Irene Etzkorn
Executive Director, Simplification, New York
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You’ll find her axiom, There is no such thing as a boring project, there are only boring executions sandwiched between aphorisms by Albert Camus and Alan Turing in "Quotes about Design," among the numerous other "Irene Etzkorn" references cited online and in the press. Irene, a long-time collaborator with Alan Siegel, is credited with helping him to widen the applicability of simplified communications beyond business forms and legal literature to become a means of rethinking the customer-organization relationship and retooling it to become a one-to-one conversation.
Irene has served in several capacities at Siegel+Gale, progressing over 25 years to executive director of simplification. Other roles she’s played include managing director of corporate administration and chief business development officer overseeing Global Sales. Numerous projects for financial services companies have benefited from her acumen, and her clients include most of the nation’s top banks, brokerages and insurance companies. Her experience in trust, credit, telecommunications, and health care is equally broad. Irene recently addressed corporate gatherings at Allstate Insurance, General Electric, and Genworth Financial to discuss how information can strengthen and simplify the customer experience. She has also delivered speeches for executive gatherings sponsored by The Conference Board, IBM Canada, Telestrategies, American Bankers Association, American Council of Life Insurers, Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Industry Association.
A selection of her speeches and articles include: "How Financial Paperwork can Build Your Brand"; "Branding’s Unsung Heroes, How Unheralded Touchpoints Affect Customer Experience"; "Bundled Billing Formats: Works of Art or Tape and Glue?"; "Why Government Has Difficulty Communicating"; Plain Language: Principles and Practice; "Less Is More: Producing Combined, Yet Simplified Financial Statements"; "The Role of Communications in Systems Integration"; and "Achieving Asset Retention Through Improved Communications." Irene holds an MA in Professional Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA with highest honors from C.W. Post College, where she majored in English and Biology. She has also served on the English Advisory Board at Carnegie Mellon University and on the Communications Advisory Board of Dalbar.
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Maria Boos
Strategy Director, New York
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Joining Siegel+Gale as a strategy director in the Simplification/Dynamic Media practice, Maria is an expert in streamlining and simplifying complex communications to help companies deliver the right information to target audiences at the right time and in the most effective channel.
Over 20+ years of experience—whether simplifying a single document or building an integrated customer experience across media—Maria’s singular focus has been to help companies develop a clear communications framework to support branding, customer acquisition, and customer retention efforts. With particular focus on service-related and regulatory communications, Maria boasts extensive experience with plain language writing, information design, and innovative use of distribution channels. When infused with an understanding of companies’ regulatory, operational, and business constraints, the results are clear, effective, customer-focused communications that influence thought and action.
Maria’s experience includes, most recently, four years at Sullivan as practice lead for functional communications. Prior to Sullivan, she spent two years at Addison as senior vice president. From 1988-2003, Maria spent her first ‘tour’ at Siegel+Gale in a variety of roles ranging from business development to the practice director for simplification. Before Siegel+Gale, Maria worked at the Communications Design Center as a communications associate and at Webcraft Technologies as an assistant director of sales administration.
Maria is an active member in the National Association of Women in Communication, and has a MA in Professional Writing and a BS in Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
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Christine Mauro
Strategy Director, New York
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As a Strategy Director and Information Architect in the Simplification Group at Siegel+Gale, Christine specializes in solving complex communication problems for clients.
Since joining Siegel+Gale in 1994, Christine has developed simplified design and architecture for documents, web sites, on-line applications, information flow processes and content strategies for clients in industries ranging from brokerage services, telecommunications, consumer credit, mutual funds, insurance, banking, healthcare, utility, and government.
Some of her recent work includes comprehensive blueprints to improve policyholder communications for Allstate, Genworth Financial, and AIG; web sites for The Graduate Management Admissions Council targeting potential students and school administrators; a new layout and production recommendations for the Medicare Handbook sent annually by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid; a consolidated investment statement for USAA; a customer-friendly users’ manual for LifeScan OneTouch Ultra blood glucose monitoring system; and a Verizon Wireless‚Äô bill that not only clarifies billing charges, but uses fewer pages, thus saving the company money in printing.
