Derek Ritchie
Creative Strategist and Owner

Still standing after two decades of “ups” in the 90’s and “downs” in the 2000’s, Derek is a leader whose tenacity and loyalty to his clients and employees are beyond comparison.

Having graduated from The Ohio State University with a Marketing Degree, Derek held one job in sales for a Fox television station in Ft. Wayne, Indiana before opening his own business, Consumer’s Choice of Atlanta, Inc. in 1991. He’s never looked back – only forward to a bright future. Having been a small business owner weathering all the challenges and exciting opportunities, Derek proves a great match for our niche clients who are locally owned and operated business owners throughout Metro Atlanta. He relates and understands clients’ needs because he too is a local business owner. Leading from a place of integrity and commitment to service, he maintains strong and long-standing relationships with his staff, vendor partners and clients.

Creative development is Derek’s strong suit, but, when it comes down to it, his strength in building trusting relationships is key to why he still has the honor of working with new businesses every year, while maintaining existing clients for years. Derek puts his clients’ needs first. He lives to see them grow – for sales to increase – whatever it takes. While growing businesses can be pretty serious stuff, there’s no doubt Derek makes sure everyone has fun along the way!

Meghan Ritchie
VP New Business Development

With an eclectic background in tv production, developing her own line of multi-media products for little ones and their parents and doing sales and marketing for a training and development company, Meghan joined CCoA for a second time in the summer of 2010. Having worked for CCoA in the late 90’s and into the early 2000’s, Meghan just couldn’t resist coming back!

She is one of those “rare birds” in that she actually enjoys calling on potential clients from scratch (yes, cold calling…). “It’s always an adventure - an opportunity to meet intriguing people with exciting plans,” explains Meghan. For Meghan, it’s important to take the time to understand some things about a business and identifying potential gaps or needs and how CCoA might be of help, before reaching out to busy business owners.

While she mostly lends her skills to finding the right match between potential clients and CCoA, she also does some account managing. With the ability to focus on the details of a marketing plan while also keeping an eye on the big picture business goals (sales!), Meghan manages clients’ needs and goals rather effectively.

Meghan enjoys downtime with her husband, daughters, extended family and friends. Reading and traveling are Meghan’s other passions. She is a “Cheese Head Graduate” of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

David Wohlfarth
Director of Client Services & Strategy

David shares a wealth of national, regional and local advertising expertise with our clients having worked for various “big agencies” like Chiat/Day, Saatchi and Saatchi and Lowe Worldwide. The past 20 years in advertising brought him from Los Angeles then to Atlanta, on to Chicago and back to Atlanta again. David can definitely call himself a “seasoned veteran.” (And, no that doesn’t mean he’s old - just very good what he does.)

David has the rare and strong ability to harness consumer insights and leverage that information to create strong and effective marketing strategies for clients. While he often calls himself the “geeky analytical guy,” he’s really far from “geeky.” He just has a gift for analyzing businesses, their targeted consumer and then creating a message and strategy that will bring the two together. The consumer connects with what they need/desire and the business grows. For David, making this connection between the consumer and product and/or service is at the heart of any good marketing strategy. But, having a great message that connects with the consumers is half of the equation. Placing the message in the right marketing mediums is the other half. The execution of the strategy is yet another strength David shares with clients.

Being a University of Arizona alumnus, David misses Arizona. At the same time, he truly enjoys living in Atlanta with his wife and three girls. When possible, David loves to escape to a golf course.

Sean Chirone
Senior Account Manager

Sean is a well-traveled man – he’s lived in New Orleans, London, New York City and grew up in Georgia! He’s also unique in the way in which he works – and that’s with strong commitment and dedication to his clients.

Having earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Business & a minor in Marketing from Richmond University in London, England, Sean came to CCoA in 2005 with a fervor for business and marketing. He began in a sales role learning all about the challenges small business owners face when trying to market their businesses effectively. In addition, Sean has been gathering years of data and expertise on all aspects of CCoA’s offerings from the call-to-action mediums such as the online/digital world of internet marketing to the branding mediums such as billboards, radio and tv.

As a Senior Account Manager, Sean consults and works with business owners to tackle growth objectives and goals in an effective and innovative way.  Creating budgets that are appropriate for each client is a strong suit for Sean. Even more, however, he strategically and tactically places the advertising in the most effective mediums to increase sales. For Sean, it’s all about getting results!

His home is filled with several leather bound books and smells of rich mahogany.

Anna Wilbanks
Account Manager

Having joined Consumer’s Choice of Atlanta in the Summer of 2010, Anna brought an incredible passion for marketing and continues to share her great enthusiasm for marketing. Having graduated from her class Cum Laude, she received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Kennesaw State University with key classes in Business Management, Principles of Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Research, Internet Marketing and Sports Marketing. Anna also was a member of Kennesaw Marketing Association chapter for the American Marketing Association. With a background in studies such as these, she was and continues to be the perfect fit for CCoA and our clients.

Anna plays a vital role in the company as an Internal and External Account Manager. With her flexibility, creativity, attention to detail, strong research and organization skills, she is a strong communicator with her team, clients, and vendors. Anna brings a cheerful and amiable approach to meetings with clients making them feel open to share their ideas and goals for their company. Further, Anna is honest and caring in her marketing recommendations to each client’s unique needs.

Finally, Anna is married to Justin and has a cat named Snowbell. She loves to read, hike, play volleyball, sing with her church, enjoy time with friends and family and is still an active Alumna with KSU.

Mistie Hodges
Office Manager and Accountant

Mistie was born and raised a Georgia Peach. She attended Dekalb Technical College for computer programming.  While she spent some time living in Alaska and England, Georgia called her home again.

Arriving at Consumer’s Choice of Atlanta back in 2007, Mistie has been kept on her toes ever since. If there was a proper noun next to the word, “Master Multi Tasker,” it would be Mistie Hodges. Responsible for everything from invoicing, HR to client media reconciliation, Mistie does it all. Her strengths include making sure the “back office” is running efficiently and assisting the owner, Derek Ritchie, with any request he may have. She helps with “money in and money out.” People say “cash is king.” That being said, Mistie is “queen” at CCoA.

Mistie enjoys spending time with her husband, golfing, fishing and relaxing with family.