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mStoner Announces Four New Shareholders, Expands Company Leadership
mStoner Announces Four New Shareholders, Expands Company Leadership

Intelligence

mStoner Announces Four New Shareholders, Expands Company Leadership

May 05, 2020By Travis Koury

The new shareholders include agency directors Ben Bilow, Jim Johnson, Shannon Lanus, and Greg Zguta.

mStoner is pleased to announce that the company awarded ownership shares to four team members in recognition of their dedication to the agency and continued outstanding service to its clients. As of January 1, 2020, mStoner now has seven shareholders with the addition of directors Ben Bilow, Jim Johnson, Shannon Lanus, and Greg Zguta.

We launched mStoner as a closely held entity — with three partners — so this is a big milestone in our 19-year history,” said co-founder and president Michael Stoner. “We’re making a statement about the kind of company we want to be. One that remains proudly independent, and honors the significant contributions of our talented and dedicated team members.”

Our directors provide key leadership with clients and in shaping mStoner’s future,” said Voltaire Santos Miran, co-founder, CEO, and head of client experience. “It is a pleasure to cement their role as company leaders as we look ahead to the future.”

New mStoner Shareholders

The following directors join Michael, Voltaire, and Bill McLaughlin, chief operating and financial officer and head of project delivery, as shareholders.

ben bilow headshotBen Bilow, Creative Director

Ben Bilow leads mStoner’s creative and user experience design practice. He collaborates with clients to establish clear goals for success and works to achieve positive digital experiences. Ben’s charge is to build and mentor a strong design team whose work exceeds expectations and to produce breakthrough ideas for our clients. Ben is a staunch advocate of user-centered designs, collaboration across disciplines, and the marriage of strategy and user experience. Previously, he worked in Columbia College Chicago’s award-winning creative services office, in which he designed for print, web, and environments. At mStoner, Ben has presented on “Visual Design for Digital Stories” and “Photography for Art Directors” at UCDA and on “Digital Storytelling” at WebCon, hosted by University of Illinois.

jim johnson headshotJim Johnson, Director of Web Development

Jim Johnson is the glue on every technical project and the master of finding a way to properly architect and deliver technical products to our clients’ highest standards. With more than 19 years of web/software consulting and application development experience, Jim offers valuable, tested perspectives on customer relationship management (CRM) systems, web content management platforms, and multiple related technologies. Jim also has significant experience in front-end development, database development, and quality assurance. Jim is a certified Sitecore developer and he holds numerous Microsoft certifications.

shannon lanus headshotShannon Lanus, Director of Content Strategy and Services

Shannon Lanus works to make sure great content and amazing design co-exist in every mStoner project. Before joining mStoner, Shannon spent five years working in film and television development for companies such as Harpo Films and DreamWorks Animation TV. This included a stint as a creative executive for the first season of an animated kids series on Netflix. Shannon also worked with Disney as part of a small R&D group, exploring applications of metadata in TV storytelling. Shannon holds a B.A. in film, television, and theater from the University of Notre Dame and an M.F.A. from the Peter Stark Motion Picture and Television Producing Program at University of Southern California. If she looks familiar to you, it may be because she starred in commercials for Apple, PBS, Kellogg’s, Pizza Hut, and other companies as a child actor.

greg zguta headshotGreg Zguta, Director of Client Support

Greg Zguta is involved at every step of a project to ensure that all pieces fit together and function elegantly. He guides our clients in selecting the best technologies and helps our clients to integrate these tools. He has provided technical project leadership to a range of industries, including higher education, health care, financial services, and retail. Greg has presented at HighEdWeb, CASE, Omni Update’s User Conference, and other events. He earned a B.A. in English and environmental studies from Oberlin College and is Google Analytics certified. Greg is a fan of Jack Kerouac and he also enjoys snowboarding and bourbon, though not at the same time.


  • Travis Koury Marketing Manager As marketing manager, Travis Koury shares mStoner’s thought leadership and service offerings across a multitude of channels. He thoughtfully applies digital marketing best practices to ensure higher education marketing and communication professionals can easily discover and access mStoner’s helpful resources, primary research, and on-demand content.