Martha Bartlett Piland
President + CEO

She was responsible for guiding marketing strategy and planning for many of the firm’s major clients.

In 1997, she joined Heartland Health as Marketing Director where she built the fledgling insurance company’s marketing department from the ground up. She developed marketing plans, supervised two advertising agencies, and directed communications and PR.

In 1998, MB Piland Advertising & Marketing was born. Martha started the company with a unique new philosophy—Fat Free Advertising™. Her goal was to provide small and medium sized clients with “big agency” strategic planning and creative experience. Her unconventional strategic planning means creative thinking is applied to client problems.

Creating word-of-mouth “buzz” and alternative PR approaches are just a few ways she helps clients be more effective and more visible in an overcrowded marketplace. Her experience working both with clients and as a client brings added value to the clients she serves.

Martha is a graduate of Leadership Topeka, Leadership Kansas and Leadership America. She was chosen as IABC’s EXCEL honoree in 2008 and the 2010 Woman of Excellence by the Career Chapter of American Business Women's Association. She is also a highly-sought speaker, conducting seminars and motivational talks as nearby as Topeka—and also throughout the US and Canada.

Under her leadership, the firm has won numerous awards, including Topeka Chamber Small Business of the Year, State of Kansas Woman-Owned Service Business of the Year, and hundreds of local, regional and national awards for its creative work.

Alex Reilly
Vice President + Agency Principal

Energy, enthusiasm and leadership are Alex’s strengths. With more than 15 years of agency experience under her belt, she is a seasoned professional whose mantra is to provide clients with excellent service and business solutions.

Alex is a graduate of the University of Kansas with a B.A. in French. (Bonjour!) After two years with an association management and lobbying firm, Alex joined one of the state’s largest advertising and marketing firms where she learned about nearly every aspect of the agency business. Beginning as the traffic manager, she worked her way from the creative department to the account service department, where she advanced to the position of Account Supervisor. She cut her teeth on such clients as Hill’s Pet Nutrition, working in both the U.S. and international divisions, Payless ShoeSource, Parade of Shoes, Security Benefit Group of Companies, Capitol Federal Savings, Kansas Innovations and TRI-KES.

Alex became part of the MB Piland team in 2005, putting her skills to work for a new set of clients. Her experience includes developing and implementing marketing plans, leading research projects—both primary and secondary, brand image re-launches, business development and training programs, corporate magazines and newsletters, point-of-purchase materials and web sites with database driven content and Flash animation.

Alex is deeply involved in making the world a better place. She’s contributed numerous volunteer hours to United Way, Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy and the Auburn-Washburn School Foundation. She was a YWCA Women of Excellence Honoree in 2009.

Clients appreciate Alex’s attention to detail and keen watch on costs while guiding creative that is strategically sound.

Kat Leslie
Account Coordinator

As the new kid on the MB Piland team in both age and experience, Kat has hit the ground running on how this whole “advertising thing” works. While finishing her Journalism and Art degrees at the University of Kansas, she began interning with this very groovy group in March 2011.

During that time, she thankfully managed to impress the boss (read: Martha) enough that the day following her walk through the Campanile and down the Hill, she started full-time as MB Piland’s Account Coordinator. Although she graduated with both Honors and Distinction from KU, it wasn’t just her grades that earned her a spot on the MB Piland team. During her studies, she served as Research Director and one of the strategists for the capstone course that planned a year-long campaign for a nationwide restaurant chain. Kat has made a smooth transition from juggling the demands of two majors and extracurricular activities to juggling multiple deadlines and client support activities. She makes sure that clients and team members are smiling!

But it isn’t all advertising all the time: in her spare moments, Kat remains an avid artist in both sculpture and painting. Most recently, she sold a towering eight-foot, twisted steel creation to KU, which she lovingly calls “Burn Baby Burn.” It is currently displayed in Nunemaker Center, which houses the Honors Program.