Brandon is currently the CEO and Managing Partner of Transparent Partners, an independent Marketing Technology consultancy dedicated to helping Companies navigate the complex digital landscape. Transparent dives deep into technology, data and media to improve connectivity, personalization and automation that enables business transformation and better performance in an evolving digital world. He started his career at Publicis' Starcom MediaVest Group where he spent a majority of his 16 year career overseeing integrated, data-driven communications strategy and activation for major brands such as Disney, Kellogg's, Kraft, BlackBerry and Sprint Telecommunications in addition to running the Mobile Center or Excellence for the agency. Prior to Transparent, Brandon spent two years at GroundTruth (formally xAd), a leading mobile location company, where he led Product Marketing and Strategic Sales. In his free time Brandon is Vice-Chairman of the Board for the American Brain Tumor Association, an active Triathlete raising funds for Pediatric Cancer and father of 10 year old twins.
Brandon Starkoff
Managing Partner, CEO
Passionate Leader. Best known for inspiring others, lover of all things outdoors.
Darren helps companies navigate the complex data and technology landscape to engage with their customers. Over the past 5 years, Darren has helped large corporations drive 1:1 Marketing and personalize Customer Engagements by combining data, technology and marketing strategies. For many years he held IT leadership positions in Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence. He architected and lead the McDonald's Global Business Intelligence platform and then went on to lead CRM and Loyalty globally for McDonald's Digital. Darren then became VP of Client Services at Plexure, a New Zealand based Customer Data Platform (CDP). There he helped their clients transform how they engaged with customers leveraging the Plexure platform.
Darren Rankine
Partner, Technology
When technical know how meets strong client advocate. Loves to see the planets in the Colorado night sky, but stays weary of bears in his front yard.
Lindsey Daly is an accomplished marketing professional with over sixteen years of experience developing and implementing integrated campaigns for global brands including Foot Locker Inc., Norwegian Cruise Lines, UnitedHealthGroup, ETrade, and AT&T. She is a creative and strategic thinker well versed in both traditional and digital media practices. Before joining Transparent, Lindsey was a member of the accounts discipline at Conversant, a leader in personalized digital marketing. There, in addition to managing over $40MM in billings and a large team of client service professionals, she also helped: guide development of new data-driven product solutions, consulted on platform innovation and was consistently acknowledged for delivering best-in-class account support.
Lindsey Daly
Partner, Accounts
Wearer of all hats. Constantly connecting with new people-often in strange places. Former bass guitarist, still waiting for her big break.
Josh works with organizations to set a data strategy that aligns the set of technologies and analytic approaches to answer questions, solve problems, and drive business outcomes. He spent 9 years working with brands while at Publicis, WPP, Nielsen, and IRI to drive strategic learning, determine the success of marketing investments, and enable optimization. His expertise includes designing and implementing marketing technology data infrastructure to enable precision activation, unified attribution, and insight into the consumer journey. He also spent over 8 years at Deloitte consulting clients on capturing the value of organizational data with an emphasis on the assessment and control of fraud and other risks.
Josh Vincent
Partner, Data & Analytics
Master of person level data and advanced analytics, known to juggle... on a unicycle.
Kaela Carey Cifonelli
Director, Accounts
Loves cooking, hates recipes. Organizational rockstar who starts her Saturdays with a coffee and croissant from her favorite Chicago bakery.
Jacob is a marketing and technology professional with a passion for strategically implementing innovative technologies that solve complex organizational problems. He has experience working in marketing technologies, programmatic media, website development, consumer data strategies, among others. Before joining Transparent, Jacob was a strategy and operations lead with Education Funding Partners where their mission was to help find innovative funding solutions through Marketing for U.S. School Districts. His programmatic expertise was earned through curious and self-guided discovery, resulting in highly-effective campaigns that drove value for both advertisers and school districts alike. As a four-year varsity athlete from Northwestern University, Jacob excels at inspiring team collaboration and commitment to achieving a shared vision.
Jacob Schmitt
Sr. Manager, Data & Analytics
Homemade pizza chef extraordinaire, aspiring Ironman, disciplined and hardworking tech wizard.
