Niel Robertson [+]
Founder and CEO : : Niel Robertson came to Colorado from Boston in 1998 to find out more about “this state he was always flying over”. To his surprise, he liked it and started building companies. Along the way he built two software companies, opened (and closed) a couple of restaurants, and learned how to love Fleece and Flip Flops. He spends at least 10% of his time going to Spruce Confections for yet another large no-room Americano.
Warren Kay[+]
Chief Revenue Officer : : Warren Kay comes to Trada from iPromote, a local advertising platform provider, where he served as CEO. Prior to that, he spent 6 years at Yahoo! where he held leadership positions in the Strategic Alliances and Emerging Products Groups. While at Yahoo!, Warren developed and launched the reseller channel, growing it to $200 million annually, and launched the first Yahoo! mobile search ad campaigns. In addition, Kay was responsible for monetization of Yahoo!’s local and small- and medium-business (SMB) markets.
Matt Harada[+]
Vice President, Finance : : Matt manages all of Trada’s micro-departments, including accounting, human resources, facilities, and business intelligence. In addition, he is responsible for evaluating the financial impact of product and business process changes. He believes that there is no problem that an excel spreadsheet can’t help solve and enjoys performing live spreadsheet development for his adoring fans. Matt joined Trada from ServiceMagic, now Homeadvisor, where he built and led the financial planning and analysis department. Matt enjoys spending time with his wife and four kids who are all his favorite.
Trey Hicks[+]
Vice President, Engineering : : Trey oversees all product development engineering at Trada. He has held many technology leadership positions throughout his fifteen plus year career. He comes to Trada with a wide range of experience in everything from graphics engines to user interfaces to highly performant server architectures pulling the best ideas from many diverse technology stacks.
Anna F. Sawyer[+]
Marketing Manager : : Anna is the original Trada social cruise director and absurd web video auteur. She enjoys snacks, and she rides her bicycle in a dress and heels every day. For a long time she was staunchly opposed to the Oxford comma, but now, every once in a while, under cover of darkness, Anna and the Oxford comma have a secret tryst. She’s passionate about grammar and she is the one responsible for all those scarf videos on the Trada website. What else? Exploring her passion and talent for spoken-word dubstep (patent pending) and founding/writing a viral humor blog (yes, really).
Eric S. Serota[+]
Inside Sales Representative : : Eric was born in Albuquerque but was transplanted to the southeastern suburbs of Denver when he was 3 years old. Eric grew up enjoying the finer things in life, recess, lunch and nap time. Growing up he never considered being anything other than a professional baseball player, however as he approached graduating from a small private high school he realized that his chances at the bigs were slim at best. He decided to pursue a Communications major at the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to working at Trada, Eric helped a number of organizations increase new business through his ability in sales, but has never been more excited to be a part of something as special as what is going on here at Trada. In his free time Eric enjoys playing a lot of softball, he skis in the winter, and loves to SCUBA dive whenever he is able to travel to an exotic destination like the Galapagos, Truuk lagoon, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Collin Williams[+]
Inside Sales Representative : : Colin grew up on the sugar white sand beaches of LA(lower Alabama), the Redneck Riviera. After a number of years in Florida fighting spam at AppRiver, he and his wife decided to head to the foothills of the Rockies. He and his family love spending time in the mountains and taking advantage of all the Colorado outdoor activities.
Jesse Hudson[+]
Business Development Representative : : Jesse uses his anthropology degree to investigate indigenous web peoples, compiling an ethnography of Trada’s ICP through extended digital fieldwork stays. He absolutely loves Trada. For fun (outside of Trada) he climbs, mountain-bikes, and dons a headdress and a loincloth and a head-dress to study shamans in the Upper Amazon, as is to be expected as typical behavior from a Viginia gentleman born and raised in Hong Kong under British rule.
