John Capuano
Founder
John grew up in Schenectady, NY & received a scholarship to Norwich Academy. He began his broadcast management career at WOR, learning spoken word marketing from the best in the business with a specialty in financial and long form. John managed broadcast sales for some of the best known sports teams in the world, at the most legendary stations. However his true passion is in the world of direct response advertising to baby boomers and their parents. In this space he has worked with some of the best brands in America. John lives in Boston with his wife, Melissa, who is also a broadcast executive, daughters Taylor and Casey, & Luigi the dog.
Greg Dinetz
Founder
Greg has a long history of executive management. After earning his degree in Communications he began his career as a media account executive. After successfully rising through the management ranks in the broadcasting industry Greg set his sights on media ownership. He was funded by a number of respected private equity firms and began acquiring radio stations. He led the due diligence and valuation of assets, and orchestrated a leveraged buyout. While serving as CEO of the broadcast entities he was also responsible for the regulatory compliance of all media licenses.
Zoe Menendez
Digital Media Buyer
Before Zoe came to us she worked with two well-known New England advertising agencies where she honed her skills at digital marketing serving both local and national accounts. She attended Johnson and Wales University where she won two national collegiate advertising titles and graduated with a BS, as well an MBA in Advertising and Marketing. Zoe is a native New Englander and grew up in New Hampshire, but happily for us left for the city life in Boston where she resides and is a proud mom to her cat, Pudgy.
Jeff Shade
Production Manager
Jeff Shade is a featured co-host for financial advisors across the country, giving them the professional sound he’s perfected over many years as a TV host, radio personality, audio-video editor, and voiceover talent. A childhood spent glued to the TV and listening to the radio instead of studying prepared him for a career in broadcasting. His knowledge and understanding of the financial industry coupled with his broadcast expertise makes him a seamless and perfect fit for advisor’s radio shows.
Jeff has worked with personalities like Matt Lauer and Don Imus, and voiced hundreds of commercials, promos, and narrations during his long career. He returned to writing, producing, and promoting his “Classic Car Garage” show in 2015, and has since added restoring vintage cars to his resume. Jeff resides north of Seattle where he can “be out of the country to an English-speaking country in about 30 minutes.”
Mayte Talavera
Account Manager
Mayte is from Los Angeles, California currently living in Denver, Colorado. She graduated with a BA in Communications from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Mayte’s experience includes eight years working for a children’s mental health agency. Her marketing career began in Beverly Hills, assisting with lifestyle brand events for an experiential digital marketing agency. When Mayte is out of the office you can find her with her two dogs, Kylo and Ryu.
Kirby Mack
Vice President of Digital Media
For over a decade, Kirby enjoyed a successful career in professional wrestling with appearances in both WWE and TNA Impact Wrestling. Unfortunately a career ending neck injury would force Kirby out of the ring, and behind the scenes. He eventually took over the position of Vice President of Production and Marketing for the American Wrestling Association. Kirby is an expert in graphic design and web development, and has a keen eye for aesthetics and functionality. He’s won numerous awards for his work in branding campaigns across the U.S. and holds degrees in Commercial Graphic Arts and Computer Technology.
Kirby’s entire wardrobe consists of sweat pants and basketball shorts. When not on the case for Lone Beacon, Kirby can be found doing anything, literally anything with his son or learning how to vacation with wife Rebecca. Kirby can also be seen as a featured extra in such films as The Hunger Games and Masterminds, as well as the television shows Banshee, and Homeland.
From concept to construction, Kirby is a tremendous resource for the team here at Lone Beacon and to this day he still refuses to wear a tie.
Laura McLaughlin
Content Manager
Laura comes to Lone Beacon with experience in advertising in New York, where she was agency Imagine Mobile’s first U.S. hire. It was there where she honed her skills of applying content creation to digital platforms. In addition, she has held marketing roles in the competitive world of politics. Laura grew up in New Canaan CT and graduated from Boston College with a B.A. in English and Philosophy.