Oliver has more than 8 years experience working as a technical strategist for marketing leaders. He’s currently a Director of Data, Technology & Analytics for Transparent, helping clients define strategy and leverage their technology and data assets. He brings a unique blend of digital marketing expertise, program/project delivery, and knowledge of enterprise data environments across a multitude of industries. Prior to Transparent, Oliver spent several years at both consulting and advertising firms working on data strategy, digital analytics, and ad targeting projects.
Oliver Amidei
Sr. Director, Data & Analytics
Curious cooking enthusiast and all around data savant. Proud of his eclectic, but admittedly millennial tastes. He loves independent coffee roasters, his rec soccer league (pre-covid), and tinkering with code.
Sarah is a data and results-driven marketing professional who recently completed a Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. There she concentrated on brand management, consumer insights, and digital strategy. Prior to her role at Transparent, Sarah worked as a marketing strategy consultant at Walgreens focusing on how to enhance their localized marketing strategies and tactics in order to drive additional store visits and positive brand perception. She also interned at the E15 Group, a sports and entertainment data analytics firm, where she developed a Python program to analyze stadiums in Levy's portfolio relative to their surrounding metropolitan areas in order identify gaps and financial opportunities for their food offerings. As a previous varsity volleyball athlete at Northwestern University, Sarah is passionate about building relationships with teammates and working hard to achieve a common goal.
Sarah Johnson
Manager, Accounts
Motivated D1 athlete and marketing connoisseur, traded warm California sun for Chicago seasons and runs along Lake Michigan.
Rae Markwell is an experienced marketing professional (with over 5 years of experience) who has passion for bringing big ideas and solutions to every situation. She prides herself on being motivated, action-taking, thorough and focused.
She's an achiever, she's naturally confident and curious. She strives to create a comfortable work environment by encouraging individuality, while also championing a unified team mentality. Most importantly, Rae values hard work and has an insatiable desire to grow and learn.
Rae Markwell
Director, Accounts
Well-read Disney fanatic, best known for color coding spreadsheets and delighting clients.
Danny Mattis
Director, Data & Analytics
High energy presentation pro who loves basketball and hiking through the National Parks.
Hannah is a well-rounded marketer who is passionate about transforming data insights and developing marketing and branding strategies that clients can engage with and that leads to actionable goals and outcomes. She received her Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University where she concentrated on brand strategy, digital analytics, and communications. She has hands-on experience with analytical tools such as Excel, Tableau, and Google Analytics. Before joining Transparent, Hannah worked at a digital marketing agency where she created content, performed keyword research and developed optimization strategies to increase clients search engine results rankings. In her free time, she enjoys cooking for her friends and family, reading, running along the lakefront path, and eating her way through the different neighborhoods of Chicago.
Hannah Ventola
Sr. Accounts Associate, Accounts
Chicago born, Arizona raised- can handle the extremes. Avid reader, ardent planner and some would say deep-dish pizza aficionado.
Lauren is a dedicated marketing professional who has worked with numerous brands to solve complex business questions with innovative marketing-led strategy. After nearly a decade of experience growing brands in different verticals (Auto, Retail, Healthcare, and CPG) through multiple specialties (media buying, planning, and digital and content strategy), Lauren knows that the most successful strategies from concept to execution begin with a data-first approach – wholly believing that data is only as powerful as the story it tells and the connection it creates. The output of her collaborative work has been recognized in trade outlets such as Adweek, Digiday, and The Drum, but most notably in annual sales growth. Prior to Transparent, Lauren worked at MediaCom stewarding the Walgreens account, specializing in audience first, data-intensive initiatives that pushed the boundaries for predictive analytics and the use of first-party data.
Lauren Cerney
Sr. Manager, Accounts
Passionate data storyteller with a vision for business transformation. Always keeps a pen/notebook in her purse and dinner party trivia up her sleeve.
