about

Dillon believes the key to great marketing is relationships. Ones built on trust and love. He works to grow these each and every day with colleagues, client partners and the audiences with which clients want to connect.

Dillon currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer. He joined HDMZ in 2005 as an Account Executive, later becoming Senior Vice President and a member of the executive team. During his time on the executive team, HDMZ experienced unprecedented growth, doubling in size from 2014 to 2021 thanks to consistent wins in new business, an expansion of agency services and client retention that exceeds industry benchmarks. This included helping to shape corporate brand and communications strategies, launch new products and services, and develop multi-channel marcom campaigns for market leaders in clinical development, biopharma, biotech and the life sciences. With more than 20 years of marketing experience Dillon brings infectious energy, deep expertise and a broad perspective to every client relationship.

As President and CEO, his focus is on helping the company reach its vision of becoming the most admired marketing communications agency for the life sciences as defined by a compelling client portfolio, responsible growth and nurturing an inspiring and inclusive workplace.

Prior to HDMZ, Dillon managed marketing strategy and competitive intelligence for a division of First National Nebraska, Inc., a $20 billion financial institution. Dillon received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Dillon lives in downtown Chicago with his wife and two children. In his free time, he enjoys watching and participating in sports of all kinds, volunteering at his parish and his son’s Scouts Troop, and listening to music, especially the early days of rock ‘n’ roll. 

Rebecca knows that to keep up with the relentless pace of innovation in business, industry and culture, you need to be equally relentless in dismantling operational inefficiencies and obstacles to ensure the impossible can become reality, especially for our clients.

Rebecca currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for HDMZ, leveraging more than 20 years of experience in operational excellence and  technology development. Rebecca’s operational expertise has been one of the core components of HDMZ’s success contributing to a doubling in size of the agency from 2014 to 2021. Critical to that growth trajectory is Rebecca’s skill as an enterprise website solutions architect and her development of a robust technology team to create highly functional technology solutions for major biopharma, biotech and life sciences clients. In addition, Rebecca has lead the agency’s cultural development efforts, leading to HDMZ’s Great Place to Work certification in 2021.

As COO for HDMZ, Rebecca’s focus is not only short-term operational success and inspiring the best from the HDMZ team, but also strengthening long-term client collaborations that transform marketing productivity and competitiveness.

Rebecca previously led partnership ventures in the life sciences and corporate marketing operations at large banks. She received her B.A. from Bethel University.

Rebecca calls the Bay Area home. In her spare time, she is her daughter's number one fan and helps out with her husband's contemporary art career in Burlingame, CA. She is also an expert hand at building with Lego.

For more than 25 years, Daniel has been working to uncover insights that lead to more meaningful engagement—with customers, partners, investors, patients and caregivers. As brand strategist, creative director and marketing communications consultant, he has been active in nearly all facets of corporate and product marketing for global Fortune 100 companies, mid-sized companies and startups alike.

Daniel started his career as a copywriter and creative director, so it’s no surprise he is passionate about the power of storytelling to move and motivate people. As HDMZ Executive Chairman, Daniel remains focused on expanding the agency’s footprint and capabilities to meet clients’ growing needs to communicate thoughtfully with multiple audiences across numerous channels in more measurable ways.

In 2014, Daniel oversaw the agency’s acquisition of Zoomedia, which resulted in the formation of HDMZ, the first fully integrated marketing communications agency solely focused on life sciences.

Daniel received his B.A. from the University of Illinois and Columbia College and attended the Institute for Advanced Advertising Studies through Northwestern University. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Confrad International and is a former CopyChaser for B2B Marketing, as well as the former President of the Chicago Chapter of the Business Marketing Association.

Daniel resides in Chicago and travels frequently to the Bay Area.

John draws upon his deep scientific expertise, both inside and outside the lab, to tell compelling stories about science in a manner that reaches very niche audiences and the broader public. He has spearheaded corporate communications and content development strategies for major domestic and international life science companies. Additionally, he works with leading industry experts and journalists, and has successfully placed stories in The Atlantic, the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, as well as many trade publications.

John earned his B.S. in Molecular & Cellular Biology from the University of Illinois and M.S. in Medicine at Chonbuk National University.

In his free time, John enjoys training and teaching Mixed Martial Arts (as a former fighter himself), including Muay Thai kickboxing, Western boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Denis currently serves as the SVP of Finance, leading all of the agency’s financial operations. Denis has more than 20 years of extensive financial and marketing services experience, and has served multiple world-renowned advertising and creative agencies. Prior to HDMZ, Denis was the chief financial officer (CFO) at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP), where he managed all financial functions and guided the independent advertising agency through multiple business growth cycles. Prior to BSSP, Denis was the CFO of Wieden + Kennedy, where he oversaw the successful execution of expansion plans for the privately held global company. Denis also previously served as director of finance for Saatchi & Saatchi.

Denis holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting, from the University of Buffalo School of Management, the State University of New York.

