Founded in Fort Worth in 1981 by Ruth Ann Kearley, Kearley & Company has spent decades building marketing and branding programs for credit unions, healthcare organizations, and a mix of b-to-b and b-to-c clients. Ruth Ann Kearley retired in 2009, and Elisa Rode purchased the firm, continuing its focus on financial institutions alongside broader commercial work.
The agency's services span advertising and branding, branch environments, content creation, digital marketing, public relations, research, marketing consulting, and web development. That combination lets the firm handle a credit union's physical branch design alongside its digital presence, campaign creative, and public relations outreach, rather than treating those as separate engagements. Research and marketing consulting sit alongside the creative work, giving clients a way to ground branding and campaign decisions in findings specific to their institution or market.
Leadership includes Elisa Rode as CEO, Daniel Buenger as President, and Meredith Cody as Art Director, a small team structure that reflects the firm's long history as a Fort Worth-based shop rather than a large network agency. The office at 328 Hemphill St. anchors work that ranges from branch environment design for credit unions to broader brand strategy and web development projects for healthcare and commercial clients. The firm's specialization in credit unions specifically, rather than financial services generally, shapes much of its branch environment and branding work, while its healthcare and b-to-b/b-to-c client base rounds out the rest of its project mix.