Mary Fisher, one of my most favorite people in the advertising industry, is announcing her retirement as of April 1. With over 45 years in the business, Mary has worked for many of the top companies in Jacksonville and enjoyed working on a variety of fun and unusual projects. She just completed the sale of her company, the Fisher Agency, to her partner Erin Gordon. When I first met Mary, she was working for Lee Printing in 1979. She went on to head up design for several magazines, including Jacksonville Monthly and Jacksonville Magazine. She then founded her own agency, Mary Fisher Design (now Fisher Agency), for about 35 successful years. In addition to being very well liked by her advertising peers and competitors, she is also respected in the community, speaking before groups such as entrepreneurs at the University of North Florida and the Women’s Business Owners. In her appearances before these groups, she offered insights to starting and running a company with her most important messages being “always have an exit strategy when you start a business” and “be as prepared as possible for emergencies or unseen events.” While Mary will continue mentoring individuals and nonprofits, she is still on call to help Erin and the agency with any clients’ needs. Mary is pictured in this “Lunch with Les” photo at the Athenian Owl restaurant.
