Our Team
Together, we bring brands to life.. with precision, creativity, and meaning.
The team that makes it happen.
Arete Matters is powered by a multidisciplinary team of creatives, strategists, and operators who live and breathe relevance. Many of us have been building together since the early 2010s, a rare kind of trust, rhythm, and shared standard that shows in everything we do.
We don’t follow trends, we anticipate what matters. Every member of our team brings depth, clarity, and bold thinking to the table, crafting ideas that build brand awareness, deepen loyalty, and drive results.
Joan Zurilla
Co-founder, General Director, Vision Lead
Joan leads The AM Agency with a strategist’s mind and a builder’s discipline. Trained in engineering and business, she built her early career at PepsiCo and UPS across market intelligence and revenue management, delivering systems that outlasted her tenure. She later launched her own agency, leading campaigns for HBO, BP, and Mercedes-Benz. Joan also founded Miami’s first proactive longevity center, now @CentnerGables, and continues to lead its evolution after a successful rebrand and strategic partnership. Today, she runs two thriving ventures rooted in what she lives: tangible wellness and strategic marketing with soul. Joan also works privately with a select group of visionaries, helping them root their personal brands in their core gifts and align their work with a deeper sense of purpose. Her approach blends clarity, strategy, and consciousness, guiding those who are here to build what truly matters.
Oliver Verde
Co-founder, CTO & COO
Oliver Verde is the systems engine behind Arete Matters and Centner Gables, co-building both ventures alongside Joan as the perfect doupla: she leads the vision, he makes operations sustainable, and together they bring it all to life. With over two decades in high-tech marketing and strategic account leadership at Cigna, Office Depot, and Citibank, Oliver brings deep operational expertise, digital fluency, and a calm, grounded leadership style. He’s a lead-gen strategist, booking platform architect, CRM optimizer, and backend builder, fluent in Meta’s marketing stack and a master of turning complexity into clean, scalable systems. Beyond his executive role, Oliver consults with a select group of conscious entrepreneurs, helping them structure their digital ecosystems, from scheduling flows to client journey automation, so that inspired ideas can become organized, efficient, and ready to grow. What he builds, works, and lasts.
Alejandro Pop
Co-founder, Art Director
Alejandro Pop is the visual heartbeat of Arete Matters. For over a decade, he’s collaborated with Joan and Oliver to shape campaigns for HBO, Cinemax, PepsiCo, and numerous world-renowned brands. As Art Director, he leads all things visual, from graphic systems to motion design, transforming layered concepts into clear, compelling narratives. Alejandro’s genius lies in his ability to translate strategy into art: current, intentional, and emotionally resonant. His creative direction blends sharp instincts with quiet rebellion, never generic, always meaningful. He doesn’t just make things look good, he makes them feel right.
Daniel Hygge
Co-founder, Organic Marketing Lead
Daniel Hygge has been part of the Arete journey for over 15 years, blending strategy with soul across content, branding, and storytelling. With a background in marketing and AV and a natural gift for narrative, he’s supported world-renowned artists on tour and documented large-scale events, turning week-long conventions into impactful stories that live on. At Arete Matters, he leads organic marketing: social strategy, brand voice, community flows, and content that resonates deeply. Daniel ensures every message lands with clarity and meaning, always aligned with the brand’s true pulse.
Gnathalie Nieto Velásquez
Co-founder, Creative Director & Project Manager
For over five years, Gnat has been the dual force of clarity and creativity at Arete Matters. A master of project flow, no detail escapes her watch, keeping timelines tight, teams aligned, and innovative ideas moving. But her real magic lies in creative writing and brand architecture: she gives brands a unique, well-rounded voice and concept, rich with purpose and soul. With a natural feel for culture and narrative, she ensures every campaign sounds as good as it looks. She holds a Master’s in Digital Marketing, Communication, and Social Media from Universidad Camilo José Cela in Madrid and graduated cum laude in Social Communication and Journalism from Universidad Monteávila in Caracas. With more than 10 years of experience leading brandings, rebrandings, and creative projects across LATAM and the US, Gnat specializes in building brand ecosystems that integrate identity, culture, and storytelling with long-term strategy.
Julia Zurilla Plaza
Co-founder & Head of South America Strategic Development
Part of the agency since day one, Julia helped lay the creative and strategic foundations of Arete Matters. She’s worn many hats, from PR to social media to client development, always with heart and bold ideas. Today, she leads visual décor and scenography for our large-scale productions, designing environments that are immersive, emotionally aligned, and on-brand down to the last detail. With deep roots in South America, Julia also cultivates partnerships and opportunities across the region, expanding our reach with elegance and intention.
Ray Fernandez
Head of North America Strategic Development
Ray filters high-level opportunities and strategic partnerships with precision and heart. A trusted mentor to Joan and a long-standing ally to Arete Matters, he brings over 20 years of insight in experiential marketing, real estate, and business development. Ray blends sharp market instincts with deep empathy, helping both startups and established brands grow with clarity and alignment. He’s the agency’s compass in North America, identifying real needs, verifying partners and funding, and opening the right doors at the right time. With a people-first mindset, Ray is a natural connector who expands our impact and grounds our growth in purpose.
Julia Zurilla Jimenez
Scenography Director
Julia brings a rare blend of artistic depth and spatial intelligence to Arete Matters. A multidisciplinary artist with an international career spanning over two decades, she transforms physical spaces into immersive brand experiences. With a background in video, photography, and installation art, and exhibitions across museums, biennials, and cultural institutions worldwide, Julia approaches scenography as visual storytelling. She’s shaped the look and feel of our most iconic events, infusing each with poetry, precision, and emotional resonance. Her work doesn’t just decorate spaces, it makes people feel something real, aligned, and unforgettable.
Rafael Núñez
Film Director
With 30 years of experience across film, television, and documentary, Rafael leads visual production at Arete Matters with a rare balance of artistry and precision. He coordinates our entire capture crew, from drone pilots to photographers, ensuring every campaign, event, and brand moment is documented with beauty and clarity. A cinematographer by trade and a storyteller at heart, Rafael has filmed in the Sonoran Desert, the glaciers of Antarctica, and cities across Latin America. He’s a lifelong innovator who’s moved from 35mm to digital cinema with ease, always adapting, always teaching. His superpower? Turning light, movement, and message into emotion, delivering content that’s not just well-shot, but unforgettable.
JR Burgess
Chief Integration Architect
JR bridges big vision with grounded execution. A strategist with deep expertise in business development, partnerships, and scalable systems, he helps Arete clients turn bold ideas into sustainable growth. JR leads with a dual lens: analytical precision and creative problem-solving. Whether launching experiential campaigns or structuring new revenue models, he ensures every move aligns with purpose, and pays off. His specialty is momentum: helping brands expand with integrity, speed, and systems that last. At Arete Matters, he’s the architect behind the build, integrating strategy, people, and process into results that matter.