ESTABLISHED 1972

About

Us

JLB + Partners (JLB+P) is the oldest and most experienced consultancy specializing in issues of agency search, compensation, and relationship management.

JLB+P consultants are regularly called upon to provide our perspective on the subjects of agency sourcing, search, and selection; agency compensation (remuneration); and agency performance. We are the authors of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) guidebooks and “Insights Briefs” on these subjects and speak regularly at the ANA and other marketing and agency industry venues.

Why JLB +

Partners?

Our Global Reach

Our partnership model brings together industry-leading experts with boots on the ground and extensive consulting experience throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Our agency insights and benchmarks cover every major global market and virtually every type of marketing communications agency.

Our Service Focus

Our consulting is focused solely on issues of client-agency relationships and performance management. Whether sourcing a new agency partner, more effectively managing an existing agency relationship to improve performance, or structuring a more effective agency contract and compensation plan, you will work with consultants who know the subject inside and out.

5

PARTNERS

Global

REACH & SCALE

Our Client Experience

Our partnership model brings together industry-leading experts with boots on the ground and extensive consulting experience throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Our agency insights and benchmarks cover every major global market and virtually every type of marketing communications agency.

Our Consultants

Our consulting is focused solely on issues of client-agency relationships and performance management. Whether sourcing a new agency partner, more effectively managing an existing agency relationship to improve performance, or structuring a more effective agency contract and compensation plan, you will work with consultants who know the subject inside and out.

Our Objectivity

Unlike other client-agency consultancies, we do not have a pay-for-play business model. We do not require agencies to tithe to us annually to be part of our database or to be considered in our search processes. Nor do we accept contingency fee arrangements on our agency compensation or media auditing assignments. Our recommendations are totally objective and agency-neutral.

Our Track Record

Our consulting practice produces results. As testament to this, our clients routinely come back to engage us for additional work that addresses their varying and evolving agency issues and needs. Clients such as U.S. Army, Microsoft, Levi Strauss, SC Johnson, Walmart, Walgreens, Discover Financial Services and Sam’s Club, just to name a few, return to us repeatedly for our counsel.

Our Story


Founded in 1972, JLB + Partners (JLB+P) is the most experienced and trusted consultancy specializing in agency search, compensation, and relationship management.

We were among the first firms to effectively move marketers from media commissions to fee-based compensation. We were also among the first to structure successful incentive agency compensation agreements. And we continue our history of industry leadership as authors of the triennial “Trends in Agency Compensation” report in partnership with the Association of National Advertisers (ana.org).

JLB+P has partnered with many of the world’s leading marketers and brands, from global to local, from large to small, and from decades-old firms to startups. We also have long-standing partnerships with leading and like-minded agency relationship management specialists in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, making JLB+P a trusted advisor to top global marketers today. Our success is also based on our strong and extensive relationships with agencies, and the mutual trust and respect we have developed with our network over 50 years.

The consultancy was founded by agency veteran Charles B. (Chuck) Jones, who was later joined by Bob Lundin and Stan Beals. The JLB+P team of consultants brings decades of global advertising agency and client-side marketing experience to expertly guide our clients to finding and cultivating lasting partnerships.

Global Leadership


David Beals

Senior Advisor

Dave has provided counsel to a diverse group of clients including General Motors, U.S. Army, S.C. Johnson, Walmart, Whirlpool, Kellogg’s, Cisco Systems, Johnson & Johnson, Michelin, Microsoft, Allstate, Nissan, and Dairy Queen.
He is the author of the Association of National Advertisers’ triennial Trends in Agency Compensation surveys, and the latest ANA editions of Evaluating Agency Performance, and Agency Compensation: A Guidebook. Prior to JLB+P, David was a Senior VP, Group Account Director at DDB.
There, he worked with a variety of the country’s biggest and best-known advertisers, including Anheuser-Busch, McDonald’s, General Mills, and Campbell Soup Company. David received a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Colorado and a Masters Degree in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Tom Browning

President & CEO

  • 30+ year Agency career building successful agency-client partnerships with McDonald’s (U.S. and Global), SC Johnson, AnheuserBusch, Nestlé, Frito-Lay, Discover Card and many others
  • Joined JLB + Partners in 2021 and has partnered with Little Caesars, Consolidated Edison, SC Johnson, Zillow, Ruiz Foods, Wells Fargo, Duracell, Tropicana Brands, and many others to help improve their agency relationships.
  • Featured speaker at the 2022 ANA Financial Management Conference: “Trends in Agency Compensation,” the 2023 Mirren New Business conference, and the 2024 AAAA’s Management Practitioner’s Forum.

Mary Conrad

Senior Advisor

Mary has been a valued member of JLB+P for over 20 years. Her clients include leading global and US.  marketers such as General Motors, U.S. Army, Sony, Levi Strauss, Walgreens, Four Seasons Resorts and Hotels, SC Johnson, Boeing, and many others. Her background also includes account management leadership positions at advertising agencies DDB and FCB, where she worked on brands including McDonald’s, Maybelline, General Mills, Motorola, Dial, Kraft, and Quaker Oats.
Mary also brings valuable client-side marketing experience as former VP of Marketing for Peapod, the industry’s first e-commerce grocery retailer. Mary is the author of the ANA’s Insights Brief on Evaluating Agency Performance. Mary is an undergraduate and graduate school alum of Northwestern University

Debbie McKean

Senior Consultant

  • Broad and deep agency & client marketing management experience.
  • Client & agency marketing success with Fidelity Investments, Sears.com and launching State Farm into financial services.
  • CMO positions with expertise in digital, performance marketing and media diversification.
  • Led multiple agency search and review initiatives from project based to AOR, including compensation and scope negotiations.
  • At JLB+P, has partnered with Zillow, Consolidated Edison, Wegmans, Wells Fargo and many others on Agency Search and Compensation engagements.

Steve Griffiths

Senior Consultant, JLB + Partners London

  • With over 30 years in the agency world, Steve has built, led, and transformed some of the most forward-thinking agencies in the UK. His journey began in CRM at Proximity, where he worked with major brands like British Airways and Volkswagen. In 1995, he launched a digital agency, pioneering website development at a time when the internet was in its infancy.
  • Steve then went on to work with digital trailblazers Modem Media and Lost Boys before founding Icon Mobile UK, where he developed cutting-edge services and products in the mobile space. His expertise in digital transformation and brand innovation led him to DDB, where he served as Global Chief Innovation Officer, shaping the future of the McDonald’s brand on a global scale.
  • Alongside his role as a senior consultant at JLB & Partners, Steve has recently founded Nebula Ventures, an incubator developing solutions for business harnessing AI.
  • Steve believes the relationship between agencies and brands is entering an exciting new era. With a more refined model and the power of technology—particularly AI— businesses can unlock greater value, efficiency, and creativity. His passion lies in
helping agencies and brands embrace this shift, ensuring they stay ahead in an everchanging landscape.

Julie Wenger

Senior Consultant

  • Led McDonald’s USA Brand & Content Team, managing the 10- member Integrated Agency Team.
  • Led the standing up of a 220-person bespoke agency and development of a deliverables-based compensation structure, and consolidation of agency resources.
  • Led multiple searches, reviews, consolidations and compensation negotiations for agency scopes spanning from AOR to projectbased.
  • Joined JLB+P in 2022 and has partnered with Wells Fargo, Inspire Brands/Arby’s, Remy-Cointreau, Norfolk Southern, Tropicana Brands, and many others to help improve their agency relationships.