ESI

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Executive
Tom Marinelli CEO Before joining ESI as CEO in 2008, Marinelli spent 29 years at Chrysler, most recently as brand VP of the Chrysler and Jeep brands. Before that, Marinelli was President of Chrysler Jeep Automotive S.A. based in Brussels, Belgium and oversaw product, sales and marketing related activities of the Chrysler brands in Europe. He holds a bachelor's degree in Finance from Boston College and a Master's degree in Management from Michigan State University. More recently, Marinelli held consulting positions with several key automotive clients. He is also on the Board of Directors of Pepperball Technologies, Inc.
Kevin Otis President Otis is one of the original founders of ESI. From the beginning, he has been a principal and president. Otis began his career in the auto industry by detailing and delivering vehicles to the automotive media. From there, he progressed to program and account management for clients including BMW, Chrysler, Subaru and Acura. Otis knows every ingredient necessary to deliver a quality program and ultimately satisfy the client’s goals.
Larry Taulbee COO Taulbee joined ESI in 1999. His 30-plus years have included service engineering, vehicle testing and production manufacturing. He has spent most of the last 20 years managing vehicle fleets and deliveries and event planning for automotive public relation events. He was instrumental in the set up and implementation of the first national press fleet supply chain, and his industry knowledge and engineering experience make him a natural liaison between P/R and engineering.
Gerry Woycik Senior Vice President Sales Operations Woycik is an original founder of ESI. Over the years, Woycik has worked in every facet of the company, including driving tractor trailers across the country. Woycik’s expertise is creating custom logistical solutions for customers. He has the uncanny ability of making tactics strategic by analyzing the big picture deliverables and then developing an execution and fulfillment strategy that delivers beyond customer expectations.
John “JT” Thompson Senior Vice President, PR & Media Services JT began his automotive career in 1988 detailing and delivering media vehicles. From there he quickly transitioned to managing press fleets, media relations and launch logistics. He moved to Michigan in 1994 to manage the Chrysler National Press Fleet, and six years later he joined ESI. JT was named ESI’s Senior Vice President, PR & Media Services in 2001. While at ESI, JT has secured contracts to manage regional press fleets for Jaguar and Land Rover plus national press fleets for Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz and smart USA.
John Weiss Eastern Region VP of Sales In 1998, Weiss was an ESI founding member. His expertise runs from one-day media launches to dealer training to special promotions and week-long consumer training events hosting over 5,000 guests. He has managed ESI’s partnership with the BMW Performance Center from day one of ESI’s management of the PC in the Fall of 2001. Weiss has managed more than 1,000 events and has a special ability to develop and execute the client’s goals while regularly exceeding expectations.
Jim Ashmore Vice President Operations, Western Regional Office Ashmore began his automotive career in 1989 managing the Las Vegas International Speedway (which has since been renamed the Las Vegas Motor Speedway). He managed the track facility there until 1992. During Ashmore’s ESI career, he has executed the launch of the Dodge Ram, was the overall team manager for the Neon Celebrity Challenge Race Series and managed many other automotive marketing and media events. Ashmore’s particular area of expertise is in managing large scale, high profile events.

