CEO Rachel Alexander (Bcom, BA): Rachel founded Alexanders 14 years ago as a marketing consultancy in 1996 and now has over 20 years of strategic marketing advice under her belt. Self-Employed Woman of the Year (Sth Is) 2000. Formerly Tourism & Marketing Consultant KPMG (3 yrs),& a variety of marketing roles for companies including T & Ski, Air New Zealand (Cargo), LWR Industries (apparel), Allied Mortgage Guarantee (United Bank), and Solar Wings (UK manufacturer/exporter). Enjoys hunting and polo (horses), skiing, interior design & gardening. Mother to two bumptious boys, aged 6 and 7 and partnered to a North Canterbury farmer.
Steve Gurney on Rachel: “Rachel has mastered many of life's dances. I first met Rachel when she was a hang-gliding competitor. It was her aliveness and zest for her sport that first magnetized my attention. I wanted to learn her unique combination of savvy planning, determination and fun. I thought I was doing it hard in my wee minority sport of Coast to Coast Adventure racing, but against huge gender odds in a less than minority sport of hang-gliding, Rach achieved world fame. What truly shows her brain must be bigger than a planet is the way she successfully adds more and more complex dances to her repertoire.”
Here's a quick 2 minute video of Rachel hang gliding in Spain, Queesntown and Christchurch:
Account Manager: Rayna Schwede (B. Business - International Business/Marketing): Rayna completed a Bachelor of International Business and Marketing from Queensland University of Technology. Whilst in Brisbane she worked for Brisbane boutique advertising agency, BCM Partnership, and later moved into the marketing division of the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation. Since then, Rayna has been self employed in both the e-commerce and retail industries. Rayna is passionate about motivational/leadership psychology and NLP with interests including travel, history, natural science and health.
Senior Creative & Blog Queen Joanne Cormack: They say that actions speak louder than words – but for Jo, our Senior Creative, her best actions are with words. Blogs, social media, editorials, Jo has a knack for catchy headlines together with a talent for delivering detailed communication that will connect you with your customers. Jo’s skills have been honed from a decade of matching client briefs to creative as an Account Manager. Her rare ability to think both creatively and commercially to deliver highly relevant concepts that are often eyebrow raising but never pie in the sky – makes her a natural at delivering compelling and inspired ideas that will get you results.
Art Director Jay James: Jay is the maestro of slick logos, contemporary web sites and beautiful colourways; his work is exquisite. Originally a signwriter, Jay’s eye for balance and elegance is unmatched. Jay worked for us for two years, spent some time at Auckland agencies and now has returned to do our high end design work for Alexanders.
Mac Operator Leah Anne Ridding (BDes): A graduate of the CPIT School of Art & Design, Leah-Anne was an inhouse designer with Mainland Press where she worked on advertising and promotional material targeted at the local Christchurch market. When she’s not in the office, she’s flying the sky with Jetstar. Leah-Anne has Filipina and English heritage, loves photography, travelling, snowboarding and hitting the beach in her spare time.
Programmer Richard Stalker: Richard has a Bachelor of Information and Communication Technology from CPIT and worked at Blueprint media for a year in their web design team. He programmes in Jooma and Wordpress, has experience with product catalogues and e-commerce systems and a range of proprietary and open source content management systems. He is savvy with applying seo in these programmes and is a cheery addition to our team. He enjoys cricket in his spare time.
Researcher, link builder and media planner: Virgina Clayton: Having held roles as Market Information Manager for Coca Cola and Market Research Manager for BP Oil, Virginia is well positioned to set up your market research projects to deliver insight to guide future strategy. She also helps with media planning, works on link building and monitoring search engine optimisation to improve client rankings on Google. Virginia manages the office as well as managing a family with two childen, a well known spoodle and a moggie. Out of office hours she has a great kanck for organising social activities.
Accountant: Marcia Bennets: Marcia Bennets BCom, CA. Marcia worked at Marriotts in Christchurch and also at Nigel Ferguson before heading to Guernsey for three years with her family where she was Group Accountant for Nerine Trust, and prior to that, Temporary Accountant at Saffery Champness in London and their Guernsey office. She is passionate about travel, reading and coffee but has had to put these on the back burner while juggling the demands of her young family.
Web analyst: Pravin Daryani(PG Dip Business, Grad Diploma Computer Science): An AUT graduate, Pravin looks after the web development and online media for Alexanders clients. Prior to joining Alexanders, he worked as a digital media consultant for 5 years for Fortune 100 companies, American firms and an Auckland online firm. Pravin has specialist expertise in the global web platform Joomla, and has a vast knowledge of modules and templates to suit a wide variety of industries.
Subscribe to our monthly enewsletter: monthly updates on latest marketing trends, internet marketing strategies & case studies
Meet the team