Don Kwak
Director of Marketing Technology and Analytics
Don was born in Seoul, Korea and grew up in LA before moving to Boston. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Marketing from Boston College before jumping into highly-regulated med-tech and software industries, building inbound and outbound marketing campaigns for rising disrupters and industry giants, such as GE. He brings a unique perspective stemming from his financial, technical, and medical background to Lone Beacon to help push the limits in revolutionizing digital marketing landscape for independent financial advisors.
David Bernstein
Director of Broadcast Development
As one of the top broadcast executives in the country, David has been recognized with dozens of industry awards from the Associated Press, Rolling Stone Magazine and many more. While running several major market radio networks, he set new performance standards and earned #1 rankings for his stations, most notably in New York City and Boston. From managing programming for gold-standard broadcast companies like CBS to coaching celebrities and radio personalities like Joan Rivers and Bill O’Reilly, David brings a wealth of experience and expertise to Lone Beacon.
Michael Schaffman
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Mike Schaffman joined Lone Beacon in 2015 where he pioneered their core marketing platform, creating content and connecting media and broadcast components with a turnkey digital solution. After strategically extracting, analyzing, and applying first party data across the core marketing platform, Mike helped transform Lone Beacon’s offerings and solutions into one of the leading independent financial advisor marketing tools that exist in the country today. His passion for helping clients across the country grow their business extends throughout the entire industry, as Mike’s been published and referenced in major financial outlets such as WealthManagement.com, FA-Mag.com, Nasdaq, and Financial-Planning.com.
Mike grew up in West Hartford, CT, and came to Boston where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Bentley University, studying marketing and media, and graduating with cum laude honors. He started his career in Southern California working at an IMO, where he built and launched a successful digital marketing and lead capture platform. His extensive knowledge of the financial advisor industry and passion for marketing made him a perfect fit for Lone Beacon.
Currently, Mike lives in downtown Boston and enjoys spending time with his friends and family. When he’s not walking to and from work, or hanging out in the office, Mike plays golf and hockey, indulges in his Titos and soda with lemon, and likes to experiment in the kitchen.
Kasey Dean
Marketing Manager
Kasey joins Lone Beacon from the sportswear industry, where she was a marketing manager overseeing the strategy, content creation, execution and analysis for New Balance Athletics’ first-ever customer rewards program. She has also managed a million-dollar media budget, creating content and measuring performance for paid and organic marketing campaigns. Kasey graduated from Brandeis University with a double major in Business & American Studies, where she was also two-year captain of the Varsity Women’s Basketball team. In her free time, Kasey enjoys being active and traveling as much as possible.
Todd Dinetz
Account Manager
Todd has over thirty years of experience in the advertising and marketing industry. With a degree in Communications, Todd graduated from the University of Arizona. He has an extensive sales and management background in both Radio and TV in the Long Island market where he served as the National Sales Manager and General Sales Manager for Cox radio group and as the Local Sales Manager for Cablevision and Altice. Most recently, Todd has worked on the agency side dealing directly with clients and being able to take advantage of all his long standing relationships with local and national broadcasting partners. Todd resides on Long Island with his wife Holly.
Stephanie Sjoblom
Vice President of Operations
Stephanie joined Lone Beacon in 2017 and has been relentlessly dedicated to improving the operations and processes of the firm from the beginning. In addition to her role within Operations, Stephanie is a leading Account Director where she manages the marketing campaigns of some of the largest independent financial advisory groups in the country. She has also had a hand in successfully building the foundation for more advanced marketing campaigns within the firm and has helped launch multiple platforms that now make up the basis of Lone Beacon’s services.
As VP of Operations, Stephanie is responsible for examining current operations at the firm and actively seeks out new methods to maximize the wellbeing, productivity, and growth of everyone at Lone Beacon. She has passed the Series 65 exam and continues to explore new certifications and knowledge to better herself and her role at Lone Beacon. Stephanie graduated from Brandeis University in Boston with a BA in Business and Economics.
