Lisa Horn Founder & CEO
Lisa has been writing pretty much since she picked up a pencil in elementary school. She was the layout editor of her high school yearbook and was a volunteer contributor to the Plano Star Courier newspaper back in the day to build her portfolio.
A 29-year promotional products industry veteran, Lisa began her career as a distributor where she managed company stores and published editorial quality Alumni Resource Guides before spending nearly 10 years on the staff of Promotional Products Business (PPB) magazine, with seven years as editor.
In 2008, Lisa launched Content Matters as a freelance writing service for the promotional products industry. From there, the company grew into a fractional content marketing firm where Lisa served as a director of marketing for a handful of clients + editor-in-chief for two association publications outside the industry. Today, Content Matters Media serves as a creative agency for promotional products professionals by offering turnkey blogging, publicity and branding services.
She’s a proud graduate of Oklahoma State University (Go Pokes!) and holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in marketing.
Her writing has been honored seven times in the PPAI Pyramid Awards – Technology for excellence in blog content: Six times for her work on the Corporate Specialties Blog (including Gold in 2021 and 2023) and once for the Quality Certification Alliance blog (Silver in 2021).
She has also judged numerous PPAI Awards competitions throughout the years:
PPAI Pyramid – Client Programs (2008, 2010, 2022)
PPAI Pyramid – Supplier Decorating (2021)
PPAI Technology Awards (2011-2012)
PPAI Image Awards (2012)
PPAI Supplier Achievement Awards (2008-2010, 2012)
In the writing community, Lisa has judged the ASBPE Annual Azbee Awards of Excellence (2007 and 2012) as well as the AWC Clarion Awards (1999 and 2010) competitions (evaluating magazine feature article categories in both).
Prior to moving to Colorado, she was an active volunteer with the Dallas Chapter of the Association of Women in Communication, serving as programs chair (1999-2001), president (2001-2002), membership committee member (2009-2010) and communications chair (2010-2011).
Lisa was also the editor-in-chief of the all-volunteer PromoKitchen blog from 2012-2014. Independent from any other promotional products industry organization, PromoKitchen advances the industry through thought-provoking discussion on a variety of subjects. Today, she’s back in the Kitchen serving as a PK Sous Chef.
When she’s not consulting with clients or writing posts for the Content Matters Media blog, you’ll find Lisa hanging out with her husband Brian and her mom, hiking mountains in her Colorado backyard, getting back to her roots and traveling to see family in Oklahoma and Texas, listening to good ol’ rock-n-roll, reading just about anything and watching sunsets on her balcony.
Brian Horn COO
Brian came to Content Matters Media (CMM) with a background of nearly 30 years of delivering great customer service with the utmost commitment to professionalism, understanding and always holding to the highest standard of integrity.
Brian began his professional career in the wireless communications industry where he rose through the ranks to work in a regional management capacity and was entrusted with opening and establishing new retail locations. Additionally, during his tenure at Verizon Wireless, he managed the #1 sales team in Texas.
From there, he spent six years with AAA Texas as a property and casualty insurance agent, where he steadily maintained an accuracy rating of 99% or better, including 100% in 2009 and 2011. He also ranked at the top of membership sales in Texas, included holding down the #1 spot in 2009 and 2010. Most importantly, he did all this while maintaining the highest ratings in customer satisfaction.
Upon moving to Colorado, Brian went to work for a Fortune 100 financial institution, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), first as a financial services consultant before being promoted to customer resolution manager, a position he held for six years. In this capacity, he was the frontline point of contact to resolve escalated customer complaints from start to finish, including writing formal response letters in accordance with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regulations.
When his wife Lisa Horn, CMM founder and CEO, decided to expand the company, it was natural for Brian to join the team and bring his corporate experience in customer service and sales along with his complex problem-solving ability and knowledge of operations to streamline and grow the CMM business.
Along with Lisa, Brian also attended Oklahoma State University where they met and the rest, as they say, is history. When not working, Brian can be found either hiking the mountain outside his home or following his secret quest—the endless search for the world’s best breakfast spot that serves the world’s best biscuits and gravy.
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