The Gist sat down with Wendy Johnson, Executive Vice President of Account Management, in its continued quest to get inside the creative minds at Chute Gerdeman Retail. Wendy joined Chute Gerdeman as the firm's first college intern and is now one of Chute Gerdeman’s most tenured executives. She brings an encyclopedic knowledge of projects and process to every engagement. As the studio’s senior program director and administrator, Wendy manages the entire design process and provides exceptional client service at every turn.

From project inception to the successful conclusion, Wendy manages the design process with efficiency and skill, delighting such prestigious clients as Hamleys (UK), Kodak, M&M’S/Mars, Macy’s, Mattel, PETCO, Shopko, Smithsonian, and Walt Disney Imagineering. Wendy is an invaluable asset to the Chute Gerdeman team and occupies a seat on the firm’s executive committee.

What is one of your most rewarding experiences?
Seeing firsthand the anticipation on a customer’s face and their emotional response as they experience the space you have just finished implementing. It is one of the best rewards to take part in the implementation phase of our process. Not only do you get to see the space in real life, roll up your sleeves, and help get everything set for opening, but you get to see the customers line up and wait for the doors to open and see and hear their excitement. You feel proud that you were part of the collaborative team (client, consultants, vendors and our own CG team) that got the job done and were successful!

I recently traveled to Shanghai for the Barbie Flagship opening. We organized, designed, and choreographed both the Fashion Runway and Design Center activities. Almost two years have passed from our initial kick-off to the store opening, and I could not wait for the first Fashion Runway show to happen. Even though I could not understand the Chinese language, I could see the twinkle in each little girl’s eyes as she got to pick out her outfit, get her make-up and hair glam, and then walk out on the runway stage to strut her stuff. They were all so cute and even more adorable when they thought they made a mistake.

At the Barbie Shanghai opening, what was your favorite part of the evening?
The whole evening was really exciting to be a part of with all of the celebrities and VIP events that were occurring. There was even a fight that broke out between the paparazzi as they each tried to get the best camera position. But I would say the best was getting to see Jet Li on stage accepting his ONE Foundation Project as the Barbie Shanghai chosen charity. Not only did I get to see a real international movie star in person but also that his ONE Foundation does great work for China as well as making us all ONE global family.

We heard there are at least four Barbie-themed cocktails (as mentioned on NPR), what was your favorite Barbietini?
Well, of course, I had to try at least one! I tried both the Barbietini and Glamourpolitan. I preferred the Barbietini, it was like a pina colada with a splash of pink. Later in the evening I saw the Malibu Barbie, which was yellow in color, not pink, but by then the jet lag had caught up to me so I thought it best to stop at tasting just the two.

What’s on your desk?
Unfortunately, a lot of paperwork! I use a bin/pile system. I used to have everything neatly punched and placed in a 3-ring binder but am trying to be more green and aspire to go paperless one day. One of my clients is paperless, and I am green with envy!

I also always have a candy bowl (usually of M&M’s) since you cannot talk about chocolate all day and not have some to nibble on.

To what do you attribute CG’s success?
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, we have great people on all sides of a project. Starting with strategy straight through to implementation, we’re not only creative, we’re business-minded. It’s quite a feat, in this industry, to remain privately held for 20 years. Our clients know us and what we stand for as a company.