John D. Lillard is an enterprise architect providing technology and organizational transformation advice, training and mentoring to engineering and technology organizations. John has a passion for helping organizations define and implement their strategic vision. John is a results driven leader in enterprise information technology with 27 years of experience delivering solutions to unprecedented challenges faced by government, corporate and defense organizations. John has served in technology leadership roles for the United States Navy, Ultrak Corporation and Security Instrument Corporation. John holds a MS from the Naval Postgraduate School, a BS from American Military University and an AAS from Delaware Technical College. He also holds the following professional certifications:
Certified Project Management Professional (PMP),
Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP),
Certified Enterprise Architect (CEA)
John lives in Charleston, South Carolina, USA where he and his wife enjoy spending free time cooking, gardening, and restoring furniture.
John Lillard
Sr. Director, Technology
Brings order to chaos. Speaks with Diagrams. Thinks a detailed project plan can be a beautiful thing. Committed Foodie.
MacKayla Heller is a data-driven professional with a creative mindset. She received her Bachelors of Science in Business Analytics and Marketing from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She is skilled at a variety of different programming languages such as SQL, R, and Python. In addition MacKayla also has several years of experience with social media analytics and improving internal communications. MacKayla is eager to apply her background for the Transparent team and partners.
MacKayla Heller
Sr. Data Analyst, Data & Tech
Can conquer big data with a good cup of coffee. Expert at positive energy and teamwork with a passion for exploring new experiences.
Eric is a marketer who is passionate about delivering data-driven results. He comes from Northwestern University where he received his Bachelor of Science in Economics and Communication Studies. While at Northwestern, Eric not only developed valuable skills in the classroom, but also team-based experience as a manager and player on the basketball team. Prior to Transparent he interned at Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, delivering high level marketing strategy solutions and improving internal communications respectively. He prides himself on his ability to be impactful to a team in many ways, and is excited to bring his positive attitude and fresh ideas to the Transparent team.
Eric Zalewski
Sr. Data Analyst, Data & Analytics
Data-loving team player who can talk about food for days. Aspiring to hit a golf ball straight and make a free throw on the weekends.
Gina Orlandi is a skilled marketing professional and project manager with more than 5 years of experience. She graduated with a degree in Communication Studies from Illinois State University in 2015. Prior to joining Transparent, she worked as a marketing project manager in the association industry where wearing many hats was her specialty. In addition to project management, Gina has had vast experience with digital marketing, program management, event production, web design, graphic design, and copywriting. With a passion for collaboration and organization, she is a strong believer in letting her colleagues' skills be amplified by a well managed workflow.
Gina Orlandi
Project Manager, Accounts
Utility player and obsessive organizer who will take any opportunity to talk about her house plants and cat.
Arnav is an honors graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied Biology and Bioinformatics. His passion for data analysis coupled with his strong interest in healthcare made him a top performer at AbbVie’s Innovation Center, where he assisted in the construction of a computational model that rapidly decreases disease diagnosis time. After being called up to implement a marketing strategy for his model, he started down a path towards a career in marketing technology. Arnav is a highly energetic, creative problem solver that leverages his unique background to build innovative solutions to novel problems.
Arnav Mitra
Analyst, Data & Analytics
Sports-loving comedy fan with a passion for problem solving. Will put your local all-you-can-eat sushi place out of business.
Michael is a marketing analytics professional with 12+ years of experience in measurement strategy, digital marketing analytics, media forecasting, multi-touch attribution (MTA), and experimental design. His experience and expertise are centered around helping businesses understand, and action on, the levers that drive incremental business performance through measurement frameworks focused on experimental design and data-driven analysis. Prior to Transparent, Michael spent 2 years with Measured, Inc. helping businesses evolve their measurement strategy through incrementality-based decisioning driven from a strong data foundation, in-market experimentation, and other data science techniques. Previously he spent 9 years in senior leadership roles across MTA, Measurement Strategy, and Forecasting at iProspect.
Michael Kelley
Director, Data & Analytics
Passion for Measurement has led to becoming a certified mixologist who, much to the annoyance of his wife, makes and hand-cuts all of the ice used in his home.
