New chief marketing officer joins Wipfli

Wipfli announced today it has named Tonya St. Clair as the firm’s chief marketing officer.

Tonya joins Wipfli after a stellar 12-year run with Grant Thornton, where she was the No. 2 marketing executive for the past three years. Leading the 70-plus-person Go to Market team of U.S.-based and global marketers, she oversaw strategic account marketing, regional growth marketing and the Pursuit Center of Excellence, strategically overhauling proposal and buyer journey operations.

Tonya succeeds Paul Leroue, who is transitioning to a strategic growth role with the firm after two and a half critical years where he oversaw the building out of Wipfli’s marketing department and brand strategy, helping the firm achieve a new level of sophistication and excellence in engagement with clients, prospects and associates. 

“I am a builder. I love working with people, processes and technology, and bringing it all together to do big things,” Tonya said. “This is an opportunity to continue to elevate and build on the great work Paul’s already done. I look forward to helping Wipfli optimize the technology we’ve invested in to bring in and follow through on leads. When I figure out how to do something, I enjoy getting it done and having fun along the way.”

Tonya’s extensive B2B marketing experience includes a broad range of successes in team leadership, pursuit strategy, sales enablement, field marketing, account marketing, demand and lead generation, project management, process design, and technology implementation. She also brings a sharp focus on enhancing performance through data analysis.

“I couldn’t imagine a better cultural fit than Tonya,” said Brian Blaha, Wipfli’s growth partner. “She invests as much in people as she does in results, building her team’s strength and engagement. Our clients rely on us to bring them perspective, clarity and results. Tonya will play a significant role in helping deliver on that promise and reach more organizations that Wipfli can make a lasting impact with. We couldn’t be more excited to have Tonya at Wipfli.”

Prior to her time at Grant Thornton, Tonya was a vice president at the global insurance broker Marsh, a subsidiary of Marsh & McClennan, where she led a team of pursuit project managers and designers supporting proposals across 19 offices in the central region of the U.S.

She graduated magna cum laude with honors from Clemson University, with a major in marketing and a minor in communications.

Tonya lives in Raleigh, N.C., with her husband, Patrick Christensen, and their two children. 

You can connect with Tonya on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyastclair/