Meet the Team

Maureen Ballatori is passionate about transforming the food, beverage, and agriculture landscape through smart brand strategy. As Founder and CEO of Agency 29, she values helping brands discover their unique voice and bring their stories to life with creative solutions that really work.

You’ll often find Maureen speaking at industry events or behind the microphone hosting her Spilled Salt podcast, where she brings together innovators from all corners of the food and agriculture world. She believes the best ideas happen when people connect and collaborate, and her approach is all about building genuine partnerships rooted in shared values.

Maureen stays busy serving on national and global boards because she’s committed to doing more than just building great brands—she wants to nurture an entire community of food and agriculture innovators. Her sweet spot is combining strategic thinking with creative problem-solving to create real, lasting change in the industry.

View Our Founder’s Story

Ed is a strategic growth advisor with over 30 years of commercialization experience. He advises and executes on strategies, business models, and go-to-market tactics to meet value-added milestones and realize growth.

Over the course of his career, Ed has worked at and with Fortune 500 and startup companies in the areas of software, telecommunications, food/ag, and health services. He has held executive-level positions in the areas of strategy, product management, sales, and marketing. This experience has provided him a comprehensive understanding of scalable growth and bringing new products and technologies to market.

In his spare time, Ed gets great satisfaction out of helping startups become businesses, teaching, competitive table tennis, food and wine, global travel, loud sloppy rock and roll, and his community.

Tim Foster is a Certified Public Accountant who brings a collaborative mindset and an analytical eye to his work. With a background in the accounting industry, he combines financial expertise with an interest in how technology can make complex information easier to understand and use.

Tim holds a Master of Science in Accounting from Ithaca College. His experience spans accounting, data analysis, and visualization, bringing together technical skills and practical problem-solving.

Teamwork and leadership are central to Tim’s approach. He values working alongside others to tackle challenges, connect the details to the bigger picture, and turn information into clear next steps.

Jenny brings a storyteller’s heart and a strategist’s mind to her role at Agency 29. With over a decade of experience leading marketing and communications for mission-driven organizations, she’s passionate about helping food, beverage, and agriculture brands grow with intention.

Before joining Agency 29, Jenny served as Director of Marketing and Communications at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. There, she led high-impact brand initiatives and multimedia campaigns that elevated research and innovation in sustainability and food systems.

Her career spans higher education, hospitality, and creative agency work, all grounded in a foundation of journalism, where she learned the power of asking the right questions.

A Southern Tier native and former California resident, Jenny holds a journalism degree from California State University, Long Beach. Outside of work, you’ll find her exploring Finger Lakes trails and wineries, sipping (too much) coffee, and making music with her husband and two daughters.

Jennifer is our go-to marketing strategist and we often find her knee-deep in research with her nose in a book. She’s always ready to put her nerd hat on for any data-driven analysis, excited to dig deep into any brand’s challenges.

As an independent contractor and a Jenn-of-all-trades, she has experience in many industries from agriculture to tourism to health and safety. We look to her for insight on all things marketing, from content ideation to development to promotion to evaluation and all the spaces in between, to amplify our clients and their work.

Jennifer graduated from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Radio and Athabasca University in Business Professional Arts: Communications Studies. She is also a Certified Associate in Project Management by the Project Management Institute. She currently resides in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Matt is often thought of as a “Swiss Army knife” of creative thinking and he brings over two decades of experience to the Agency 29 team. He has executed campaigns for major brands including Wegmans, Constellation Brands, Ray-Ban, DICK’s Sporting Goods, and MassMutual, blending high-level strategy with hands-on skills in motion design, video, performance marketing, and branding. Matt excels at steering the ship for clients while maintaining the nimble creative spirit that drives results.

Off the clock, Matt captures the world as an experienced photographer and budding drone pilot. He’s talented musically and has commanded the stage as a drummer for audiences of thousands. Matt enjoys giving back to the community, lending his expertise and support to the American Advertising Federation Greater Rochester, Habitat for Humanity, and various high school and college student mentorships.

Multi-talented creative Olivia Sun has a unique background, having worked in Liberia, West Africa for 4 years. Her professional experience is multifaceted, having worked on in-house marketing departments and within multiple creative agencies. Prior to her time at Agency 29, Olivia worked with major brands including The Strong National Museum of Play, Health Systems for a Tobacco-Free NY, and Wegmans.

Olivia excels in taking a vision from ideation to execution through thoughtful design and art direction.  She is a true self-starter – with the innate ability to pick up new techniques, styles, and disciplines of design effortlessly.

When she isn’t working, you can find Olivia getting into anything creative, soaking in the outdoors, and finding the coolest live music around.

Heather is deeply passionate about creating beautiful work backed by a powerful story. She strives to push the boundaries of what is expected in design, infusing fun into her work while ensuring the message remains effective.

Heather graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in Graphic Design and a minor in Advertising + Public Relations, and has nearly five years of professional graphic design and art direction experience under her belt. Prior to Agency 29, she gained experience conceptualizing, directing, and executing everything from photoshoots to brand systems to magazines (and more).

Outside of work, Heather loves cooking, fashion, sports, painting, writing poetry, and being outdoors. She is constantly curious and finds beauty in the ordinary no matter where she goes.

Kelsea approaches her role at Agency 29 with the eye of a designer, the curiosity of a strategist, and a genuine enthusiasm for helping brands grow. She arrived at Account Direction through the ranks of design, where she developed a sharp eye for detail and a love for helping teams turn big ideas into clear, thoughtful, effective work.

Kelsea’s previous experience includes serving as Marketing Director and Multimedia Designer, leading client accounts across manufacturing, technology, construction, and healthcare, as well as over a decade in hospitality. She credits that history of service with shaping her people-first approach to account management, making her return to food and beverage clients feel like a natural homecoming.

A Rochester transplant by way of Rhode Island, Kelsea earned her BS in Experience Design from RIT. Off the clock, she’s usually seeking out great food, starting a creative side project, or finding any excuse to dance.