Justin Arnosky[+]
Business Development Representative : : Justin went to the University of Michigan and earned a BS in Movement Science, then went to Clemson University in Upstate South Carolina, where he earned a Master’s and consumed staggering amounts of sweet tea and BBQ. Throughout college, he was on the college triathlon teams, and has completed nearly 50 triathlons including 5 Ironman, most recently the World Championship in Hawaii this October. He decided that the best way to use his Master’s in Bioengineering was to work for a web startup in Boulder. Because…why not? So now he’s here, swimming with Boulder Aquatic Masters (BAM) and biking and running up mountains as much as possible. He is a member of the QT2 Age Group Elite team, and trying to get faster every day. Catch phrase: Awesome Sauce.
Chris Crawfurd[+]
Director, Training : : Chris has spent his career in digital advertising and joins Trada from the Dex One Sales Academy.
Jaci Kurnz[+]
Business Development Representative : : Jaci hails from the wild metropolis of Philadelphia. Following in the steps of her freedom fighting forefathers she decided to blaze a trail into the unknown. After living in Prague for almost a year Jaci returned to the East Coast only to feel the traveling itch once again and so she departed for Boulder, Colorado to join the Trada Team. Jaci can be found hiking, biking, and yoga-ing. end of story. perfect.
Joe Hoverstock[+]
Business Development Representative : : I’m a born and raised in Boulderadan. I spent the last two years in Singapore working for Crocs as a Product Line Sales Manager. I loved the experience and got to travel all over the region. My wife is named Sara and we have 2 boys: Artie and Quinton. The boys are training to be Thai fighters (sort of). I love to play music and snowboard and play golf and love being outside.
Lucas Fisher[+]
Business Development Representative : : Luke graduated from CU-Boulder and commissioned in the National Guard in 2012. He enjoys long walks in the mountains and walking away from explosions without looking at them. At Trada, Luke wants to create so many good appointments for the ISRs that they can all buy new Land Rovers.
Jamie Krey[+]
Business Development Representative : : Jamie is a Colorado native who landed at Trada after four years in the CU Journalism School. In his free time, he enjoys exploring the great outdoors with his black lab pup, trying to find a way to see the world, and looking for life’s next great adventure.
Griffin Sandberg[+]
Business Development Representative : : Griffin is a native Connecticutian. He spent his college years down in beautiful Charleston, SC and made Buenos Aires, Argentina his home after graduation. After copious amounts of steak, malbec and failed attempts at tango, it was time to head back to the hemisphere that was home and he’s glad he landed in such an awesome spot once again. He gives thanks to Jack Handey for daily inspiration.
Matt Loftin[+]
Business Development Representative : : After years of flying airplanes, being a snowboard bum, trying to be a full time musician in a rock band, owning and operating a core skate and snowboard shop, starting a in home care service for nice folks with alzheimer’s, having twin baby girls, and being a general enthusiast for good living in boulder Colorado Matt has found himself at Trada ready to help you make your PPC dreams a reality!
Ryan Douglas[+]
Inside Sales Representative : : Ryan spent a bit over a decade living in Missoula, Montana and in late 2012 decided to leave the mountains to venture back to the big city of Portland, Oregon, presumably for greener pastures. After the second straight week of rain, Ryan realized how those Oregon pastures stay so green and sought out the sunnier, drier climate of Boulder, Colorado. When Ryan isn’t at Trada, he can be found hiking and fishing with his two dogs/coworkers, Ringo and Lucky.
Maggie Miller[+]
Business Development Representative : : Maggie is a CU graduate that studied Spanish and Portuguese. After an addiction to traveling the world she fled the east coast in 2008 to live in the land of sunshine, snow, and good music. She spends most of her time hiking, practicing yoga, and hanging with her beloved dogs and homegirls, Marilyn and Georgia. On the weekends you can find her rescuing dogs at Farfel’s Farm and walking in the sun.
Paul Monninger[+]
Inside Sales Representative : : Paul is a graduate of Champlain College in Burlington, VT. After school he moved to the Big Apple and began working for a leader in the action sports industry, Quiksilver, and was soon transferred to South Beach Miami. With a degree in Advertising he quickly moved into a role at an interactive ad agency as a Senior Account Executive and Account
Coordinator. With years of experience in the agency world, Paul needed a chance of pace, and even more so a change of environment. With his passion for the great outdoors and action sports what better place than the Rocky Mountains. This is where he found Trada and prospers to this day.
