We outgrew the old models then built our own.

When speed and precision have to coexist, structure is the strategy.


Our model pairs senior judgment with AI-native tools, built to help complex businesses move first.


Traditional agencies chase efficiency. We scale judgment for impact.

Traditional Firms

Villain’s Model

Direct accountability

Layers

Category Experts

Generalists

Language in use

Decks

Judgment

Headcount

  • A woman with shoulder-length wavy hair wearing a white button-up shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

    Lauryn Warnick

    CEO + Founder

    Lauryn Warnick is the Founder and CEO of Villain Branding, where she partners directly with executive teams navigating high-stakes growth, repositioning, and complexity. She has advised organizations including Docusign, PayPal, Sitecore, IDC, Chartbeat, Google, and General Assembly — helping leaders align strategy, language, and decision-making when the pressure is real and the audience is unforgiving. Her work focuses on building verbal systems that travel across boardrooms, sales calls, and the market to build measurable, monetizable value.

    Superpower: turning complexity into language leaders can stand behind. (Also: parallel parking with screaming kids in the backseat.)

  • Black and white portrait of a woman with wavy hair smiling gently.

    Nora Geiss

    Creative Strategist

    Nora has shaped strategy, verbal identity, and brand architecture for organizations like AT&T, Feeding America, USA Today Network, and NBC. She helps brands make smarter decisions that actually show up in the business. She’s drawn to big, messy problems and focused on ideas that work in real conditions, not just on paper.

    Superpower: imagining bold future states/universes and standing firmly against strategies that only work in theory. in real conditions, not just on paper.

  • A man with short hair and a beard wearing a beige button-up shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

    James Moore

    Creative Strategist

    James has advised teams like eBay, Intel, Morgan Stanley, Google, Gap Inc, PepsiCo, and P&G, crafting strategic narratives and creative platforms that elevate a brand’s positioning.

    Superpower: Clearly identifying and communicating a brand’s value, ethos, and personality. (Also: making a perfect mezcal margarita).

  • Black and white photo of a woman with blonde hair, smiling gently, wearing a blazer.

    Shanley Knox Harruthoonyan

    Creative Strategist

    Shanley works at the intersection of systems, strategy, and real-world complexity. She’s partnered with teams like Cedars-Sinai, PwC, Payoneer, and Prudential Stages, helping organizations in finance, healthcare, compliance, and impact make sense of problems where clarity actually changes outcomes.

    Superpower: navigating complex systems by day and parenting two tiny humans by night.

  • A woman with shoulder-length hair, smiling and looking at the camera, wearing a light-colored top, in a black-and-white portrait.

    Teak Sittipunt

    Creative Strategist

    Teak helps teams bring focus and direction to brand, product, and growth work. She’s spent her career working across startups like Parloa and EvolutionaryScale and global brands like Uber and Google, helping new ideas make it into the world.

    Superpower: bringing focus to emerging ideas, guided by startup scars, storytelling instincts, and a passable tenor sax.

  • Black and white photo of a woman with curly hair smiling at the camera.

    Ellie Smith

    Creative Strategist

    Ellie has worked across education and B2B software, helping teams make sense of complex brand problems and turn them into clear, confident stories people can actually repeat. She’s especially good at asking the one question that gets everyone unstuck.

    Superpower: spotting the broken sentence and calmly rewriting it before anyone opens another doc.

  • A woman with long light-colored hair smiling at the camera in a black and white portrait.

    Alison Ketchledge

    Client Partner

    Alison has built brands at global and boutique agencies including Sterling Brands, Wolff Olins, Landor, and DeSantis Breindel, working with names like The Hershey Company, Estée Lauder, and United Airlines, alongside B2B teams facing equally high stakes. She brings judgment, care, and a strong read on people into every room she’s in.

    Superpower: catching the tension everyone feels but no one names, then steering the work back to solid ground.

  • A smiling woman with wavy hair leaning against a brick wall outdoors in an urban setting.

    Jenna Burke

    Client Partner

    Jenna leads complex creative work for teams at Microsoft, Google, McKesson, Bloomberg, Okta, ServiceNow, HP, Disney, and IDC—keeping projects focused, teams aligned, and clients confident when the work gets complicated.

    Superpower: spotting the difference between “this shipped” and “this worked,” especially when tech and AI are involved.

  • A black and white portrait of a man with a beard and mustache, wearing a checkered shirt and dark sweater, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression.

    Paul Howell

    Design & Creative Director

    Paul has worked with brands like Sony Pictures Television, the Arizona Office of Tourism, Benihana/RA Sushi, WD-40, Peet’s Coffee, Sitecore, and IDC, helping them bring focus to moments that need direction, not decoration. He builds brand systems and creative meant to be used, not admired.

    Superpower: finding the right path through complexity, whether it’s a market shift or a mountain range.

  • A woman with glasses, earrings, and shoulder-length hair smiling and looking down, wearing a button-up shirt, standing against a plain background.

    Molly Cichy

    Design & Creative Director 

    Molly brings over 15 years of experience shaping clear, cohesive visual systems for B2B and B2C brands like IDC, General Assembly, Cricket Wireless and Nickelodeon. She turns brand strategy into design teams can actually use across every touchpoint, with rigor and restraint.

    Superpower: designing with an improviser’s instincts—sharp timing, quick edits, and knowing when the scene is done.

  • Headshot of a man with a beard and short hair, wearing a suit jacket and white shirt, standing in front of a brick wall.

    Joel Leone

    Design & Creative Director 

    Joel has helped brands from Disney to Dolly Parton look as strong as they perform, using visual storytelling to bring focus, confidence, and momentum to the work. He delivers design that makes things clearer—and the process more enjoyable than it has any right to be.

    Superpower: bringing an artist’s patience and taste to pixels and systems that endure.

  • Black and white photo of a man with a smile, wearing a checkered button-up shirt, with a blurred background.

    Ben Warnick

    Operations Strategist

    Ben keeps Villain running behind the scenes, managing the operational details most people never see but everyone depends on. He ensures the business stays steady so the work can move fast.

    Superpower: being the operational glue — and the unofficial in-house chef.

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    Michelle Mundy

    AI Systems + Operations

    Michelle designs the operational backbone that helps complex, creative organizations run cleanly and grow with control. As Founder of Onpar and former Executive Director of Production Operations at Left Field Labs, she’s supported rapid growth and global teams at companies like Google, Amazon, Intel, Uber, and Meta.

    Superpower: turning complex systems and AI workflows into something teams can run without slowing down or melting down.

“Their ability to balance numerous stakeholders while navigating the complexities of both our enterprise and consumer businesses was impressive.”

Black and white portrait of a young woman with long, wavy hair, smiling, wearing a dark blouse, against a plain light background.

Kate Braner
Sr. Director, Brand & Demand
General Assembly

Beliefs
A faint, dark red clock face with no hands in low contrast.

Accountability drives outcomes.

Strategy only works when the people leading it stand behind every word.

Leadership is about conviction, not consensus.

Each project is cast for what it needs — no more, no less.

Velocity requires experience.

Precision under pressure comes from pattern recognition, not process.

Inside our philosophy →

If you can’t beat them, join us. Apply to be part of the Villain team.

We partner with executive-level strategists, writers, researchers, creatives, and category experts who bring both precision and pace to their craft. 

We’re the kind of team that tries new tools early and often — if it helps us think faster or work smarter, we’re in. If you’ve led B2B brand transformations and want to work on complex, high-growth engagements, apply.

We want to meet you →