About Us
Our Mission
Providing A Unified Vision Powered by Experience, Leadership & Personal Connection
Our Team
Our senior leadership team of experienced digital and direct marketers offers a personalized experience to clients. With our proven effective strategies for offline media and the collision of emerging digital opportunities, we deliver success. The results for our clients: a media agnostic approach to true omnichannel customer acquisition strategies that drive response and revenue daily.
Michael Stern, President
Michael brings 25 years of management leadership to Media Horizons. He specializes in business development, sales and marketing and forging strategic partnerships. Prior to becoming Media Horizons’ President, Michael was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Lindenmeyr Central, a subsidiary of Central National Gottesman Inc. Following CNG’s acquisition of Media Horizons in 2020, Michael led the company’s business development integration efforts and joined the Media Horizons leadership team.
Prior to joining Central National Gottesman Inc., Michael worked in the Asset Management and Private Wealth Management industries. Michael earned a BA from Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, VA.
Fun Fact: Michael loves to play (and watch!) all the sports time will allow. When he’s not enjoying tennis, platform tennis, golf, and basketball, he is traveling, cooking or fishing.
Jim Kabakow, Chief Operating Officer
Jim has been with Media Horizons for 25+ years, serving first as President and ultimately as CEO (2007). After beginning his career in the financial industry, Jim excelled in account management for 15 years, collaborating with clients such as Nestle, BMG, Citi and The Wall Street Journal, to develop and execute profitable marketing strategies. Jim has greatly impacted the company’s growth with his deep expertise in media, creative and analytics across digital and offline channels.
Jim holds an economics degree from Tufts University and has taught Direct Marketing at WCSU.
Fun Fact: Jim coached his boys’ baseball teams for 11 seasons, through U13 Babe Ruth league.
Alan Kraft, Founder & Chief Revenue Officer
Alan founded Media Horizons (1988) with the goal of building an agency whose core values are steeped in serving its clients’ needs and in nurturing the team’s professional development. Over the years, he has led the company’s strategic expansion from its beginning as an insert media company to its current state of being as a full-service digital and offline response marketing agency. Currently, Alan directs new business efforts, oversees thought leadership positioning and content development, and partners with the senior management team on the company’s ongoing initiatives.
Fun Fact: Alan has attended nine Super Bowls…but has never gotten to see his favorite team play. Ask him what team it is!
Tracy Egan, Senior Vice President, Account Management
Tracy joined Media Horizons in 2006 with 10 years of direct response experience with offline media. In her current role she oversees strategic development, account management, media planning, buying and optimization strategies across digital and offline channels. She works closely with clients and internal teams to provide multichannel plans customized to meet goals and objectives. Tracy is a member the Advisory Board of zMags, an ecommerce content technology company.
Tracy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English / History from University of Connecticut.
Fun Fact: Tracy is an Investigative Discovery Super Fan
Erica DePalma, Senior Vice President, Digital Marketing
Erica’s work is regularly recognized by the direct marketing community in the form of published case studies, blogs, speaking engagements and awards. Her honors include being featured as a “Top Women in Digital” by Cynopsis Media, being honored by Direct Marketing News as “Women to Watch” honoree and by MarketingEDGE as a “Rising Star.” She was also recognized among the “best and brightest ‘whiz-kids’ in the industry” in DMNews’ “30 Under 30” as well as by MediaPost as a “Rising Media Star” in Media Magazine.
Fun Fact: Erica has traveled to four continents, slept in a tree house while on an African Safari, climbed Uluru, and snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef.
Liz Russell, Vice President, Finance & Operations
Rachel Amori, Vice President, Account Management
Rachel joined the team more than 15 years ago (2002). She is responsible for all account functions including strategy, planning, execution, and analyzing results. Rachel works with well-known brands such as Function of Beauty, HelloFresh, Lightbridge Academy, MBI, Nestle Waters North America, PCH, and Visionworks providing strategy and direction daily. Before joining Media Horizons, Rachel worked at Weiden + Kennedy where she was a Media Buyer for ESPN.
Fun Fact: Rachel is an avid tennis fan and has been going to the US Open for 20 years in a row (and counting!).
22 Years
Our senior leadership team has a combined average of 20+ years at Media Horizons.
Heather Fogarty, Vice President, Digital Marketing
Heather has 17+ years of industry experience. Today, she is responsible for strategic development, account management, media planning, buying and optimization strategies, and marketing in digital. Prior to joining Media Horizons, Heather held positions at TouchPoint Integrated Communications and Digitas working with clients in several sectors – retail, travel, CPG, pharma and B2B – with companies such as Bowflex, ACCO Five Star, Delta Airlines, Dice.com and Kraft Foods.
Heather holds a B.A. in Communications with a focus on Advertising and a minor in Business Marketing from the University of Scranton.
Fun Fact: Heather is on a 40+ women’s ice hockey team.
Cyrus Karimi, Vice President, Search & Affiliate Marketing
Cyrus joined Media Horizons seven years ago (2014), bringing 21+ years of paid and organic search marketing to its digital team, where he oversees search and affiliate marketing efforts. He joined us from Story Worldwide, where he held the title of Global Director, Audience Generation Strategy, working with Unilever, General Mills, Beech-Nut, and the USA Network, among others. Prior to Story Worldwide, Cyrus held senior search positions at Publicis Modem, imc2, Monster.com and Havas.
Cyrus holds a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from University of Massachusetts and has spoken at several industry trade shows and events.
Fun Fact: Cyrus has several hobbies spanning being a huge NY sports fan, a frequent concert goer, an avid video gamer, a sneakerhead, and a comic book/sci-fi enthusiast.
Jeremy Kraft, Vice President, Business Development
Jeremy joined Media Horizons in 2011. As Vice President, Business Development, Jeremy leads the agency’s revenue generation team and manages a number of its strategic partnerships. Jeremy works closely with clients and partners to identify, execute, and scale meaningful opportunities.
Jeremy graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from the University of Connecticut.
Fun fact: Jeremy is an avid restaurant fanatic and collected Zagat guides at a young age – ask him for a restaurant recommendation anywhere!
William Daniel, Assistant Vice President, Data & Analytics
Since joining Media Horizons in 2006, William has supported client efforts in both online and offline media for over a decade, providing account services that range from building media plans to developing matchback campaign analyses. He has strong experience with digital tracking platforms and analytics tool such as: Campaign Manager 360, Facebook Business Manager, Google Analytics, Intelisent, Liveramp, MailChimp, Cheetahmail, and SimpleTexting.
William earned his Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies from Hunter College.
Fun Fact: William and his family appeared on the TV show: Flea Market Flip S10;E4
Accolades & Partnerships
Media Horizons is regularly recognized by the marketing community for expertise in driving response.
Our Take
As part of Central National Gottesman, Inc. (CNG), we are committed to bringing value to our clients’ businesses every day. With global sales of $7B and nearly 8M tons of products sold annually (paper, packaging and more), we have the resources to support you. With the focus we place on our relationships and CNG network, we are the agency for you.