Coordinator. With years of experience in the agency world, Paul needed a chance of pace, and even more so a change of environment. With his passion for the great outdoors and action sports what better place than the Rocky Mountains. This is where he found Trada and prospers to this day.
Peter Gent[+]
Manager Pricing and Ad Management : : Peter is one of the veteran Trada employee’s. Having starting in the winter of 2011, his second day working sales resulted in him making phone calls having no clue what we actually did. He came from working for a fortune 50 company, where the policy and procedure were strangling him. He instantly fell in love with the startup life. After working in sales for a year at Trada, he made the move to his current role, where he works intimately with the sales and account management teams. Looking to take the trophy in the Trada Olympics, physical fitness is his main form of relaxation. Running, yoga, rock climbing, and snowboarding are how he spends his mornings, lunches, nights and weekends! When not in the office, gym, or mountains you can find him out on the road riding his murdered out Harley Davidson.
Patrick Konczewski[+]
Senior Business Development Representative : : Patrick first started cracking jokes back in Westchester, NY where he grew up a train ride away from New York City, rooting for the best professional sports teams on the planet. Although you Can’t Knock The Hustle, he ultimately realized his passion for adventure and love of the outdoors would guide him west beyond the skyscrapers of Gotham, to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder. When he’s not giving skateboard and scooter lessons around the office at Trada, he enjoys seeing a bunch of live music, playing soccer and golf, hiking Colorado’s 14′ers, camping as often as possible, and daydreaming about being a Nantucket Whalman sailing the open seas on the Pequod, in hot pursuit of The Whale.
Jennifer Singer[+]
Inside Sales Representative : : Jennifer was born in the Great State of Texas and raised a proud Fightin’ Texas Aggie, but found home in Colorado in 2004 because of her love of hiking, snowboarding and camping. After spending almost a decade in traditional media sales and sales management, she finally tired of the “spray and pray” version of advertising. Just seemed like a no brainer to join a company who aligns their business goals with that of their clients. Who is super happy delivering MEASUREABLE, BOTTOM LINE DRIVING results to her Trada customers? THIS GIRL!
Mike Howard[+]
Inside Sales Representative : : I’m from Grand Rapids, MI, and I lived in Boston for about 6 years. Before Trada, I sold display advertising for Adtegrity and PPC for Yodle. I’m really looking forward to living in Boulder and being able to take advantage of all of the outdoor activities that are available in the area. Trada presents an awesome opportunity for me to use my sales ability to make a difference at a fast-growing startup full of really smart, ethical, fun people.
Dan Fogarty[+]
Business Development Representative : : Prior to Trada, I worked in the consumer packaged goods industry with PepsiCo and Heartland. I am originally from Brooklyn, NY. In my spare time I enjoy hiking, snowboarding, and playing with my dog Mr. Bentley. Trada is an exciting place to work because we are on the most cutting edge of the future of marketing.
Jordan Benjamin[+]
Inside Sales Representative : : Jordan is a recent graduate of the University of Redlands in Southern California where he studied Business Admin & Management. Although he loved Cali, he is a Colorado native and couldn’t stay away from the incredible atmosphere of Boulder. All of the startups and friendly mentors around helped him lay a solid foundation to hit the ground running getting into the business world. When the position at Trada opened up he was in the door the next day. When not working he can probably be found playing/watching sports, hiking, taking photographs, playing with puppies, snowboarding, doing yoga or trying something new. Some day, he will start a company that help makes the world a better place.
Allison Burke[+]
Business Development Representative : : Allison came to Colorado from the exciting state of Iowa. She decided to leave the captivating farmland for the semi-interesting mountainous Colorado. After working at the largest manufacturer of mozzarella cheese in the world for three years, Allison decided that her heart just wasn’t in the cheese business anymore and wanted to pursue an opportunity with the greatest place in the world to work, Trada. Allison can be found galivanting around Denver with her Saint Bernard, Miss Lady Humphrey. Things Allison couldn’t live without; her family, soup, friends, soy lattes, adventures and road trips.
