns for that entity and organising large scale events.

These myriad skills make Khalil an ideal Accounts Executive and digital strategist at Virgo. Khalil has worked on developing the brand identity of Rock Hard Cement, organizing large scale activations for Heineken, digital content for Rubis and was part of the team developing effective online PR campaigns for Virgin Atlantic.

Janine Pollard

Design Studio Manager

Highlights

Janine has gained extensive experience working on a portfolio of local & international brands. As a Design Studio Manager at Virgo Communications, she specializes in Design, Corporate Identity, and Brand Development. She holds a Master’s Degree in Design & Brand Strategy from Brunel University in West London. Apart from her innate creativity and excellent academic achievements, she is also an aspiring singer and musician whose stage name is Jaé.

Anson Aswat

Web & Graphic Designer

Highlights

Prior to joining Virgo, Anson lived and studied in Toronto. In addition to gaining his designation in Digital Media Art, he has built strategic relationships with industry leaders that help to set standards for best practices on the web and with Creative Technology. At Virgo, Anson has successfully developed apps and websites for Barbados Today, RUBIS, One Sandy Lane, Variety Club, Future Centre Trust and many others.

Victoria Bristol

Social Media & Acct. Coordinator

The youngest member of the Virgo Team, Victoria graduated from the University of the West Indies, Mona with a Bachelors in Integrated Marketing Communications. Since then, she has gained experience in the marketing and social media arena from working at Digital Agency and G&A Communications. A self-taught social media user, her knowledge and expertise in the area aids with the monitoring and boosting the social media presence of Virgo’s clients. Victoria is also a writer, blogger and confidently expresses her creativity through her personal style.

Jennifer St. Hill

Media Director

Working in the advertising industry for the past twenty-seven years as Media Director has given her the opportunity to work with a varied range of clients. Her experience has allowed her to develop strategic media planning and execution skills ranging from telecommunications, cricket, airlines, electricity, safety wear, fast food, pharmaceuticals, paint manufacturer, garden supplies, tyres, jewellery, bicycles, cooking margarines and oils and an educational institution.

Her keen knowledge of working with Caribbean media in over twenty islands has allowed her to develop invaluable relationships. She adds value to the clients spend by successfully negotiating contracts to ensure that the best rates are achieved.

She holds a Diploma in Management Studies from the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity. To unwind she enjoys travelling, reading, cooking and sewing.

She is married and have two teenage children and with her can-do attitude, she believes that the word “impossible” just require a little rearranging of thought to become “I’m possible”.

Tamika Smith

Finance Supervisor

Due to her passion for numbers Tamika has been in the Financial sector for over 11 years. Her experience stems from working in the Banking Industry at First Citizens Bank (formerly Butterfield Bank). She also worked with N. Seventeen Inc and O’shea Construction in the UK. Tamika joined the Virgo Team as a Finance Officer. While there she gained substantial knowledge of the advertising industry and now has been promoted to her current post. Tamika is currently pursuing her accounts designation with Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

She is adventurous and loves to travel, she is also an animal lover.

Sancia Lynch

Front Desk Supervisor

Since joining #TeamVirgo 5 years ago, Sancia has grown and learned a lot and this was evident when she was promoted to her current position. She has a Certification in Office Administration and a Diploma in the similar field. Prior to working at Virgo, she was a Legal Secretary at Anfield Law Chambers. In the future, Sancia aims to pursue a degree in Office Administration and Management and pursue a career in Business Communication. Outside of these Virgo walls, Sancia is a car and dog lover.