She has also created designs with color laser technologies, including Triplex, used in First USA’s credit card statements and full laser color used in a highly customized and educational reporting document for Merrill Lynch’s affluent clients. She created a modular fund performance and analysis report for The Northern Trust Company that can be customized by the company’s managers using Excel templates. And she developed a new organizational structure and design for Fannie Mae’s more than 3,000 pages of selling and servicing guidelines for its lenders.
Prior to joining Siegel+Gale, Christine worked as an information architect in the user experience group at BusinessEdge Solutions simplifying web sites for financial companies. She also worked as a designer for Nilssen Design, a package design firm, and Lister Butler, a firm that specializes in corporate identity.
Christine earned a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon in 1990, where she majored in graphic design with a minor in industrial management. For her thesis, she worked with Fitch to develop an interactive educational toy. She has a special interest in the use of electronic media in communications.
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Charlene Raytek
Strategy Director, New York
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As a Strategy Director at Siegel+Gale, Charlene works in the simplification practice to create streamlined, clear communications. For over 20 years, Charlene has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies to create thoughtful approaches to information challenges across a range of industries included financial services, insurance, telecom, consumer products and pharmaceutical companies.
Charlene rejoined Siegel+Gale from Lehman Brothers where she was the head of Internal Communications (Americas) for Corporate Communications. With direct experience from working within corporations and financial services - including eight years with Merrill Lynch in a range of marketing and communications positions and six years with Lehman Brothers - she creates integrated approaches and streamlined solutions to solve the complex demands of internal and external audiences and stakeholders.
Charlene began her career as a strategist and writer for Siegel+Gale, focusing on simplification programs for financial services and telecom accounts, developing strategies for large-scale document management programs.
Charlene holds an M.A. in professional writing from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.S. in Management and a B.A. in Communications from Waynesburg University.
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Dona Wong
Strategy Director, New York
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Dona Wong is a Strategy Director of Information Design in Siegel+Gale’s pioneering Simplification Practice. Dona is expert at bridging the analytical and visual worlds. Her role at Siegel+Gale is to deliver state-of-the-art communication solutions for clients, while focusing on best practices that reinforce the firm’s leadership position in information design and data visualization.
Before joining Siegel+Gale, Dona had a distinguished career in journalism. She is the former graphics director at
The Wall Street Journal, where for nine years she was responsible for all feature and breaking news graphics. Previously, Dona served as a business graphics editor at
The New York Times for eight years. While at the
Journal, Dona led a team of 20 graphics editors and designers to produce all news and feature graphics that appeared daily in the newspaper and on other affiliates such as wsj.com. Her redesign of the Journal’s Money & Investing section, as part of the paper’s overall 2002 redesign, received a Silver Award in the Society of News Design competition. Dona is also credited with designing the “Market Lineup” financial summary, and the
Journal’s first-ever weather page. Dona started her career working with complex financial data as a consultant with Deloitte & Touche, and was also a senior graphic designer at Page, Arbitrio & Resen.
Dona is the author of The Wall Street Journal Guide to information Graphics, to be published in January 2010, which offers a step-by-step guide to executing clear, concise and intelligent graphics for everyone from the average PowerPoint user to the sophisticated professional. She lectures frequently on the subject of information design throughout the country.
Dona graduated from the University of Louisville, with a B.A. in Graphic Design and a background in mathematics and economics. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University, where she studied information design and completed her dissertation with thesis advisor Edward Tufte, a recognized leader in the field.
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Rachael Keeler
Senior Information Architect, New York
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As a senior information architect in Siegel+Gale’s Simplification Group, Rachael creates user-centered solutions that satisfy customer expectations for utility and ease of use, while also supporting business requirements and brand strategy. She is involved in analyzing user needs and business objectives, including conducting interviews with stakeholders and users, developing content and workflow maps that indicate process and systems implications, navigation, and content relationships. Rachael’s clients have included the SEC, NASD, Allstate, Motorola, and Genworth.
Before joining Siegel+Gale, Rachael was an interactive experience consultant at CoreBrand and an information design manager for Toys "R" Us.
Prior to graduate school, Rachael was a naval intelligence officer serving in a range of capacities, from overseeing the daily operation and long-range development of a library to supporting intelligence-gathering flights as part of UN peacekeeping operations over Bosnia.
Rachael holds a master of design in interaction design and a bachelor of humanities and arts in psychology and industrial design, both from Carnegie Mellon University.
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