Andrew Webb
Director, Internet Solutions
People used to ask—a lot—if Andrew was related to Andrew Lloyd Webber, but lately they tend to ask whether he spells his name with one ‘b’ or two! Well, the Web may dominate his day, but he’s holding on to that second ‘b’—it’s part of his identity, along with his Kiwi accent, passion for rugby, and a bottomless tea cup. He also believes in the business value that Internet and interactive solutions can increasingly provide—and that you should plan for nothing less. In the picture, Andrew is holding 'Bill’ – formally, the Webb Ellis Cup. At the 2011 Rugby World Cup the Kiwis got their hands on it. And every fan gets one! (Just kidding.)
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Betsy Balgooyen Keller
Senior Project Manager
Betsy is the intersection point where left-brain, single-minded techies and right-brain creative types intertwine. She opens more files, handles more emails, and makes more phone calls than anyone else in the Internet area. She also has a ready supply of chocolate, which means she gets a lot of visitors. When she’s not refreshing content, uploading data, or planning the next revolution for a client, Betsy likes to run. A lot. Really, we’re not kidding—23 marathons and counting. We think she wears her insulated marathon blanket as a super cape when we’re not looking. In the words of her two-year-old niece, Run, Aunt Betsy, Run!
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Bill Talsma
Interactive Designer
Bill is a renaissance man, a throwback to gentler times but with a contemporary edge and a glint in his eye. He's been heard to refer to himself as a "computer Künstler" when he’s working on his German. Or you’ll find that he creates art objects built with sound so that enjoying them takes time (quite a difficult sell considering today’s "I want it yesterday" zeitgeist). His distinctive contribution to Quicksilver's variety is through exquisite interactive design. Bill knows successful design isn’t just about looks—it’s about communication and finding that perfect balance between form and content.
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Chris Bartot
Senior Producer
What do you get when you combine a red shirt, a passion for margins, a gift for storytelling and a dedication to bleeding-edge technology? Quicksilver senior producer Chris Bartot. He is currently in his eleventh year at Quicksilver and has done an outstanding job of honing his skills across the numerous facets of our business. He has produced and directed meetings, video and interactive projects for a variety of Quicksilver's Fortune 500 clients to consistent acclaim. Daily, he demonstrates that he can "make that happen in two phone calls" - from arranging an uplink of the President of Pakistan to a video shoot in Bangalore. Chris earned his Media Communications degree from the University of Illinois, and has been married for over eighteen years. At home, he is busy with their four wonderful children, three of whom are triplets!
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Dave Yakir
Editor / Animator
When he's not playing hockey or being a general sports fanatic, Dave Yakir is one of Quicksilver's champion video editors. Playing first string on Final Cut Pro, After Effects and that other cool graphics and animation software, Dave can tell a story that both excites and intrigues the viewer with his edge-of-your-seat creativity. And, unlike those prima donna editors who think they're God's gift to the world, Dave can work with anyone in any situation and always scores big in the client's eyes. We're proud to have him on creative our team!
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Debbie Mackron
Executive Assistant
Walk up the steps of our brownstone and through the old-school double doors and Debbie is the first person you’ll run across. Coming from Malibu after co-writing songs and 'Riding the Storm Out' with her ex-rock star husband, she’s cool and her stories will knock your socks off. A fellow Illini alumna with Diane, our Executive Assistant is part of our operational team, smoothing the way for the creative types upstairs. On weekends, though, you’ll find Debbie riding the trail on the latest in her long line of show jumpers and race horses who have taken her all the way to the Winner’s Circle. Which, as far as we’re concerned, is where she belongs.
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Diane MacWilliams
President
When you've provided communications solutions since 1976 (and won a few awards for them, too), you're entitled to talk occasionally about "back in the day." (Can anyone say "multi-projector presentations?") But Diane isn’t big on nostalgia; being a leader in business communications has more than a little to do with looking forward. A successful entrepreneur who stays current with technology and business trends, her Monday morning stories are eclectic: an afternoon backstage with REO Speedwagon; multi-state driving trips to softball tournaments; a board meeting at the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Whatever she tackles, Diane knows how to make it count. And you can count on that.
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Donna Verga
Project Manager
Since the day she graduated Sears’ Charm School back in 5th grade, Donna has brought poise and professionalism to everything she takes on. From engaging print pieces… to user-friendly websites… to the occasional ice cream social, she coolly manages an insane number of projects like it’s her job. And it is.
Donna’s a marketing maven who consistently delights clients with her innovative approaches to messaging and communication. She keeps everyone at Quicksilver on their toes – of course, she’s the only one with the ability to stay up on them. Look out for her duotone hair and trend-setting style at ballet classes around town when she’s not dancing her way into our clients’ hearts.
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Jeff Maslouski
Post Production Manager
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. A man in constant motion … in the relentless pursuit of precision in communication … excellence in production ... and the final resolution of the square pixel / rectangular pixel dilemma that plagues compressionists on a daily basis. Some say a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. In Jeff’s case, a whole lot of knowledge is just enough. Bouncing up against six years on the Quicksilver team, Jeff has honed his storytelling capabilities to the delight of the team’s producers and clients. And his ability to take a library track and rearrange it into an original score is nothing short of genius. His home is a testament to his carpentry and boundless energy and his aptly named son, Jett, is the pay back his mother had always warned him was coming.