Janeen is a seasoned marketing and analytics pro with 20+ years experience across a variety of roles. By the mid-2000s she was focusing her talents within the Client Service discipline in the digital marketing space. In this capacity, she led teams in helping clients such as Pfizer, 3M, Hanes, Bank of America, Purina, M&M’s and others, navigate the increasingly complicated digital landscape. During this time, Janeen was taking part in the earliest phases of the “big data” conversation, and was on a team that ultimately created one of the first viable Attribution methodologies. This experience led to a senior leadership role with the Dentsu group, specifically under the iProspect umbrella, on the Data & Analytics team. As National Director of Advanced Analytics Integration, Janeen facilitated the work of 30 subject matter experts in Data Technology, Data Strategy, Data Science, Data Visualization, and MarTech Consulting. These days, she’s thrilled to bring her experience to bear partnering with our clients to harness the power of data and technology. Her greatest goal is to help simplify and apply the benefits to our clients’ people, processes, and platforms, to fuel their growth and success.
Janeen Sullivan
Sr. Manager, Accounts
Proud North Carolinian (by way of Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota) who loves any place that is near the water; preferably with her awesome husband and adorable Golden Retriever in tow.
Ed is an accomplished ad tech professional with 10 years experience building & improving technical partnerships, programs, and products. He has a depth of knowledge that spans many verticals including retail, financial, hospitality, real estate, mortgage, CPG, and political. He is passionate about building relationships and collaborating with others internally and externally to execute and deliver against KPIs. Prior to Transparent Ed spent 5 years at Adwerx, where he focussed on helping partners automate their advertising and transition to new media.
Ed Weigel
Sr. Manager, Accounts
Prodigal child of the midwest, army veteran, dad, cyclist and weekend home DIYer.
Organizational fanatic with 10+ years of Customer Service and 6+ years of Marketing experience. Highly skilled in project management, enhancing internal process flows, and building long-term relationships. Professional team-player who is collaborative with strong communication and interpersonal capabilities. I thrive in small-to-medium sized companies where I have dabbled in content creation, email marketing, multi-channel campaigns, web, rebranding, social media, and sales processes. I proudly graduated Magna Cum Laude from Montclair State University with a BA in Communications/ Marketing.
Geri Carrillo
Manager, Accounts
Cuban-American, who has a passion for exploration and travel. Has visited around 18 countries, 22 if you include layovers.
Allison Ninmann is a dedicated marketing professional, passionate about turning data-led insights into creative storytelling. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Advertising from the University of Alabama. Roll Tide! She enjoys taking on new challenges and bringing solutions to any situation. Before joining Transparent, Allison worked at MediaCom concentrating on Walgreens’ media strategy, planning and activation across retail and Pharmacy campaigns.
Allison Ninmann
Sr. Associate, Accounts
Self-proclaimed cat lady who is passionate about organization, Nick Saban, and iced coffee.
Sheryl Robinos
Manager, Technology
Born and raised in the Philippines, a Boilermaker and sushi lover.
Mitchell is a determined, probabilistic strategist solving complex marketing & technology problems with robust systems design principles. He created millions of dollars in counterfactual business value spanning across the Banking, Commercial Real Estate, CPG, and eCommerce sectors. Prior to joining Transparent, he tripled Hint Water’s growth marketing engine with rigorous experimentation, data engineering management, and AI implementation. He has thrived in leveraging data science tools like Python, SQL, bash, AWS, Excel, and Tableau. Passionate about philosophy & ethics, Mitchell is a rationalist & an effective altruist who aspires to doing the most good with his career and charitable donations.
Mitchell Reynolds
Sr. Manager, Data & Analytics
Revels in contradictions (bad movies to great niche films; lefty guitarist while a righty everywhere else).
Lindsey is a curious problem-solver with a data-oriented worldview. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she studied Politics and Mathematics. Interested in continuing in both disciplines after graduation, she spent several years working in public opinion polling and research at Hickman Analytics. There, she gained in experience in statistical methods, survey result analysis, and campaign strategy. Lindsey is excited to apply her experience in analytics in new ways at Transparent.
