Meet InVerve’s chief architect, Lisa Smith: team builder, relationship builder, capacity builder. First, take a look at the team she leads—arguably some of the most creative, skilled, and passionate marketing professionals in mid-Michigan. These award-winning designers, web-developers, writers, and social media experts come to work every day with a single-minded mission: to help their clients attract, engage, and delight customers. Maybe they’re so passionate about helping because their leader subscribes to a new marketing mantra—“Always Be Helping”—in favor of that self-serving old adage, “Always Be Closing.” It’s this mindset that has allowed Lisa to build authentic relationships—partnerships based on trust and a genuine desire to see her clients thrive. As a manager, mentor, and strategist, it’s always been second nature for Lisa to share what she knows in order to build the capacity of others.
She started her career in broadcast—first as an account executive, then as general sales manager for Liggett, Radio One, and Citadel. In these jobs, she cultivated a flair for developing branding campaigns, and excelled at leading sales teams—sometimes through tumultuous times. Following her years in broadcast, she pursued the business side of electronic publishing with a stint as publisher for an online magazine. The topic: economic growth and investment in Lansing.
In 2005, Lisa’s entrepreneurial drive and passion for marketing found their outlet in Donovan & Smith Marketing and Media, a full-service advertising agency serving mid-Michigan. in 2015 she rebranded as InVerve Marketing, Inc.
In the community, Lisa is recognized as a leader who is deeply committed to volunteer service and charitable causes. She’s served on the boards of the Lansing Rotary, HomeAid Michigan, Junior Achievement, and the Athena Foundation. She’s also been active with the American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, The Reading People, JazzFest, and Road to Recovery.
It was such a beautiful June day that Rotary attendance takers were surprised that any of us showed up for lunch. President Lisa Smith called the rabble to order and Ron Seely provided the invocation and a toast to Dean Sienko, who is headed to the land of the Walking Dead, Georgia, to breathe life into the Carter Institute. Stephanie Gewirtz played the piano and Rotarians sang God Bless America. We had only a couple of guests today, which is amazing given how much everybody wanted to be at the lake instead of here. Maureen Hirten reports that the health of the club is excellent.
100th Anniversary Books were flying off the shelf. If you haven’t picked yours up, don’t wait, you’ve already been billed for it so dust off the coffee table and bring it on home. Don’t forget to register for the June 17th evening celebration gala (cocktail attire is the order of the day). Special music was JoAnn Wheeler, a Williamston HS junior playing her B-Flat Clarinet. JoAnn plays a B-Flat Clarinet the same way we sing, i.e., we be flat. She was accompanied by Stephanie Gewirtz on the piano. Her playing was oddly reminiscent of the years we’ve collectively spent raising teenagers: at times a haunting, melancholy drama that was quickly followed by the antics of a playful butterfly enjoying the sweetness of life. As always, special music is a great start to the weekend.
Dean Sienko introduced our speaker of the day, Dean Sherman Garnett, a professor at MSU’s James Madison College. Dean’s talk covered International Relations for Dummies, the yellow book version and Russia (in Russia, TV watch you, not you watch TV). First up, international relations: it’s not as simple or easy as it looks. The stakes are war and peace, all the parts are moving and typically it doesn’t involve a single player or single event, but rather making deals with people you wouldn’t let watch your kids and sometimes letting them win today so that you can win tomorrow. Built into international relations is a common understanding that delay, avoidance and non-performance of commitments are de rigueur. In other words, getting slap happy with the Staples easy red button is not one of the options.
Russia, under Putin, is an anti status quo state that is stronger than its weaker neighbors. However, a unified Europe is a thorn in Russia’s side as is crude oil at any price below $90.00 per barrel (we’re at $50ish now) and of course, everyone’s favorite, China. Unlike the excellent health of our club, Russia is the only developed country in which life expectancy has been on the decline. Western Culture, with a focus on the US, is to blame for all of Russia’s woes, but that doesn’t stop Russian citizens from wanting to explore and visit Europe and the US in growing numbers. For those of us from the duck and cover era, the Cold War build up of 8,000 tanks in Europe has dropped to 90, but flammable rhetoric about who’s going to do what to whom is not in anybody’s best long term interest. Even France is having second thoughts about selling arms to Russia. From a US perspective, a strong Russia may be a necessary evil to balance out China’s growing influence around the globe. Dean closed out his talk with admonishments to not ignore Russia, to not overreact to Putin riding shirtless on a horse or invading one of its neighbors because they’re not likely to accept Russia for long (look what happened when Russia tried to conquer Afghanistan, we got it), to be cautious about escalating rhetoric and to avoid a corresponding increase in the militarization of international relations. In short, let’s try that diplomacy thing again. Dean fielded a number of audience questions and gave answers that would cross a Nobel Laureate’s eyes. President Lisa thanked the speaker, gave the gift of clean water in his honor and reminded all to bring salt to rub in her wounds for next week’s roast. Reminder to all, there’s kayaks out back of the Lansing Center, let’s all grab one after a meeting, go for a quick paddle, and then drink a craft beer at the Waterfront Bar & Grill before going back to work. Let me know if interested, first beer is on me.
Meet InVerve’s chief architect, Lisa Smith: team builder, relationship builder, capacity builder. First, take a look at the team she leads—arguably some of the most creative, skilled, and passionate marketing professionals in mid-Michigan. These award-winning designers, web-developers, writers, and social media experts come to work every day with a single-minded mission: to help their clients attract, engage, and delight customers. Maybe they’re so passionate about helping because their leader subscribes to a new marketing mantra—“Always Be Helping”—in favor of that self-serving old adage, “Always Be Closing.” It’s this mindset that has allowed Lisa to build authentic relationships—partnerships based on trust and a genuine desire to see her clients thrive. As a manager, mentor, and strategist, it’s always been second nature for Lisa to share what she knows in order to build the capacity of others.