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John Shartle
Account Executive
It's Addison Clark who gets John up every morning. You see, "Addy Clark" is the family's third beagle and she insists on a morning walk no matter how challenging the weather may be. And yes sports fans, the intersection of Addison and Clark on Chicago's North Side is the address of storied Wrigley Field. Yes folks, John is a self-described "long suffering Cubs fan"! John has a passion for baseball and was lucky enough to coach boy's baseball and fast-pitch girl's softball for 18 years - basically until his kids went off to college. And along with baseball, it's golf that engages our sales guru - say what you like about a 16 handicap, there's no arguing with TWO Holes-in-One. Memorable travel rewards for top sales performance include a trip to Austria and dancing with his wonderful bride, Dorothy to the Waltz of the Emperor at historic Palace Schwarzenberg in Vienna. Passion for family, sports and business - it's the way John ticks. It's the goal of making a difference for his clients that really fires him up.
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Kathy Morris
Vice President and Executive Producer
How could anyone even imagine the storybook adventure Kathy Morris has embarked upon since obtaining her degree in Radio, Television, and Film from Northwestern University? From her humble corporate beginnings at Prudential Insurance, to putting television stations on the air in Indonesia, to serving as President and Chairman of the Board of ITVA to being selected as one of Video Producer Magazine’s producers of the decade (the 1990’s to be specific), Kathy has injected her astounding creativity and her unparalleled work ethic into projects all over the globe. In her current role as Vice President and Executive Producer, Kathy delights our clients with her diverse skill set, which includes communications consulting, writing and directing, speech coaching, staging design and technical direction, and so on and so on. She is also involved of the day-to-day management of the whole Quicksilver production team. Whew…in fact, if you didn’t know Kathy, you might also mistake her for a biogenetics engineer who has managed to clone herself, because she does the work of four human beings…literally. These Kathy clones are like a team of horses pulling a square-wheeled wagon full of Global 1000 executives through the corporate-messaging quicksand–destination: the Clarity Corral. Kathy in action really is a sight to behold. Oh, and just in case you missed it - should we mention that Kathy is the queen of seasonally appropriate and event-specific outerwear?
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Kory Stokes
Junior Designer
Kory is an interesting fellow. If you had to know two things about him, it would be that he's got a pet flying squirrel named Eva and his obsession with "the mustache". Kory enjoys to keep up on the latest trends and programs in the design community and his work reflects just that. With a wide range of capabilities including print, web, illustration and interactive, "keeping things clean and contemporary" is Kory's mantra when it comes to web and print design. When developing idea's and concepts, Kory's brain runs wild with new and exciting ways to approach projects and some of those new ideas are used in some of our latest work here at Quicksilver. There's a lot of creative power in that brain of his... or is it the mustache?
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Lakshmi Jayaraman
Programmer / Developer
Lakshmi is a talented programmer and Microsoft-certified developer working diligently behind the scenes for our clients. She’s one of the gifted people who actually make the Internet "work." Sometimes we think she’s got a magic wand. She whips through tasks with an eye for detail, hardly giving us a second to catch up. We try to get her to slow down, but it's no use—this hummingbird can't wait to code, code, code. Maybe it's a result of the coffee drip she plugs in every day to wash down her vegetarian treats? You'd think with all those dried apricots and peanuts that she could be like a squirrel and sleep through the winter, but her quick-moving mind won't let her stop.
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Michael O’Brien
Director of Sales
Michael is South Side Irish. For those of you not from Chicago, that may not mean anything. Suffice to say that growing up in a South side neighborhood is character-forming and leads to an overstuffed address book. How about 120 servings of corned beef and cabbage every St. Patrick’s Day? (That’s the number of guests at his house, not how many helpings Michael eats.) Infinitely knowledgeable about all the major league sports. A fine poker player. And, yes, our Sales Director par excellence. When you have the pleasure of working with Michael, you discover what fun he is. That he’s got your back. And how when you talk with him, you have more energy, somehow, after the conversation than before you started.
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Moe Amer
Financial Controller
Several years ago, Moe won the company’s Golden Hammer award. He got it for orchestrating the move from 16 W. Ontario where we used to have our offices to the adjoining brownstone at 18 W. Ontario where we are today. Take it from me, anyone who thinks that was easy—only worth maybe a Silver Hammer— well, they haven’t had to manage our technical environment (wiring, server room, software licensing, etc.), our hosting environment (data center), our physical environment (everything from plumbing to security) while keeping up with the billing (I mean, he’s the Controller, so it’s only fair to have him Control everything). Some day soon there’ll be a lawyer’s diploma on the mantelpiece next to his Golden Hammer. And at that point I guess he’ll be unstoppable.
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Pat Lehnerer
Art Director
Pat is Quicksilver's resident "Jack of All Trades." Powerpoint? Please. Photoshop wunderkind? Absolutely! Illustrator, vector graphics, Flash animation guru??? You got it. As our Senior Designer, Pat is beloved by clients and staff alike, and respected for his old-fashioned, down-home Chicago work ethic. If he weren’t a designer, he could be a Teamster—ensuring the flow of goods across America the same way he delivers killer design day-in and day-out. But given his chosen trade, Pat’s going to ponder your design needs, and search for inspiration, over a delicious Italian Beef lunch with giardinera peppers and a Coke. It’s one of the small sacrifices Pat is willing to make for you, among many, many others.
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