Laura Hinds, President
Owner, Beauty & Photo

Laura Hinds grew up in Los Angeles, California, fully immersed and engaged in the worlds of physical fitness, photography, film, and art. Her dad owned one of the first full-service gyms in LA, whose clientele included professional and Olympic athletes and entertainment celebrities. Her stepfather was a commercial TV director with a passion for photography. Her mom was always fashion-forward and favored family outings to art museums and galleries.

Kirsty Meares, Vice President + Treasurer
Director of Production & New Business, Laird and Good Company / Laird and Good Production

Originally from Australia, Kirsty Meares has built an international career at the intersection of artist management, creative production, and business. She spent more than a decade based in APAC, where she founded and ran an artist management and production company representing leading creative talent and partnering with agencies, brands, and production companies around the world.

Relocating to New York was a natural extension of that global career and its growing U.S. momentum. Today, Kirsty works across the two divisions,  Laird and Good Company, its artist management business, and Laird and Good Production, its production offering, with a focus on artists, new business, creative partnerships, and growth across stills, film, and integrated work.

Mary Dail, President Emeritus
Owner + Creative Director, Big Leo Productions

Mary Dail is the owner and Creative Director of Big Leo Productions, an agency representing a talented and diverse constellation of directors, photographers, and stylists with expertise in food and beverage, hospitality, interiors, lifestyle, and beauty.

Mary founded Big Leo in 2003 in New York City after an inspiring era as Photography Editor with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia where she met some of the industry’s most accomplished creatives from photographers and stylists, to creative directors, editors, and producers. Her commitment to advocating on behalf of artists and their businesses in the commercial photography industry was the motivation behind starting her own agency.

Stephanie Pesakoff, Director of Programming

Owner, Illustration Division

Stephanie Pesakoff is the founder of Illustration Division. Nearly three decades deep into her love affair with art, culture and making the world a more beautiful place, Stephanie remains as passionate about her work today as she was when she first started. Her deep commitment to supporting and nurturing creative talent is evident in her ongoing advocacy for both her roster of illustrators and the broader illustration community.

Heather Elder, Director of Technology
Owner, Heather Elder Represents

Heather Elder started her career as an account executive at an ad agency and while working on the Polaroid account, realized her love for commercial photography. She left to become an agent and producer for a photographer where she combined her account executive skills with her marketing and sales skills to developed her own style that quickly became Heather Elder Represents.

Dean Snyder, Partnership Director
Owner, Print & Contact

Dean Snyder is a father, founder, and champion of developing artists.

Print & Contact was born in 2014, inspired by Dean’s extensive experience as an executive producer for stills, motion, and event production. Immersed in the world of fashion, Dean broke into their industry and launching his career in the 90s, producing runway shows for Diesel, Miguel Adrover, Rag & Bone, Victoria Beckham, Alexander Wang and countless others.

Emily Heller, Membership Director
Founder, Jellybean Partners

Emily Heller is the founder of Jellybean Partners, a full service production company and artist management based in NYC with artists across the US. Jellybean represents photographers, directors, a CGI studio and an audio company offering end to end production solutions under one roof.

Emily founded Jellybean in 2018, building on a career that spans the full spectrum of production. She began as a prop stylist for music videos and commercials before shifting her focus to still photography, working as a photo editor in publishing as well as earning an MFA in Photography. She went on to serve as an art producer at leading advertising agencies, including Crispin Porter and Droga5.

Tara Trullinger, Director of Producer Affairs
Founder, Get It Productions

A natural-born problem solver with an eye for detail and a passion for bringing creative visions to life, Tara has spent over a decade carving out a reputation as a highly respected producer in the commercial production world.

Mollie Jannasch, Director of Events
Founder & Agency Director, Agency MJ

Mollie Jannasch is the Founder and Agency Director of Agency MJ, a WBENC-certified creative production and artist representation company working across photography, film, television, e-commerce, and commercial content.

Since founding Agency MJ in 2009, Mollie has built a career around connecting exceptional creative talent with brands, agencies, and production partners. Her work spans artist development and representation, creative production, business development, and building collaborative teams for projects ranging from editorial and advertising campaigns to high-volume content and emerging film and television opportunities.

Vanessa Stevens, Director at Large
Owner, VS+Company

Vanessa Stevens is the founder and principal agent of VS+Company, a creative agency dedicated to representation of artists, and post-production and printing for commissioned and fine art photography.

Vanessa established the company in 2011 to provide calibrated attention to the careers and work of a select roster of leading artists, including representation of the renowned still life photographer Raymond Meier with whom she has worked since 1997, and management of the creative director Malin Ericson. In addition, VS+Company represents Lauren Coleman and works with other emerging photographers and creatives. Vanessa also provides strategic and artistic oversight to commercial and fine art projects, and manages all aspects of client relationships.

Pat Bates Director at Large
Owner, Pat Bates & Associates

Pat’s love affair with photography and the art world began when she studied photography in college with the renowned American photographer Jan Groover. After graduating, Pat worked as a color printer for the esteemed photographer Joel Meyerowitz, once again learning from the best of the best. 

With a profound knowledge of art, design and décor, Pat knows what to retain from the past and how to combine it with her innate ability to be ahead of the curve. When she opened her artist rep and management agency Pat Bates & Associates in 1994, she was already focused on what was to come – nesting, food, consumer’s expanding interest in home décor and travel, the expansion of the boutique hospitality world, and the formation of new kinds of families who would then redefine their- and our - notion of how we live.

Gregg Lhotsky, Advisor
Previously Global Managing Director, B&A & CLM

For most of his career, Gregg Lhotsky has nurtured the careers of creative people, identifying and cultivating new talent to meet current market trends. As the Global Managing Director of B&A and CLM, he was able to utilize his vast experience and expertise in the photography, animation, CGI, illustration and the marketing and advertising industries. Operating out of the New York City offices, he ran a team of agents and support staff in New York, London, Berlin and our affiliates in China and Australia; developing and executing business strategies and overseeing the company's business operations, financial performance, and ventures.