VENTURE PARTNERS
COVER story FROM LEFT: FOUNDER, TRACY ZAISS AND WENDY WISEMAN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ZAISS & COMPANY
NEW beginnings
ZAISS & COMPANY OPENS NEW HEADQUARTERS Approaching 33 years in business on April 1, Zaiss & Company has established itself with a unique “hybrid marketing research firm and advertising agency” niche. President and Chief Creative Officer Wendy Wiseman indicated that the Omaha-based firm is positioned to “grow exponentially” in the next five years by leveraging its legacy, and within fresh digs at Blackstone Plaza (formerly Kiewit Plaza). “The new space is breathing new life into our culture of trust and respect, and the joy we have when we’re together as a team and with our clients,” Wiseman said. “These true partnerships are gold, and together we will continue to do great things.”
An Innovative Approach
Founded in 1989 by Tracy Zaiss, the eponymous Zaiss & Company is self-described as a “full service customer-based marketing and communications firm.” Its team provides strategic planning, creative development, media services, web design, social media and production from its headquarters at 35th and Farnam streets. When Zaiss launched the firm, Wiseman said there were few agencies run by women.
“Though women were rising in the agency management ranks locally and nationally then, there hasn’t been significant traction in more women achieving executive leadership positions,” she added. Wiseman brought experience as a director of marketing or advertising at two global brands when she joined Zaiss & Company in 1997. And, while the veteran creative brand strategies leader remarked that she wished she could say there have been “great strides” with women in leadership in the last three decades: “ … statistics state otherwise.” Citing data courtesy of the nonprofit policy institute, The Center for American Progress, Wiseman said it took 20 years – 1980 to 2000 – to go from zero women in top executive ranks of Fortune 100 companies to just 7% today. “Only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women and women occupy just 10% of top management positions in S&P 1500 companies,” she said. “It’s illogical when you know that women comprise 50.8% of our population and have a higher rate of earning college degrees.” With that being said, Wiseman emphasized that she never approached the notion of leading in her career with her “gender’s strengths in mind.”
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