David Lyon[+]
Senior Director, Sales : : David is a native Austinite who moved from Texas to participate in the unadulterated fun that Trada was having disrupting an industry. His only regret is trading in the cowboy boots for an ill fitting pair of climbing shoes. When asked where he sees himself five years from now Lyon says that he hopes to be free of the debt incurred as he purchased excessive amounts of outdoor gear, half of which he hasn’t used and the other half of which he’s not sure how to use. Before joining Trada he served as Yodle’s national account manager. Prior to Yodle, Lyon held various sales and service leadership positions at ProfitFuel, Inc. where he helped build the nation’s largest local SEO company serving thousands of SMBs, according to him.
Ross Haskell[+]
Marketing Analyst : : Ross joined the Trada team at the beginning of 2013 after spending 3 years at DISH Network doing accounting and marketing analytics. He is originally from Indianapolis, Indiana and graduated from Purdue University in 2009. Outside of crunching numbers googling SQL commands, Ross enjoys skiing, playing basketball and volleyball, and meeting new people.
Mac Strong[+]
Business Development Representative : : Mac Strong is a Florida-born Business Development Driver with a burning passion for commerce, technology and entrepreneurship. Mr. Strong’s career began in Technology Private Equity in 2006 and spent over 7 years sourcing investments, driving sales and defining strategy until joining Trada in the Spring of 2013. When not dialing his way around the world in the dynamic, hard-charging and innovative environment at Trada, Mr. Strong enjoys an adventurous life with his wife and two dogs in Boulder, CO.
Ryley Giard[+]
Sales Lead Research Analyst : : Raised on a dairy farm in rural Vermont, Ryley fled his home town to experience what all the people were talking about when they mentioned “shredding the gnar”. An avid boarder with an over appreciation for the cold means that you can find Ryley in the mountains whenever he gets the chance. His weird obsession with organization and data perfection has led him to the role of Sales Lead Analyst at Trada where he intends to clean house.
Nami Bhasin[+]
Business Development Representative : : If Liz Lemon and Henderson the Rain King had a baby, it would be Nami.
Chris Burton[+]
Director, Production Operations : : Chris currently oversees the operations group at Trada. As part of the original founding team, he helped to develop the marketplace, focusing mainly on infrastructure and backend services. Originally from NJ, he received his MS/CS from the University of Colorado at Boulder and decided never to leave Colorado. When away from work, he enjoys backpacking in the Rockies and doing Tai Chi.
Crystal Mitchell[+]
Desktop Support Administrator : : Hailing from the Bronx via a small village in the West of Ireland Crystal has used her Bachelor of Engineering in various technical support jobs around the world. These include programming, network administration and IT support and general all round troubleshooter and problem solver. Her travels have taken her to tiny villages, tropical islands and metropolitan cities. In her free time she enjoys taking her dog Nala for walks in the park and snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains. She loves working for the company because of the fast paced, innovative creative buzz around the office also because Nala joins her at work daily.
Jake Burns[+]
IT Manager : : Raised by wolves in Sawpit, Colorado. If found outside the office, please feed and return him to A-Basin.
Ivo L Karadjov[+]
Product Manager : : Ivo stumbled on Colorado in 1998 on his way from Bulgaria to California. After a few seasons of ski bumming Ivo decided to join the corporate workforce in 2000. Since then Ivo has held numerous positions in Boulder based software development shops, from Sales Engineer to Director of Professional Services to Director of Product Management and now a lucky guy working for Trada since May, 2010 as a Product Manager. Ivo is skier since almost birth and loves Colorado immensely. First track on the mountain makes him extremely giddy.
Antonio Reyes[+]
Senior UI/UX Developer : : Hailing from Evergreen, Antonio is one of the few lucky Colorado natives. He only made it slightly down the hill to attend the Colorado School of Mines graduating with a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science. Writing code is a passion rivaled only by his passion for skiing. He was that kid in the backpack, skiing before he could walk; eventually joining the ski race team and then the ski patrol. Whenever he’s not playing outdoors you’ll find him cranking out, what can only be described as, sexy code; creating the interface that affords you the ease of accessing the mountain of data and magical algorithms.
