MICHAEL KARFAKIS
From his earliest days, Mike knew he'd own his own business. The entrepreneurial streak runs in his family. Watching his father grow a business, he knew that he had inherited the family gene. Before he could go out on his own, though, Mike understood that he needed to gain experience.
He got his start with the nation's premier credit card company, MBNA. A consistent top performer, Mike parlayed his success into an operations management position with a design and marketing firm called Impreza Design. Later acquired by one of the Baltimore region's leading marketing / design / technology companies, G1440, Mike transitioned through as new media operations manager. There, while managing creative teams for Fortune 500 companies, he noticed again and again how his clients' brands, often in the hands of various and not always cooperative vendors, lacked consistency across printed and digital media. Right then, he knew there was a better way. Soon after, the idea for Vitamin - the Cure for the Common Brand ® - was hatched.
"I saw a need for a company that handles both printed and interactive design cohesively and with as much respect to process as possible. More importantly, with as much respect to the client's success." Today, Vitamin has helped countless companies throughout an array of vertical markets. Vitamin's ability to create cohesive brands across media has resulted in numerous success stories and noteworthy growth for its clients.
As CEO, Mike's entrepreneurial background serves him well. With every new client, he brings a sense of ownership to the job. "We care about the client's company as if it were our own," he says. That means taking the time to learn a client's sales cycle, their revenue streams, and most importantly, their long-term goals.
"I started up Vitamin," he says, "because I am a people person. I care deeply about my clients' success, and I want to execute work that blows them away. At the end of the day, I want everybody to succeed -- our clients, our employees, and our company."