Meet the Team

Our Experts

We’re former big agency leaders, corporate professionals and journalists whose expertise includes programs that communicate rapidly, succinctly and effectively across earned, owned, paid and shared channels.

Gardi Wilks
Founders/Senior Advisor
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Gardi Wilks
Founders/Senior Advisor

As founder and senior advisor of Wilks Communications Group (WCG), Gardi Ipema Wilks sets the organization’s strategic vision and actively leads client work across the food, nonprofit and corporate sectors.

Her primary focus is to advance consumer marketing and multi-channel initiatives that drive brand visibility and stakeholder engagement, build sales, and support client growth strategies. Gardi is former chair of Housing Forward, a nonprofit organization ending homelessness in west Cook County, IL. She has a master’s degree from Ball State University, where she served as an adjunct professor in the journalism department, and a bachelor’s degree from Calvin College.

Brad Wilks
Managing Director
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Brad Wilks
Managing Director

Managing Director Brad Wilks oversees business-to-business marketing, corporate, financial and crisis communications for WCG clients. He previously headed the Chicago and Midwest offices of several major public relations agencies, including MSLGROUP, Ogilvy Public Relations and Sard Verbinnen & Company.

He has a master’s degree from Ball State University and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University.

Sarah Hintze
Senior Vice President of Consumer and Food
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Sarah Hintze
Senior Vice President of Consumer and Food

Sarah Hintze is Senior Vice President of Consumer and Food at WCG helping to oversee a number of consumer and food accounts. With more than 10 years of experience she has led award-winning campaigns for GoPro, Kalahari Resorts and Oscar Mayer.

Prior to joining the firm, she spearheaded numerous communications marketing programs at Edelman including Super Bowl activities for Nationwide and cause marketing efforts for the Kimberly-Clark Huggies brand. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee with a minor in political science.

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