Brendan Benson[+]
Senior Software Engineer : : When Brendan’s not splitting aspens on his mountain bike or shredding pow with the rich and beautiful people at the I-70 ski resorts, he enjoys forcing computers to do work on his behalf. This love for adventure and technology originally coaxed him to abandon his cloudy home state of Michigan and move to the sunny city of Boulder where he blends in with the cadre of washed-up cyclists and adventurers. At Trada, Brendan abides by a #yolo philosophy, always figuring out ways to #makeitrain through a generous use of technology and #swag.
Dan Dummer[+]
DBA : : Dan is well traveled, and has lived in Minnesota > Montana > California > New Zealand > Washington > Minnesota > New Mexico and now Colorado, and hopes he never has to move again. When not tuning Trada’s databases, Dan can be found at home with his family, or working in his gardens.
Michael Lavrisha[+]
Senior Software Engineer : : Michael is a software engineer by day. By night, however, he enjoys playing his banjo, reading about the wisdom of crowds, going on runs barefoot on the local golf course and referring to himself in the third person. He is also a renowned foreign film actor, starring in such films as Frate Lione (this is actually true). He graduated from the esteemed Gonzaga University with a Computer Science degree. Oh, and also he enjoys making terrible jokes and puns… some say that they are PUNishing.
Thomas Guzik[+]
Senior Software Engineer : : Tom grew up in the land of the Mohicans in the Mohawk Valley of Upstate New York. He then went into the Air Force to do his duty underground working in our country’s Missile Silos. After college, he started his software/hardware career in factory automation in the Solar industry, which years later is now a hot industry. From there, he went into teleconferencing, web conferencing, video asset management, presence and messaging, ERP testing and change management. Seven start-ups later, he is at Trada helping build a revolutionary way to manage internet advertising.
Emily Pieper[+]
Assistant Controller : : Emily is from Pittsburgh, PA and moved to Colorado 3 years ago. She is a CPA, who originally started out in Public Accounting in the DC area. She played rugby for Penn State and won the D1 National Championship…twice. For fun, she likes to overhead squat her husband and do CrossFit. This type of lifestyle has translated well into her role at Trada as she is ready and able to take on anything that comes her way. Challenge Accepted.
Brittany Kloss[+]
HR Representative : : Brittany graduated from Bradley University and then decided it was time to give up cows, corn, and the risk of accidentally dating her first cousin in Illinois to discover all the glorious things that Colorado has to offer. After someone kindly told her that bears do not lurk around every street corner, she finally mustered up the courage to go to work. She is now in the process of becoming a true Boulderite and thinks every hour should be “Happy Hour.” At Trada, Brittany helps with onboarding and finding awesome people to join the team. She even speaks a little Spanish. Ole!
Vijay Velagapudi[+]
Business Intelligence Analyst : : Vijay is exceptionally terrible at describing himself. However, through much pain and effort, he has compiled a list of adjectives that accurately describe him:
Tall
Dark
Handsome
Tall
Dark
Handsome
Sarah Lashen[+]
HR Director : : Sarah started her HR career in the Big Apple where she worked for Citigroup while getting her MA in I/O Psychology (talk about no life!). She finally decided she needed a change in pace and moved to Bouder, CO. Now working at Trada, Sarah loves being a part of a culture that allows her to invest her creative energy in developing more eclectic HR programs. She lives up in the foothills; where she enjoys biking, skiing, and hanging with her pups.
Daniel Tisser[+]
Campaign Implementation Manager : : Hired by the fearless Matt Hessler and Niel Robertson when Trada was less than 15 employees. Prior to Trada, Dan has been working with all kinds of businesses in the realm of search marketing. From the smallest garage based business to major players in moving & storage, newspapers, hospital groups and credit card processing. His time away from Trada is spent on his racking go kart, recovering from knee surgery and making fun of NASCAR.
Matt Hessler[+]
Director of AM : : Matt Hessler started working in Search Marketing way back in 2002 when the industry was in its infancy. Having worked on campaigns ranging from small local advertisers to million dollar a month corporate campaigns over the last 8 years. Matt’s passion for search marketing had often led to him being ridiculed by his peers for being a “search nerd” but ultimately it led him a perfect home at Trada. When he grows weary of the minutia of PPC search you can find him out riding his motorcycle on the race track or crawling around under the ‘66 Chevy El Camino he is restoring.