PR & Media Services Management
Rebecca Eisenberg Program Manager Eisenberg joined ESI as an Assistant Program Manager in 2005 fresh off of an event management and “road warrior” position with Car and Driver magazine. With more than 10 years managing automotive events, she quickly become ESI’s “go to” girl – ask her to do something and consider it done. PR programs she has worked on include Chrysler annual Group’s “What’s New” event with hundreds of media from around the world, plus media launch programs for the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Viper, Dodge Dakota, Chrysler Sebring Convertible and Dodge Sprinter.
James Gingell Senior Program Manager Gingell started with ESI in 2003 as International Project Manager. In his first few months on the job, he was involved in a number of diverse projects, including the Maybach Chasseur Program and Camp Jeep. In 2004, he managed Chrysler Group PR programs in Spain, Africa and Switzerland. He was promoted to Senior Program Manager in 2005. Gingell is a veteran of many Chrysler Group events, including press launches for the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan, Jeep Wrangler, Dodge Nitro, Chrysler Aspen and Chrysler Sebring.
Kathy Graham Program and Business Development Manager ESI’s knack for understanding and anticipating the needs of our clients’ PR departments comes squarely from employees like Graham. From 1998 to 2008, Graham worked in the Communications department at Chrysler. In her most recent assignment before joining ESI, she was the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) Product and Dodge Motorsports PR Manager. In that position, she developed and executed a communication strategy promoting Chrysler’s SRT performance vehicles plus Dodge Motorsports activities in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck racing series. She executed launch programs for the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR, Dodge Challenger SRT8, Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country and Chrysler Pacifica. Also at Chrysler, Graham worked in Environmental PR, Internal Communications and Motorsports Operations.

HQ Management
Jeff Carroll Project Manager Carroll joined ESI as an onsite specialist in 1998. Since then he has been promoted to project manager and program manager. He was the lead for the GM AutoShow in Motion multi-city consumer ride and drive program, he has managed dealer training tours for Kia, and he was in charge of DaimlerChrysler Canada’s Gold Medal Tour consumer ride and drive program. He has also worked on a string of programs for the Chevrolet Tahoe, two Chevrolet Suburban reunion programs, the BMW Ultimate Driving Experience, the Neon Charity Challenge and the 2007 Scion Backstage Tour.
Jason Maikrzek Project Manager Maikrzek has been with ESI since 1998 and specializes in overall project management for consumer events. He has led programs for DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, Audi, VW, Mitsubishi, Ford, Lincoln Mercury, Ferrari North America and Toyota. Maikrzek joined ESI as an event specialist and was promoted to assistant program manager and program manager before being promoted to project manager. He has managed a variety of programs for many different clients in locations as far away as China. Some of his programs are large tent cities and others are small indoor dealership training seminars.
Jonah Thomson Project Manager Thomson joined ESI in March, 2000 as an event specialist and is currently project manager. In February, 2005, Thomson was named project manager of the Chrysler Spring Training Program. He has been an event specialist on programs including the BMW Ultimate Driving Experience, Celebrity Polo matches in the Hamptons, Mercedes-Benz and Saab media events, Chrysler dealer training, Mercedes-Benz dealer training, the Oprah Winfrey “Live Your Best Life Tour” promoted by Ford, Honda Employee Day in Atlanta, and Richard Petty Events in Florida and Atlanta.
Mike Sweeney Project Manager Sweeney has more than a decade of experience in product launch. His expertise is building and maintaining client relations and budgets, which includes keeping a close eye on invoices and production tools. He has played an intricate role in every Chrysler product launch since ESI was founded and is currently assigned to the GM account. Other programs that Mike has been heavily involved with include the Neon Celebrity and Charity Race Challenges, various Chrysler employee and supplier appreciation initiatives, and several Chrysler Executive Management outings.
Jerry Torsiello Program Manager Torsiello is one of the original founding members of ESI. Over the years, he has worked with Chrysler as a program and project manager for numerous new vehicle tours. For seven years Torsiello was the hospitality and driver liaison for the Neon Challenge celebrity race. In this capacity, he was responsible for all driver communications and scheduling, managing hospitality functions and coordinating VIP experiences and Paddock tours. In addition to field accomplishments, he has recruited staff for numerous ESI projects across the country.
Michael Balan Production Manager Balan was appointed ESI’s Production Manager in 2004. In this position, he facilitates the coordination and procurement of all aspects of ESI’s print production capabilities up to large format graphics. Balan has nearly a decade of experience in graphic production while representing clients including The Detroit Zoo, General Motors, Chrysler, BMW, Formula BMW USA, and others. He was also the lead for creating, publishing and delivering graphics for the Ford Experience and GM AutoShow in Motion tours.