Our Team

With a degree in industrial design, David joined Lasky Advertising in 1960 as an account executive and purchased the firm less than nine years later. Under his leadership, the agency has expanded from serving strictly financial accounts to a broadly diversified client base including healthcare, real estate, B2B, and education.

Interestingly enough, Bill began his career at Block Advertising. After a few years, he left to become an award-winning art director at various New York agencies. He opened his own agency, DeCorso & Partners, where he successfully launched products like Bertolli olive oil and Barilla pasta. When he re-joined Block, he brought with him his expertise in packaged goods. The agency soon attracted many accounts in the food & beverage industry. Bill became partner in 2002 and president of Block & DeCorso in 2006.

Carla Pugliese Dean, Senior Account Executive
Carla Pugliese Dean oversees accounts in the financial, home products, and food and beverage industries. A 1997 graduate of Penn State University with a bachelor's degree in English, she began her career at Positive Publications, working on a startup UK magazine, US Industry Today. She then joined Block & DeCorso as an assistant to agency partner, Bill DeCorso, and in that position learned every aspect of account supervision.

Monique Balsamo, Account Executive
Monique began her advertising career in 1998 at Ammirati Puris Lintas in New York City, where she helped launch the GM OnStar program. At Draft Worldwide, she was involved in the redesign of the "Depression" Health Management Program for Merck-Medco which won the Crystal Award in 2000. In the following years, she acquired extensive experience in the Pharmaceutical/Healthcare industry as well as the upscale real estate market in South Beach Miami. At Block & DeCorso she oversees both healthcare and home decor accounts and is involved in new business presentations where her knowledge of three languages and diverse cultures expedites solutions.

Karen DeLuca, Senior Vice President/Creative Director
Karen's work is a product of years of collaboration with, and inspiration from, those around her. She provides the vision for the agency's overall creative. Her experience ranges across a wide spectrum including branding, identity systems, print collateral and packaging. She has been recognized with more than 75 awards for creativity including ANDYs, ADDYs, and New Jersey Ad Club, among others.

David Cannon, Creative Director/Copy
After rising to Media Director at Block & DeCorso, he was recruited by a New York ad agency where he conceived the "Best Read" ad in Business Week history according to Starch Copy Tests. Upon returning to the agency, he helped broaden its reach into many new industries, which led to a "Best in Show" award for the introduction of Atlantic Healthcare System as well as top readership scores and response rates in several other categories.

Barbara L. Graham, Public Relations Director/Food & Beverage
A broad background in special events and convention and show planning complements Barbara's expertise in public relations and publicity. She has extensive experience in food, publishing, retail, securities, spirits, and travel. In the food industry, she developed programs for Bertolli Olive Oil, Barilla Pasta, the Italian Trade Commission and others. She is fluent in Spanish and French.

Rich Small, Public Relations/General Market
An energetic, creative thinker with strong hands-on experience, Richard Small has provided strategic marketing and communications plans for some of the world's largest companies. A former New York agency chief and Fortune 300 corporate communications director, Rich provides a level of professional experience that senior corporate managers value for its incisiveness and the leverage it will bring to their products and image in the marketplace.

Ruth DiGiorgio, Media Director
A former copywriter, account coordinator, and marketing services manager, Ruth served as Media Director at J.D. Greif Associates and was in Media/Marketing services at Medi Promotions. She has been with Block & DeCorso since 1993 and oversees all media research, planning, negotiating, buying, and billing for all clients.

Carol Cennamo, Traffic/Production Manager
In charge of overseeing pre-press, retouching, estimating, and press runs, her experience in print and direct mail production spans more than 15 years at agencies in both New York and New Jersey. She has worked with clients such as Lucent Technologies, Johnson & Johnson, Sony, Lipton, and Warner Lambert.

John Romano, New Media Director
With hundreds of Internet and New Media development and hosting projects under his belt - including award-winning ones for Fortune 500 companies - John manages Block & DeCorso's day-to-day new media production projects. His expertise is end-to-end, running the gamut from implementing designs to developing shopping cart strategies to hosting, maintenance, and search engine optimization.