Lindsey Mahomes
Sr. Analyst, Data & Analytics
Word puzzle enthusiast and ardent reader with a knack for problem-solving. Always eager to get to the bottom of a dataset and the top of a rock wall.
Amanda Rappold is a dedicated relationship builder with over 15+ years of experience in the account management and customer service space. Prior to Transparent Partners, Amanda spent 4 years at Adwerx where she nurtured her skills in marketing, retention, vendor management, and supporting clients’ digital marketing needs in multiple verticals. In 2021, Amanda earned her PMP® Certification and looks forward to developing her skills at Transparent. She received a B.S. in Food Service Management from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI, and enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her husband and dogs in NC.
Amanda Rappold
Sr. Manager, Accounts
A sucker for live music and will travel to see most shows, including Bruno Mars in Arkansas on a Sunday night.
Omar is a dedicated IT professional with 12 years of experience in various industries (Healthcare, Legal Marketing, Insurance) where he began his career as a Quality Assurance Analyst and was a Senior Business Analyst for 5 years. He loves working with clients and stakeholders to listen to their concerns and problems and work with them to address them. In his previous role at Sidley Austin, Omar helped with many initiatives across different portfolios (HR, Marketing, Data). Some of the projects he worked on included setting up a Business Development system on top of Salesforce, creating a COVID attendance tracker for the firm, owning the firm's intranet and content management system, and doing analysis on different data catalog vendors. Omar is a rookie in the Marketing Tech vertifical but he has joined each industry as an amateur in each but became a subject matter expert with his desire to learn, work hard and strong sense of ownership when it comes to his work.
Omar El-Dabt
Manager, Technology
Lived in Kuwait for 17 years and never saw snow until he moved to the US when he was 18. Loves all Wisconsin sports teams and enjoys watching their games while eating cheese curds.
Riya is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied Mathematics. Her passion for analytics began her freshman year as a member of SWE Team Tech where she worked alongside Caterpillar to develop a device to improve machine performance. She then furthered her experience working at Chevron creating dashboards of the utilization of their data centers. Riya has a variety of skills across different areas and is excited to join the Transparent team and apply her problem-solving skills.
Riya Dekate
Analyst, Technology
Enjoys her free time curled up with a good book, or experimenting with various art forms.
Andrew is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Madison with a degree in Statistics and certificates in Computer Sciences and Entrepreneurship. Outside of the classroom, Andrew has been exposed to many aspects of technology and analytics in business during his time interning at TÜV SÜD Global Risk Consultants and Kimberly-Clark. He used these unique opportunities to immerse himself in experiences involving customer data strategy, data visualization, and critical thinking. He welcomes challenges with an enthusiasm to grow both himself and Transparent. Andrew has a passion for data and analytics and is excited to use his creativity to bring new ideas to the table!
Andrew Fix
Analyst, Data & Analytics
Has 5 siblings (which might explain his loud voice). Enjoys watching Minnesota sports, however painful it may be, and is learning how to play the guitar in his free time.
Abdul is a young professional with several years of experience in the consulting industry who enjoys being a problem solver and a helping hand. After graduating from DePaul University where he studied Finance, Abdul starting off his professional career in Benefits Administration before pivoting to Strategy Consulting where he primarily worked with Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies His time in Consulting has led him to discover how much he enjoys working with data and led him down the Data Analytics/Data Visualization path as his new primary focus in Consulting. Abdul looks to take his knowledge and expertise with his new found passion and help companies solve their problems with the power of data!
Abdul Muqeet
Manager, Data & Analytics
The youngest of four siblings, a die hard Chicago Bulls Fan, and enjoys binging TV Shows in his free time.
Rebecca recently graduated from Northwestern University where she studied Political Science and Data Science. She found her passion for data and problem-solving through undergraduate research, and further developed her skills analyzing voter demographics and creating data visualizations for a Wisconsin political campaign. Rebecca is excited to bring her skills to the Transparent team!
Rebecca Siems
Analyst, Technology
Enjoys hiking, solving jigsaw puzzles, and sharing encyclopedic knowledge of reality TV.