ISA Elite Class of 2025 – Ashley Tillapaugh
At CIS, we carry a deep belief that one of our most valuable resources for success is in our exceptional team and their uncompromising work ethic, dedication, and pursuit of innovation. With that being said, we are thrilled to share that Ashley Tillapaugh, our Graphic Designer & Marketing Strategist, has been selected within the ISA Elite Class of 2025.
This honour recognizes emerging professionals in the signage industry, providing them with the opportunity to expand their network and deepen their industry knowledge through in-person meetings at the ISA Expo in the spring, and again at the ISA headquarters in the fall.
Ashley is one of three dedicated sign professionals from Canada to be included in this year’s class, and we couldn’t be more proud. Congratulations to Ashley on this well deserved achievement!
More About Ashley
Ashley is a senior graphic designer with a passion for all things marketing and signage. She graduated with her diploma in Design & Motion Graphics in 2008, and has been actively working in the signage industry ever since. Ashley has experience leading a team of designers and managing the operations of a sign shop, paired with working directly with clients to bring their vision to fruition. She prides herself in being able to provide quality work within a reasonable time-frame while approaching projects as a solutions provider.
Ashley has been a member of the City Image Signs team since February of 2020 through which time she has been an instrumental member in the growth and success of the organization. Ashley’s primary responsibilities started in the capacity of a Designer for the conceptual and shop design for our permanent and illuminated signage business. As design and sales are intimately intertwined in the signage industry, Ashley’s above and beyond consultative and inquisitive approach with the sales team to every customer’s needs, every project requirement, and every design detail has helped in pushing the growth of the company significantly. These strong designs helped propel the growth of the business with new customers and a much broader national geographic reach than the company had ever experienced prior.
With this rapid growth, and in the time of COVID, we needed project coordinators to step in to assist. Ashley stepped up in embracing the opportunity to both be a Designer and a Project Coordinator on projects on a national level. Not only did Ashley learn the ropes of effective project coordination ‘on the fly’, she absolutely excelled at it to a point where the company was able to plan new efficiencies strategies around this position. Corporate revenues have grown consistently since this shift, and Ashley’s willingness to embrace and excel in project coordination duties in unprecedented times, allowed the company to hire a designated Project Coordination division who were trained under Ashley’s guidance.
Ashley’s commitment to the company and the signage industry as a whole doesn’t stop there. Our relatively young business was very engaged in the safety, policies, and procedures of selling, building, and installing signs. In this pursuit, the marketing side of the company was nearly nonexistent. Recognizing this, and without being asked, Ashley proposed taking this on under her umbrella of responsibility. Since that time, Ashley has pursued further education in this realm, developed a well thought out web and social media strategy, and in recognition of the power of ‘social proof’, she began exposing the creative products the company has built to the rest of the industry. She did this first by coordinating professional photographers to capture our completed signage projects across the country. She then used those photos for the aforementioned marketing initiative, but also to submit for signage awards. Over the past five years, Ashley has led the charge in coordinating and executing on submissions for the Sign Association of Canada’s – Best of Canada’s Sign Industry Awards, which has resulted in City Image Signs being the successful recipient of (4) Awards in the last (5) years and (1) Best in Show award for Signs of the Times Magazine’s International signage competition. Most recently, she submitted one of our sign projects to a supplier contest put on by Grimco Canada called “Get the Gold” where CIS was awarded with first place for electrical application utilizing Grimco products on projects within Canada. None of this would have been possible without Ashley’s conviction to take a nearly non-existent marketing department and create something very special and beneficial to the company from it.
In addition to Ashley’s day-to-day operational workload, she has also been a key driver in City Image Signs’ Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives which range from identifying and partnering on charitable events, creating graphic content for community and charitable initiatives, as well as envisioning and executing on CIS’ Annual Christmas Initiatives, which over the past (5) years have resulted in donations of over $10,000 distributed through various charitable organizations across the community.
In addition to all of the above regarding Ashley’s incredible value that she’s brought to the company, the industry, and the community, she has done all of this while balancing raising a family with (3) young children at home. This work life balance, paired with all of the exceptional above and beyond initiatives in which Ashley has been an instrumental driver in, has undoubtedly placed her as one of the industry’s truly elite!
Shown below is Ashley Tillapaugh (Designer) with a face-lit channel letter for the Calgary Famers’ Market at the CIS headquarters in Edmonton, AB.
