Cristina Schleifer, Executive Vice President
Craig Apatov, Senior Strategist
Elizabeth Maisano Wilder, Senior Strategist
Vicki Sharif brings with her 20+ years of experience in internal and external consulting serving as a high-level strategist and advisor to both early stage ventures and Fortune 1000’s. Further, Sharif has built and managed new enterprises from concept. As a senior corporate executive she has served in a marketing and business development capacity that included brand marketing, partnership/relationship marketing, new product development, and new business development (subsidiaries, mini SBU’s). Additionally, she has an emphasis in strategy particularly as it relates to growth strategy design and implementation.
Most recently, Sharif served as President and CEO of Stratatac International, an applied strategies and tactics consulting firm. Sharif possesses experience as a corporate executive and consultant in a wide variety of industries, including energy, telecommunications, venture capital, technology, retail, professional services, furnishings, financial services, and healthcare with companies such as Enron, Texaco, SCE&G, Electric Lite, OmniCall, Latin Net, BuildersFirst.com, designonlineinc.com, and RCA.
A proven entrepreneur, Sharif personally founded and operated seven start-up ventures. She holds an MBA and an MA in Economics (ABT) and has completed coursework for a PhD.
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Cristina Schleifer, Senior Strategist
Born in Cuba, Cristina Schleifer got her start in business by opening a chain of full-service, professional photographic supply stores in Miami, and since moving to the Greenville, SC area in 1994, has turned that entrepreneurial bent toward diverse markets in capturing a unique and well-rounded slice of vision. Fluent in both Spanish and English, Schleifer is also a high-profile figure in the Hispanic community, serving on the Greenville Hospital Diversity Advisory Council, BMW Community Advisory Panel, Greenville Community Foundation Board, The Carolina First Center for Excellence Board, Futuro Latino Board, and as past chair of the Hispanic Business Development Committee at the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. Schleifer is also a member of the Hispanic American Women’s Association, and Women in Communication.
Schleifer was selected and served in the inaugural class of the Riley Institute Diversity Leadership Academy, and was named to represent South Carolina at the National Hispanic Leadership Conference in Washington, DC in 2002. She is a frequent speaker on Hispanic issues before corporate executives, on college campuses, and to non-profit, charitable organizations and religious institutions. Schleifer has organized seminars on opportunities and challenges in a bilingual/cultural society, Hispanic cultural awareness, and Hispanic workforce issues, and has participated as presenter and keynote speaker in conferences throughout the Southeast.
Schleifer attended Emory University.
Craig Apatov, Senior Strategist
In addition to his work with Just Right, Apatov currently serves as Senior Vice President/Sales and Marketing with GMAC Bank, a $3 billion federally chartered direct banking and personal financial services organization. A career marketer, strategist and business development professional, Apatov has held key executive positions in the fast food, consumer-packaged goods, media/entertainment and financial services industries. He has served at the senior executive level at companies like Beatrice, Disney, Mattel, Citibank, and AOL/Time Warner.
As Senior Vice President-Corporate Marketing/Retail at Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting, Apatov headed up all corporate marketing/strategy areas while also serving as General Manager of the company’s retail specialty stores, catalogs operations, interactive attractions and early efforts at online shopping. In this capacity he also helped develop and launch The Cartoon Network, CNN Financial News Network and numerous private networks satellite-delivered to specific retail locations. Importantly, while at Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting, Apatov worked on several sports-related strategic initiatives including:
- Repositioning of World Championship Wrestling to focus on entertainment values and storylines.
- Formation of ongoing fan research program for the Atlanta Hawks NBA franchise, a program strategically designed to identify consumer needs/wants in the operational and entertainment aspects of live NBA game performances.
- Creation of digital photography retail program to repurpose Atlanta Braves baseball imagery for direct-to-consumer retail sale in the Turner Field interactive fan pavilion.
- Positioning the Goodwill Games for St. Petersburg, Russia and New York City in 1992 and 1994 respectively. Effort included all advertising development and the creation of interactive multi-media presentations to raise sponsorship ad funds.
- Negotiation of the move of the Atlanta Braves spring training facility from West Palm Beach to the Disney Sports and Entertainment Park in Orlando, Florida.
Recently, Apatov worked on the original concept team that developed the Atlanta Children’s Museum concept. He presently serves as Chairman of the Georgia State University Senior Marketing Roundtable – a professional organization of Chief Marketing Officers from Atlanta-based corporations.
Elizabeth Maisano "Beth" Wilder, Senior Strategist
A former Senior Regional Director of Yahoo! Incorporated, Wilder possesses a diverse two-decade background in advertising and brand management spanning interactive and radio as well as the agency side of marketing communications. Conversant with a wide range of categories and target audiences, Wilder possesses both strategic and tactical expertise with integrated marketing communications, business planning and strategic positioning, and global media planning, analysis, and sales.
During her tenure at Yahoo, Wilder was entrusted with opening the company’s second and third regional offices, in Atlanta and Miami respectively. She went on to grow her region to one of the company’s top revenue bases exceeding $50 million annually working strategically with some of the country’s leading brands and corporations, including Office Depot, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Primedia, Bell South, UPS, Bank of America, and Fidelity Investments. Wilder was tapped for Yahoo’s MVP award each year of her association with the company.
Prior to joining Yahoo, Wilder served as Director of National Accounts for Orlando’s WOMX-FM, that market’s leading Adult Contemporary station. While there, Wilder increased strategic account revenues over 160% through her work uncovering and overcoming sales challenges directly at the client level, and coordinating unique cross-promotional opportunities.
Wilder also worked at three Atlanta-based radio stations, including General Sales Manager at WNNX-FM, where she led the sales team in the transition from a Contemporary Hits format to one of the country’s first Alternative stations. Additionally, before she entered the radio industry, Wilder served as a Senior Media Specialist at Henderson Advertising, planning, negotiating, and managing electronic media in the top ten US markets for clients including P&G, Dow Chemical, St.Pauli Girl, Texize, and First Atlanta Bank.
Wilder holds a BA from Agnes Scott College, and has completed post-graduate work at Furman University.