Josh Clauss[+]
Strategic Account Manager : : After an accounting degree at CU-Boulder, running away to Europe, coming back to the US for a fulfilling year of waiting tables, and running away to Europe again for graduate study on socioeconomic business in Scotland, the obvious place for Josh to end up was in web advertising start-ups. With 2 years managing marketing and accounts for two different companies, Josh has a diverse marketing background that makes him familiar with everything from PPC to email marketing and local to mobile. Josh is also the venerable curator of Trada’s Search Term Hall of Fame, which tends to keep him sane between spreadsheet viewings. Top Foursquare check-in spots: Coors Field, Lao Wang Noodle House, and the Crooked Stave Brewery Barrel Room.
Andrew Steketee[+]
Optimizer, Quality Manager : : Andrew oversees Optimizer quality management for Trada’s marketplace, and has worked in the local online media vertical for the past six years engaged in search engine marketing and optimization. In his spare time, he enjoys the mountains, coaching lacrosse, Michigan football and raising a teenage son.
Kim Weinstein[+]
Strategic Account Manager : : Kimberly comes to Trada after spending 8 years in the agency world, with a year long break in the middle spent waitressing in New Zealand and Australia. After living in New York, San Diego & Seattle, she firmly believes that Boulder is the perfect place to live – if they could just build an ocean and a beach here (it can’t be that hard, can it?). In her free time, Kim enjoys hiking with her dog, yoga, baking cupcakes, photography, making snow angels, listening to 80′s hair bands and eating ice cream.
Courtney Pollock[+]
Senior Core Account Manager : : Courtney grew up wondering why people chose to vacation in Colorado instead of somewhere with palm trees. Staying true to this mentality, she escaped to SoCal after high school to pursue a tan and a Marketing Degree at San Diego State University. After several blissful years of sunshine and sand, she retreated back to the snowy (albeit beautiful) city of Boulder, where she landed a job at Trada using various forms of bribery. She now embraces the Boulder lifestyle by making jewelry and walking her pet bunny, Lola, in the park.
Severin Thornton[+]
Business Development Representative : : Born in New Orleans and raised in St. Louis, MO. He’s lucky enough to have a set of loving parents and an older brother. He moved to Springfield, MO to attend school at Missouri State University where he graduated and worked as a bartender, a beer rep for a time and then onto a Magento Gold Solutions Partner/full-service ecommerce agency. Severin also met a beautiful girl who would eventually become his wife. Married in June 2012, with a move to Colorado shortly thereafter in January 2013, life has recently been full of change and adventure. Severin stays busy keeping up with a large extended family, outdoor sports, and days full of work and people that never cease to motivate and inspire him. With top focuses being God, family and work, Severin stays open for challenges that push him harder to pursue his ultimate purpose. Change is the only constant, and adaptation is the only way.
Matt Williamson[+]
Marketplace Analyst : : Matt grew up in Boulder and graduated from the University of Colorado in 2008 where he majored in Advertising. After working and playing in both Kenya and Aspen, Matt moved to Chicago where he ran search campaigns for everything from small local businesses to a major automotive company. After 3 ½ years of the big city life, Matt is excited to have made his way back to Colorado where he can continue to work in the exciting Search Industry while being able to enjoy the great outdoor lifestyle you can only find in Boulder!
Grace Dixon[+]
Core AM : : Grace Andereck Dixon grew up in Memphis, Tennessee before moving deeper into the South and settling in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where she began to learn to brave the outdoors. Upon entering Mississippi State University, Grace evolved these abilities. When she gets away from “Account Managing,” she enjoys rock climbing, hiking and rapping to Jay-Z. Grace most recently had a stint living in Dallas, where she worked for an agency as an SEM Specialist … and briefly dated Paul Bunyan. True story! Growing tired of the city lifestyle and craving the mountains more than ever, Grace packed up and headed west to reignite her passion for SEM work.
