Charisse Witherspoon is president and CEO of Witherspoon Marketing Group, Inc.

In 1993,
Witherspoon launched her solutions-based marketing and management consulting business in
Chicago’s South Loop. The firm’s national and local client experience includes Suntory Water
Group (Hinckley Springs and other brands), Sears, and Ace Hardware Corporation. Local client
award-winning experience ranges from the City of Chicago to the Chicago Christian Industrial
League.
In May 2002, Witherspoon was elected to the board of directors of the Publicity Club of
Chicago, the largest independent public relation organization in North America. She was
unanimously elected to become the first African American to head the organization for the 2004-
2005 fiscal year after serving as year as treasurer. The 65+-year-old organization promotes the
practice of public relations in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.
WMG clients also benefit from Witherspoon’s penchant for market research, competitive
analysis, media planning and public affairs. In many instances, the knowledge and results that
Witherspoon and her staff bring to client engagements have been rewarded with additional
contracts and assignments that bridge staff development and market development. To date,
Witherspoon has developed and delivered a series of workshops for private- and public-sector
managers in 17 states.
In general, it does not take long to recognize Witherspoon’s commitment to client service
beyond the call of duty or her top-performing track record in her growing business. Less
recognized are some of Witherspoon's personal accomplishments such as the three-time
coordination of America's second largest parade (Bud Billiken), as well as public relations and
publicity for the world's largest black music convention and the fiftieth anniversary of a well-
known ice cream company and a variety of related media and government experiences while the
Chicagoan briefly resided in Washington, DC, and New York City.
Witherspoon became an active member of the minority (and general market) business
community, Witherspoon was elected to the board of directors of the Cosmopolitan Chamber of
Commerce, where she also chaired the Capitalization and Professional Services committee. For
more than a decade, she also hosted and produced the “Business Building Business” radio
program. The 30-minute weekly interview program aired on WGCI-AM 1390 and was sponsored
by Harris Bank. Guests have ranged from two Administrators of the U.S. Small Business
Administration, the president of Ameritech and the inventors of Kitty Litter to Members of
Congress and the Director of Commerce and Industry for the City of Johannesburg (South Africa).
Witherspoon’s firm also played an integral role in building the Chamber’s new Senator Emil Jones
E-Commerce & Procurement Training Center, by providing technical and marketing expertise and
lending the organization a virtual private networking gateway and application server.
Today, as a well-recognized marketing professional and civic leader, her commitment and
involvement have been reported in CNNfn, Dollars & Sense magazine (“America’s Best and
Brightest”), Chicago Sun-Times, Talking to the Boss, Today’s Chicago Woman, the Arizona
Informant, the Trenton Times, Pure News USA, the Chicago Defender, Citizen Newspapers and
other local and national print and broadcast media. Also, Chicago’s NBC network affiliate,
WMAQ-TV, once aired a month of public service announcements saluting Witherspoon as a
“successful business woman.” She also has received dozens of awards for business and individual
achievements. Witherspoon holds a B.A. in Journalism from Northern Illinois University (history
minor) and is a nationally-certified member of the American Seminar Leaders (ASLA).
Prince Riley is Director of Client Development for Witherspoon Marketing Group
(WMG)..

In 1994,. He joined Witherspoon Marketing Group in 1994 as an Account Executive.

Today, he is a key strategist, marketer and trainer for private and public agencies who use
WMG as their marketing and management program development, consulting and
implementation team. He directs many of the company’s marketing and technology
efforts (including direct mail programs) and helps to develop many of WMG’s
consulting, training and staff development programs.

In 2001, Riley applied his management and technical expertise to oversee the creation of
the new Senator Emil Jones E-Commerce Procurement & Training Center in Chicago.
Currently, Riley also is project manager for a pilot portion of an IT apprenticeship
program. Riley continues to share his knowledge with others through a variety of
publicaitons and public speaking opportunities, such as August 2002 U.S. Small Business
Administration conference.

Prior to joining WMG, Riley spent ten years with R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD) in
Chicago. He started his career with Donnelley as a systems programmer working in the
Electronic Graphics Division in 1981.

In 1983 he was promoted to Senior Systems Engineer and worked on developing

distribution and marketing software products to support a growing list of RRD catalog
and magazine clients including Lands' End, Victoria's Secret, and Country Curtains.

Riley was later promoted to a research and development group where he developed a
mail tracking and reporting system which enabled RRD printing clients to obtain
accurate, real-time information on mail delivery nationwide. This system was the first
automated mail tracking system to be audited and accepted by the United States Postal
Service (USPS) as an independent standard for mail delivery and verification. The
system, known as “P.A.R.R.S” was awarded a U.S. patent and licensed to USPS by R.R.
Donnelley for use as a tool to provide statistically reliable
estimates and projection of mail delivery for all classes of mail.

In 1987, Riley was promoted to Selectronic Services' Sales

Support for an eight state Midwestern region. He was
responsible for all training and support for RRD catalog,
magazine, and directory sales forces and developed and
delivered the Selectronic Services' sales training programs.
Along the way Riley was also required to develop extensive
knowledge of graphic design and printing processes.
Throughout his career at Donnelley, Riley also was responsible
for contributing to and creating text and graphics for catalog clients.