Who We Are | Collage Group

Who We Are

What Gets Us Up in the Morning

We are a creative, analytical, diverse, hardworking, and fun-loving bunch.

We are curious and passionate people who believe that powerful ideas, analysis, and insights can lead to major change in our member companies.

We believe that the shifting American demographic landscape is generating a new collage of consumer behaviors and patterns.

We are inspired by the possibilities of this moment and the opportunity to help organizations unlock their cultural capacity, by relentlessly seeking out the predictive insights and brand impact, that no one else can see.

A Long-Time Minority-Owned Business

Collage Group is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). NMSDC defines a minority-owned business as, “a for-profit enterprise, regardless of size, that is physically located in the United States or its trusted territories, which is owned, operated and controlled by minority group members.”

The NMSDC certification is considered the platinum standard in supplier diversity and we are pleased to have received this esteemed recognition. As a small business with a NMSDC MBE certification, we take pride in partnering with businesses who are looking to build long-term relationships with a trusted minority-owned business.

Partnering with organizations that maintain this certification is important to many businesses as you look to support and engage the multicultural community. We recognize, appreciate and value that attribute. Download a copy of our certificate (CR25782) and contact us for more information.

Our Values

Authentic
We rely on our integrity and authenticity to create a positive environment where we can all reach our maximum potential.

Diverse
We engage with one another with open minds so we can learn and grow from our differences.

Curious
We ask questions, listen deeply to one another and our clients, and engage our creativity because that is our intellectual fuel.

Client-Obsessed
We aim to delight and impact our clients’ businesses through every single interaction and initiative. They are the foundation of our enterprise and the source of our innovation.

Driven
We are entrepreneurially-minded and biased towards bold action and high growth for us, our clients, our investors, and our community.

Risk Taking and Iterative
We believe that individual and corporate success requires reflection, courage, and understanding. We will always take calculated risk, learn from our mistakes, and try again.

Our Leadership Team

David Wellisch, CEO & Co-Founder

David is co-founder and CEO of Collage Group, previously known as the Latinum Network. From its inception in 2009, the company has grown to serve nearly 100 leading corporations and 200+ consumer brands across 10 major industries. David is passionate about entrepreneurship and company building.

Prior to Collage Group, he was the founder, vice president and general manager of AOL Latino, AOL’s Hispanic service. He was responsible for the entire operation, including overseeing programming, product development, customer service, brand and acquisition marketing, strategy and business development. At its peak, AOL Latino produced $130MM in revenue from subscriptions and advertising. David was also Executive Director of strategy at AOL’s web properties.

Before AOL, he worked in private equity at Allied Capital and strategic consulting at Gemini Consulting. Originally from Ecuador, David holds an undergraduate degree from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Currently, he sits on the Board of Trustees for Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C. David is also a member of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Young President’s Organization. David is married, has three awesome kids, and currently lives in DC.

David Evans, Chief Product Officer

David serves as the Chief Product Officer responsible for content, data products, and innovation. He is passionate about creating amazing products and building great places to work.

Before joining Collage Group in 2018, David served in a variety of senior roles in data, analytics and syndicated research organizations, including Cushman & Wakefield as Strategic Advisor, CoStar Group as Vice President of Research, and the White House where he founded the Office of Executive Councils in 2011. From 1998 to 2009, he worked at the Corporate Executive Board (now Gartner), serving ultimately as Chief Researcher for a $100 million division covering eight major business units.

David holds a Diploma (M.Arch equivalent) from the Architectural Association in London and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Before pursuing a business career, David worked as an architect in the UK, France and Germany, and published and exhibited widely. David was born in London to American and Canadian parents. He lives in Bethesda with his wife Juliette Searight and youngest Generation Alpha daughter, while avidly following his older Generation Z daughter’s journey to adulthood in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Zekeera Belton, Vice President of Client Services

As Vice President of Client Services, Zekeera leads the team that ensures clients are extracting optimal value from the partnership. Zekeera and her team act as an extension of member teams focused on fostering deep relationships and leveraging the full set of Collage capabilities to address client challenges.

She is a results-driven marketing and communications professional with 15+ years of experience developing and executing private and public (government) sector campaigns and programs. Prior to Collage, Zekeera served as a Marketing Director for Penn, Good & Associates, a Marketing Services Consulting firm located in Washington, DC. In previous years, she was a consultant at MarketBridge, a management consulting firm, leading sales and marketing optimization engagements for global corporates such as IBM, Microsoft, SAP and others.

Zekeera holds a B.S. in Business Administration, with a double concentration in Finance and Management, from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She is originally from New York City and now lives in Southern Maryland. In her spare time you may find her playing pick-up basketball, flag football or hosting social gatherings in the DC area.

Ida Chacon, Senior Solutions Strategist

Ida Chacon is Collage Senior Solutions Strategist. In this role, Ida partners with a team of experts to develop customized strategy and marketing solutions in the custom research and consulting practice.

Ida has more than 20 years of experience in multicultural marketing and brand management. Prior to joining Collage, she led Procter & Gamble’s Center of Expertise, where she defined and deployed P&G’s overall ethnic strategy, managed creative advertising agency relationships, and consulted on specific brands and projects.

A noted speaker, Ida has given presentations across the country on a variety of multicultural topics including total market strategies, the Bicultural Hispanic consumer, the role of language, and multicultural Millennials. Ida adds her Puerto Rican flair and experiences as a mother of two to whatever she does to help clients understand and get under the skin of the multicultural consumer (and especially the Hispanic consumer).

Ida holds a B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico and an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Alex Maggi, Senior Director of Solutions

Alex Maggi oversees Collage’s Custom Insights group, covering all Quant and Qual consumer research. Alex has 20+ years of experience, focused on consumer insights and brand strategy. Thanks to a career split evenly between the client and consulting sides, he offers a unique perspective and deep understanding of all facets of the research process. Alex has led and designed hundreds of quantitative and qualitative studies spanning over twenty counties and myriad cultural audiences.

Prior to joining Collage, Alex held leadership positions in Consumer Insights for Quest Insight, Ipsos and United Airlines. His insights have helped guide brand strategy for some of the world’s most beloved and successful brands, spanning a diverse range of clients and industries. Key clients have included: Kraft, Kellogg’s, Levi’s, Kimberly-Clark, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Sprint, BP, Abbott, Philips, Communications, and many others.

Alex’s true career passion lies in growing clients and collaborating with teammates to continuously broaden our learning while sharing in our success. A DC-area native, Alex holds an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan, as well as a B.B.A. in International Business from George Washington University. In his spare time Alex enjoys studying languages, playing/watching soccer and enjoying the Chicago experience

Sean Herdman, Senior Director of Business Development

Sean is proud to lead Collage Group’s high-performing sales and marketing team. These talented professionals ensure that every brand competing in the rapidly-changing U.S. marketplace partners with Collage to develop the cultural fluency required to grow and that Collage Group itself achieves its own audacious growth objectives.

Sean’s career as a sales and marketing leader has spanned media at Atlantic Media & Education Week; best practices research at Advisory Board Company and its subsidiary the Education Advisory Board; and education at SchoolPass, a SaaS school safety start-up. Early in his career he supported M&A litigators as a researcher at Economists Incorporated.

Sean holds a B.S.F.S from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (#hoyasaxa!) and studied at the London School of Economics. Originally from New York City, he lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and three amazing children. Sean proudly exercises his creativity and story-telling as a D&D DM.