As VP of Digital Marketing, Christine marries 12 years of digital marketing, content strategy, data analytics and digital project management experience with 14 years of life science industry knowledge to spearhead ever-evolving best practices, audience-based content marketing, impactful digital solutions, and innovative KPI measurement and visualization. She is fiercely dedicated to transparency and accountability, and elevates both internal and external teams with thoughtful education through data clarity.

While managing HDMZ's Google Partner status, Christine is certified with Demandbase (Account Based Marketing), Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Hubspot Inbound Marketing, as well as being named a Microsoft Bing Ads Accredited Professional. As HDMZ's resident beekeeper, Christine applies her love of systems ecology (B.A., Environmental Studies, University of California) to excite and educate clients and colleagues alike. Watch out... she's learning JavaScript and she's been known to spontaneously share fresh raw honey with the team!

Emily has been a core component of the functional architecture of HDMZ for more than 10 years, beginning with Project Management and transitioning into Talent Management. She plays a critical role in the structural growth and success of HDMZ by finding talented people with expert skill sets and a passion for generating client success. Emily is highly skilled across a tremendous number of cross-functional platforms, from project management suites, to digital UX prototyping platforms, to Adobe Creative Suite, and more.

Emily received her B.S. in Advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has also completed a Certificate in Project Management from the University of Chicago and a Post-baccalaureate degree in Human Resource Management from Northwestern University.

In her free time, Emily enjoys reading, 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles, sampling different craft beers and hanging out with her baby girl, dog and husband.

For more than 18 years, Mike has specialized in turning insights into inspiration at HDMZ. Collaboration is key in his creative process, which works to bridge the gap between strategic thinking and conceptual development. Mike's work at HDMZ has been regularly recognized at regional and national industry award competitions, including the MM+M, BMA and DxMA.

Mike earned his B.S. and M.A. at the University of South Carolina and is a recipient of the IMC certificate from the 4A’s and the University of Illinois.

He lives with his wife and three sons in Oak Park, Il. He can often be found behind a guitar or on one of his many skateboards, where he does his best creative concepting work.

With over 14 years of experience in paid media planning, buying, and selling, John has been at the center of life science marketing’s evolution from traditional trade and journal advertising to cross-channel, digital first, data driven campaigns. He and his team work directly with our media partners to build novel multi-channel programs and opportunities to showcase our clients and achieve campaign goals. John believes in the inspirational power of science and the role science media can play to inspire life science audiences.

John is Google Ad certified and graduated from Indiana University with a B.A. in communication and culture. He’s also much, much taller than he looks on Zoom.

Joe brings more than 25 years of experience in the life sciences to HDMZ, including 17 years in peer-reviewed biological research. As a biologist in the fields of x-ray crystallography, pathogenic genetics, molecular biology, biophysics and immunology, Joe learned the ins and outs of daily laboratory procedures, pioneered new research methodologies and remained on the cutting edge of scientific innovation. He uses his experience to help connect brands to the right audiences in authentic and compelling ways.

Joe received his B.S. in Biology from Northeastern Illinois University and his M.S. in Plant Biology from Northwestern University. He lives just outside of Chicago with his wife and three sons. He spends his free time playing board games, cooking, gardening and drumming, and is still waiting for someone — anyone — to adequately explain string theory to him.

Seth is a creative-minded life sciences branding and marketing communications veteran with more than 20 years of experience. He believes great ideas are within everyone and that the right people, together, ignite the possibilities.

Seth joined HDMZ in 2002 and has held a number of roles with increasing responsibility at the company including Art Director, Director of Digital Solutions, Director of Clients Services and Vice President of Client Services. His holistic knowledge of HDMZ makes him a great ambassador for the firm and serves him well in his current role as the Vice President of Business Development. Seth works with both his peers and the executive team to identify trends and customer needs, building a short to long-term sales pipeline to support HDMZ’s growth targets.

Prior to HDMZ, Seth worked at Tribal Worldwide (Formerly Tribal DDB) and DaVinci Software. Seth earned his B.A. from Millikin University and did post baccalaureate studies in Art and Technology at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

He lives in the San Francisco East Bay with his wife and two daughters. In his free time, you can find him working in his garden, playing records or being walked by Junior, his beloved Boston Terrier.

Katie is an exemplary veteran of life sciences communication, with a focus on helping clients achieve their business objectives. Her 10+ years of experience spans both the client and agency side, solidifying her reputation as a trusted and accomplished account leader. With strategic insights, innovative approaches, and an unwavering commitment to excellence, Katie consistently impresses both her colleagues and the HDMZ clients she collaborates with. Her wealth of hands-on expertise has made her an invaluable asset in delivering exceptional results.

B.S., Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison

With over 20 years of web development experience, Craig leads HDMZ’s technology team, specializing in requirements gathering, development and maintenance of major web-based projects and applications. He approaches every project with a particular focus on empowering users to take control of their content while relieving them of the burden of technical constraints. Craig has been instrumental in the evolution of HDMZ’s enterprise website development capabilities. In his past life, Craig was CTO/VP of Engineering at Zoomedia, Inc., and a former Developer at Magibox Inc.

Craig received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from University of Memphis, which obviously is a big help querying databases and creating pull requests.