GRP Media delivers personalized attention to your media needs with a staff of seasoned, experienced media professionals who all learned, honed, and applied their skills at large agencies like Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather, Foote, Cone & Belding, OMD, Bayer Bess Vanderwarker and Element 79 Partners.

Our people have worked on hundreds of campaigns in dozens of varied product categories allowing us to apply that experience in custom designing the most cost effective media solutions for our clients.

Management Team

Guy Lay
CEO, President

Guy founded GRP Media in 1996 with a specific vision in mind of providing mid-sized agencies and clients superior media insights and service. These ideas sprung from over 18 years of media sales experience with companies like The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and Katz Communications. Having worked both sides of the desk helped Guy frame the negotiating strategy that GRP Media employs and crystallized the need for the highest level of service to GRP Media’s clients. The testimonials from GRP Media’s clients demonstrate how successful that approach has been.

Under Guy’s direction, GRP Media has become one of the largest media management agencies in the Midwest with a broad range of media expertise. Guy is involved with all of GRP Media’s clients as the agency’s senior Account Director and he heads the new business development efforts of the agency.

Wendy Smith
EVP, Strategic Director

With over 20 years of developing strategically based media solutions, Wendy adds a unique dimension to GRP Media. She has gathered her expertise in thorough and disciplined approaches to the media planning process through her stints at J. Walter Thompson, Bayer Bess Vanderwarker, Foote, Cone & Belding, Element 79 Partners and OMD Chicago. The spectrum of businesses that have benefited from Wendy’s insights range from quick serve restaurants (Boston Market) to HBA (Helene Curtis) to hotel/restaurants (Hyatt) to state institutes (Illinois Tourism and Illinois Lottery) and a plethora of packaged goods products from Kellogg’s, Kraft, Quaker, and Gatorade. Wendy’s thirst for developing a deep understanding of a business’s marketing needs gives GRP Media’s clients a distinct advantage.

Jennifer Lay
SVP, Media Director

Jennifer’s career in media began at Leo Burnett where she supervised the media planning teams for clients including Procter & Gamble, United Airlines, Pillsbury and Black & Decker.  After almost 10 years on the agency side of the business she joined Time, Inc. where she helped launch the advertising sales efforts for Sports Illustrated For Kids Magazine. After subsequent successful management positions at USA Today and Conde Nast Traveler, Jennifer rejoins the media planning and buying world at GRP Media where she is the SVP Media Director.

John Reebel
EVP, Media Research

John manages all of GRP Media's internal systems and procedures including our full-service media research capabilities. John spent 12 years in the media planning departments of J. Walter Thompson and Bayer Bess Vanderwarker, working his way up to Associate Media Director and later Director of Media Research. John left Bayer Bess to join David Cravit & Associates Advertising (formerly Campbell Mithun Esty - Chicago) to head the agency's information technology and research operations. With a comprehensive background in media planning, information technology, media research and financial expertise, John brings a wealth of support experience to GRP Media and its clients.

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