Lisa Colantuono | President

Lisa Colantuono is the President of AAR Partners, an agency search consultancy servicing marketers since 1980.  Often referred to as a “cupid in a suit” Lisa has been creating successful relationships between brands and agencies for over two decades.  Not only does Lisa believe in enduring partnerships that matter, but she actively participates in creating them.  Having consulted on and managed agency reviews including Ancestry, Aruba Tourism, American Airlines, Brown-Forman, ClearChoice Dental Centers, Lee Jeans, Subaru, Ben and Jerry’s, Nikon, Thrivent Financial and Panera Bread (to name a few) – Lisa tackles and solves the most vexing agency search challenges and has enabled hundreds of marketers to meet and/or exceed their business goals.  Throughout her career, she’s an advocate for client-agency relationships that yield results: smAARt partnerships = better work = positive ROI.

In addition to her role as a search consultant, she co-founded a new business service center for marcom agencies named, Access Confidential, in 2005.  The comprehensive new business web-based application quickly became a “go-to” resource for hundreds of users’ new business intelligence needs and was eventually acquired by Winmo, a leading competitor in the industry, in 2018.

Now Lisa is on a mission to “modernize the matchmaking process” by not only streamlining the search process, but also by doing everything possible to “avoid the pitch” altogether.  How? She launched The AAR Agency Growth Program in January 2019 to help marketers have a shortcut to the shortlist and assist agencies with developing more relationships instead of pitch decks!

Described as an agency search consultant whose unique perspective is highly valued, Lisa counsels both marketers and communications agencies on their business and branding efforts.  Her wisdom has been shared throughout top industry publications including AdAge, Adweek, ANA Newsstand, Forbes, Hubspot, Mediapost, The Marketing Insider, The Huffington Post and in 2016 she published her first book, @AARLisa: New Biz in 140 Characters (or Less).  Lisa is part of the industry speaking circuit, presenting at national conferences including AAF, ANA Agency Relations Committee, BOLO, Brandemonium, HOW Design Live, Mirren, AdAge Small Agency Conference and launched a podcast called, “On Purpose” highlighting what marcom agencies are doing on purpose to create meaningful brand work.  She also served as a committee member for the International ANDY Awards from 2004-2019 showcasing the best of the best creative work in the industry.

Outside of her consulting career, Lisa was an enthusiastic Adjunct Professor of Advertising at NYIT for 16 years.  She also participated each year as a judge for the AAF National Advertising Student Competition and a speaker for the AEF’s “Inside Advertising Speakers Program”, sharing her expertise to educate and motivate the next generation of communications professionals. Lisa, a trained pianist, also recorded and markets a NAPPA award-winning CD entitled Classical Cradle on which she personally performs nine sets of lullaby medleys from Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms and other classical composers.  Most of all, she adores being Aunt Lisa to her favorite niece and nephew.