PEOPLE

John Bejarano, Sr. Brand & Digital Marketing Strategist

At the eager age of 6, John Bejarano’s entrepreneurial spirit began to take shape when he founded his first business of selling cakes and coffee to his local community in South Florida. Ironically, it was not his baking skills that got him to where he is today, but his creativity and will to win.

John began his marketing career right out of high school at the age of 17, where he learned to market and sell products at a direct marketing firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During his College years, he continued to work in marketing and further developed his understanding and passion for advertising.

In 2002, John worked at an interactive agency as an Account Executive, which put him at the forefront of emerging media and technology. During these years, John worked with brands that included Baby Phat, Mitsubishi, and True.com, as well as music labels. John’s first artist project was with VP Records for Sean Paul and Strictly The Best, which later lead him to work with Slip-N-Slide Records and their emerging talent.

In 2006, John moved to New York City to work for ValueClick Media, a leading display advertising network, as the Sr. Account Executive, where he oversaw Florida and Latin America. John managed cutting-edge online marketing programs for well-established brands, including QuickBooks, Sol Melia, Orkin, AOL Latino, and CitiFinancial.

In 2007, John relocated back to South Florida and founded First Class Alliance (FCA). His first client was Slip-N-Slide Records—a leading independent record label, where John was responsible for developing brand partnerships for the label’s artists, product placements in music videos, and online promotions.

As the Sr. Strategist for FCA, John is responsible for leading the agency’s creative vision and innovative branding and digital marketing programs. Key clients have included Bombay Sapphire (Bacardi), 10 Cane (Moet & Hennessy) and Office Depot, where John designed and launched the Business Solutions Division (BSD) Email Marketing program for North America.

John currently sits on the board of directors for the South Florida Interactive Marketing Association, he is a frequent public speaker and a best-selling Co-Author of the book “Game Changers”.

Henry Cedeno, Director, Label & Artist Relations

Henry is an entertainment industry professional with over 7 years of music industry experience. He oversees our label & artist relations department that works hand in hand with other agency teams. Henry has worked alongside such companies as Def Jam Records, Universal Music Group, Slip-N-Slide Records, Universal Motown, Sony-BMG, Jive Records, Atlantic Records, EMI, Capitol Records, Warner Bros. Records, Hollywood Records, as well as a plethora of indie companies. Key positions included Senior Marketing Director & A&R for independent powerhouse Slip-N-Slide Records, where he lead projects on releases by superstar artist Rick Ross, Trina, Plies & Jagged Edge.

Henry also oversees our music licensing, having landed licensing partnerships on mega films such as, “Hangover 2″ released by Warner Bros. Pictures 2011, “Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming” released by Sony Pictures 2010, & the upcoming “Hostel III” released by Sony Pictures Q4 2011.

Henry is passionate about the music business and keeps up to date with the latest industry trends, technology, and shifts in the ecosystem of entertainment media. His background and experience includes A&R, branding & identity, marketing, digital marketing, talent management, event production, product placement, music publishing, TV/film/commercials licensing, & consulting.

Joe Laratro, Senior Search Engine Marketing Strategist

Joe specializes in personalized SEO and PPC services. His mission is to work together with clients for web site success through online marketing strategies that will drive bottom line results.

Prior to FCA, Laratro served as the Chief Technology Officer at one of the largest and most experienced Search Engine Marketing and Optimization firms. His work encompassed all facets of search engine marketing including optimization, natural search, pay per click management, paid inclusion, ROI analysis, and Web analytics. Under his technology leadership, MoreVisibility quickly expanded and was named to the INC 500 list in 2005 and 2006 as one of the fastest growing privately held firms.

As one of the first 100 certified Google AdWords Professionals, a contributor to the founding of the Yahoo! Strategic Provider Program, and a certified Yahoo! Strategic Provider Ambassador, Joe continues to be on the cutting edge of industry developments. During his career, Laratro has serviced over 5,000 websites spanning an array of companies including Fortune 500s, privately held mid-tier corporations, and small businesses.

Maria Perilli, Online Marketing Manager

Maria Perilli excels in both the strategic planning and implementation of website development and online marketing strategies. Combining these two skills results in powerful websites and marketing campaigns.

Maria’s background and strengths are in campaign management, search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing, wordpress blogs, and website development. Maria works with clients to create custom marketing campaigns using traditional and newer techniques that achieve high returns in competitive categories.