Outside of the company, Stephanie is also treasurer and member of the executive board for the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, New England. As a dual citizen and native Swede, she also helps run her family’s Swedish-American winery in Napa Valley, California and is very passionate about introducing Swedish pastries to her coworkers whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Christy Parmenter
Marketing Manager
Christy is a marketing professional specializing in email, and direct marketing. Her previous experience includes the advertising agency, Graziano Associates where she grew their digital lead capture strategies, and Home Serve USA where she helped to develop and execute their B to B email marketing platform. She grew up in Middletown CT and graduated with a BS in Marketing from Fairfield University. Christy also has a passion for world travel, which combined with her passion for marketing helps to gain a better sense of perspective on business and life.
Gabrielle DeMaria
Account Manager
Gabby comes to Lone Beacon with a background in digital marketing, a knack for organization, and the ability to get things done. Born and raised in New Jersey with a degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Gabby moved to Boston for a position in SEO without ever having stepped foot in New England. She enjoys crafting, watching TV and cuddling with her 23-pound cat, George.
Christina Pappas
Account Manager
Christina comes to Lone Beacon with several years of experience in marketing and advertising. Industry experience includes Broadcast, Digital, Print and Experiential. With a proven history to develop and execute processes for cross departmental projects and business operations, Christina has excellent attention to detail and problem-solving abilities. Her approach is resourceful and thorough.
Christina graduated with a BS in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2016. She loves fashion, fitness and most especially her family.
Pete Gustin
Director of Production
Pete is one of the most sought-after voice-over talents in the business. He has been part of some of the largest ad campaigns in the country from Super Bowl spots for major athletic brands and international ad campaigns for the most popular gaming system on the planet. Pete was recently featured in Radio Ink, ABC’s Chronicle, The Boston Globe, NBC and CBS. He has written, voiced and produced thousands of commercials and is proud to be with Lone Beacon helping to build the brand of some of the nation’s finest financial advisors.
Cassandra Highbridge
Digital Marketing Manager
Cassandra joins our team having worked over three years at a top employment law firm in Boston. While there, she managed high priority projects and helped streamline the administrative teams’ processes. A Connecticut native, she came to Boston to get her Bachelors in American Studies at Wheelock College. In her free time, you can find her writing on her blog where she reviews books and cafes or diving into fitness and nutrition.
Craig Foster
Digital Media Buyer
Craig comes to us after spending 7 years at an agency and working independently in digital marketing, focusing on campaign creation and strategy. He did most of his work at a bigger agency where he looked at problems and came up with strategies based on data. Craig grew up in the Boston area and graduated with a BS in Business Adminstration from Johnson and Wales University. When not working on digital marketing you might find him coaching a CrossFit class or spending time with his daughter.
Diana Salvucci
Account Director
Diana specializes in creating powerful and engaging marketing campaigns for financial service organizations. Her expertise lies in developing and executing comprehensive, strategic marketing plans for firms, practice groups, and individual professionals, focused on connecting with specific target markets. Diana has directed a wide range of marketing campaigns concentrating on client engagement, brand position, and corporate promotion. She has specific experience with digital marketing, email automation, website development, event planning, and public relations.
Diana is a graduate of University of Delaware, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Operations Management and Finance, with minors in International Business and Economics. She also held her FINRA Series 7 and 66 licenses. Outside the office, Diana enjoys traveling to Cape Cod with her family. She has a passion for interior design, baking, and running. She currently resides in South Boston, MA.
Katie DeFreitas
Marketing Coordinator
Katie is a Massachusetts native who recently graduated from Boston University with a BS in Communications and a focus in Marketing. Katie has a range of digital experiences from her professional internships throughout college, including her most recent position with the Boston Bruins and TD Garden where she focused on their social media platforms. In addition to her social media marketing experience, she is also skilled at data analytics, organization, and communication.
Katie received an athletic scholarship to play lacrosse for Boston University in a Division 1 Lacrosse Program. Outside of work, she loves being active and spending time with her family and friends.