John Rasco, Founder, Program Management
Active in Internet marketing since 1992, Rasco's skills as a marketer, manager and strategist are key to successful client engagements. Founder of Brand X Austin and RefreshWeb, John has an entrepreneurial gene, a creative bent and a passion for challenging projects. He has been a client-side marketing director, a principal in a graphic design firm, president of an advertising agency, and senior vice president of the Southwest’s largest business-to-business agency, responsible for Science and Technology. Link to résumé
Since 1978, he has been active in the Austin advertising and marketing communities, and he has specialized in technology-based companies since 1987. Rasco is a member of the American Marketing Association. Client companies include Dell Computer Corporation, Tivoli, Intelliquest, 3M, IBM, Motorola, Ross Technology, Synopsys, PointOne, Silicon Group, Alchemy Semiconductor, Syntro, FireBowl Cafés, IronRhino, S.S. White Burs, Interactive Silicon and VCON.
Tom Parish, SEO and Marketing Specialist
Tom is an Internet and search engine optimization specialist.
He approaches SEO with such passion because he wants to see your business succeed on the web. He brings his comprehensive knowledge of the web, search engine operations and submission processes, and content analysis to our
RefreshWeb e-marketing services.
He first began working with the Internet in its infancy at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1983, and has been intimately involved with the intertwined evolution of the web and business in the intervening years. During his multi-year tenure at the Micro Electronics and Computer Technology
(MCC) consortium, he continued his research, developing marketing support strategies for pre-competitive technology in holographic storage, fuzzy logic and neural network systems. In addition to his 13 years as a highly respected engineer and engineering manager, he also
has 12 years as a top performer in sales at high tech companies on his résumé.
Most recently, Tom combined his extensive Internet expertise and sales experiences to head up global marketing and creative services for Motorola’s highly successful worldwide Digital DNA brand marketing campaign, which successfully reached over 22 million people in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Tom is also a gifted and creative digital musician.
Tim Jones, Search Engine Technology Specialist
Tim Jones wrote the original site indexing and search engine for the Columbia HCA intranet and public web site in 1995. In 1999 America's Health Network and Fox Entertainment hired him to help them build a searchable Internet medical database. As part of that effort, The Health Network acquired Galaxy.com, the first searchable Internet directory. Tim led the effort to bring Galaxy's original WAIS technology up to date by migrating it to Fast Search and Transfer Inc.'s Data Search. The new engine was used to build topic-based searchable directories for vertical markets. Galaxy.com is currently a part of the FusionBot search product offered by Logika Corporation.
Tim is the principal and founder of Nacimiento Software, and is currently working on revisions and improved functionality for the on-line publishing database for Hoover's.
Tom Bartling, e-Commerce Programmer and Webmaster
Tom’s Internet marketing experience began in 1997, when e-commerce was struggling to gain credibility. Working with companies like Cisco, MicroGrafx, Sony Electronics, and CitySearch, Tom has developed a multitude of custom solutions that are used at all stages of the sales cycle. Some of these projects include lead generation systems, online surveys, shopping cart systems, e-commerce applications that capture sales from banner ads and other promotions, e-newsletter systems, interactive customer service applications, and website traffic analysis tools.
As a consultant, Tom helps companies by developing e-commerce systems, analyzing website traffic, and managing client websites. Tom’s experience also includes sales, marketing management, project management, and account management.
Kelli Oestreich, Kern & Co. Design Specialists
Kern and Co. Design Specialists offers a unique combination of solid design experience and cutting- edge new media expertise. They work with companies to develop and manage the corporate image, as well as develop on-line strategies for the creation of web site design and implementation.
As head of the company’s Austin, Texas office, Kelli Kern Oestreich brings clients the benefit of over 15 years of corporate identity, marketing and advertising experience. Kelli is known for creating beautiful solutions that make an impact; it’s no coincidence she has won countless local and national awards for her work. Whether she’s developing a corporate identity, a direct mail piece, or web design, Kelli brings a fresh style and critical eye to each project.
Brian Prioleau, Researcher and Writer
Brian Prioleau has an MBA from Cornell University and experience in diverse industries such as advertising, health care, insurance and television. He has worked for Fellers and Company, Cablevision and
Travelers Insurance, and his consulting and market research assignments have included Mindwave Research, Jazz IT,
Firebowl Cafés, and LatinCan.
Brian's consulting approach is to analyze the problem, discover the inherent opportunities and create a communications and/or business solution that adds value to the client's bottom line.
In addition to marketing and analysis, Brian is a published fiction writer, with stories placed in The Missouri Review and Nerve Cowboy. He is currently completing his second novel.