Team
Terry Terry
President
Terry is an artist, entrepreneur, instructional designer, media producer and creator of experiences that transform. Terry is recipient of the 2018 Creative Community Award for his efforts and role in the revitalization of Old Town, Lansing; the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award from James Madison College/MSU; Lansing Regional Chamber Small Business of the Year award, the Governor’s ArtServe award and many others.
Terry also serves as voluntary president the non-profit Institute for Quality and Innovation – whose mission is to develop the next generation of transformational leaders and who conduct quality management academies. He is also the co-founder and president of the non-profit Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art – the catalyst of Old Town Lansing’s revitalization and founder/producer of Michigan BluesFest and Lansing JazzFest. Terry serves on the board of the Michigan Film Office Advisory Council.
Terry served as communications futurist and systems integrator with the Michigan Senate for the formation of Michigan Government Television, was a producer, cameraperson, and video editor on five continents for networks including Nightline, WNET-13, NBC Sportsworld, CNN, and PBS.
Through MessageMakers, he expanded the brand activation efforts of Harley Owners Group, launching their initiatives in Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions, helping grow membership from 450,000 to nearly 1 million world-wide over a 16 year period. Under his leadership, MessageMakers has guided and produced award-winning marketing communications and learning programs for GM, Herman Miller, Two Men and a Truck, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Greenstone Farm Credit, Dart, US Department of Education, US Department of Commerce, US Navy, US Paralympic Team, Business Leaders for Michigan, Michigan State University, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Michigan National Guard, Michigan Society of Association Executives, Demmer Corporation, Small Business Association of Michigan, Lansing Regional Chamber, National Association for Family Child Care, Mackinaw State Historic Parks, Indian Trails, American Red Cross, Spartan Motors and many, many more.
In 2003, Terry received a special tribute from the governor of the State of Michigan, recognizing him as someone who “...possesses social awareness and civic pride...has worked diligently to help guide Old Town along the road to revitalization.... and is precisely the type of citizen that this city and country needs.”
Tom Lietz
Chief Creative Officer
Tom is a hands-on producer, director, and storyteller. Over the past 14 years he has led production efforts for feature films, training programs, marketing campaigns, and non-profit development efforts. For clients ranging from the American Red Cross to the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Tom has helped to structure narratives that engage, inform and inspire audiences in alignment with specific objectives. These stories frequently come from the real world, told with a documentary sensibility and cinematic production values. As an experienced editor and director of photography, Tom is able to efficiently plan and execute unique creative concepts within schedule and budget constraints, while also maintaining a quality regularly recognized by various industry creative awards. Tom has also developed and led several instructional programs on video production.
Sophia (Chiung) Cheng
Chief Financial Officer and Research Director
Sophia serves as research director and controller, ensures projects stay within scope and budget. She manages all aspects of budgets, procurements and billing and has extensive experience with financial analysis, forecasting and research, as well as survey data collection, management, analysis and interpretation. She is the Principal Research Investigator (PRI) for projects related to results measurement, success assessments, and surveys. After graduating with a Ph.D. in Economics from the Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University, Sophia served as PRI for Harley-Davidson Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) Officer Training, for both the U.S. and international training sessions.
Rob Sumbler
Video Producer / Director of Photography
Rob Sumbler is an experienced producer with over 20 years of experience spanning both video and live events. As a director of photography, Rob has lead production teams on a wide range of commercial and feature projects. He served as a news videographer for over 18 years, including eight years as chief videographer supervising a staff of 17 as well as more work in long-form investigative pieces. He has won five Emmy Awards, seven AP Awards, and two Michigan Association of Broadcasters Awards for the quality of his video production. Rob also leads MessageMakers event production
Dorrian Brooks
Client Experience Manager
Dorrian Brooks, Client Experience Manager at MessageMakers, is a 2020 graduate of Michigan State University. She graduated from James Madison College, majoring in Comparative Cultures and Politics with an additional major in Psychology.
Dorrian has experience working in the consumer goods industry as a consultative field sales and marketing representative. In the political sphere, Dorrian has worked as an office assistant and election official for the City of East Lansing during the 2018 local elections and in 2020, she worked in the digital advertising space as a media buying strategist. Dorrian believes in the power of strategy and social innovation to bring people together in ways that inspire growth and development. She has strong organizational and strategic thinking skills as a result of her academic background and professional experiences. As a big-picture person, she is drawn to ideas first and has the ability to synthesize information in one holistic vision.
