Talk With the Top: St. Louis

A BIT ABOUT CARTER

With a long history in Digital Marketing and Communications. Starting back at SLU for undergrad and Webster grad school. Carter started his computer consultant career in 1997 as a consultant to Citi Corp. Carter quickly moved up the ranks and started at Anheuser-Busch in Nov. of 1998 as an e-mail consultant.

By 2000 Carter was in the Operations group at A-B and was managing the Corporate E-mail Servers. He received many awards and accolades but when InBev came in to take over A-B Carter decided it was time to get into Digital Marketing for small businesses.

Since 2011, Carter owns and runs his own Digital Marketing Agency where he and his team have worked with fortune 500 companies, some of the best known companies in the Midwest, and does much work in the community working with over 50 local charities while supporting and working with tons of local organizations.

You may have heard of the Cardinal Cowboy. Carter was selected as a Top Supporter for MLB and for the St. Louis Cardinals. He has been selected as 21 Super Fans in the world by CNN’s Bleacher Report. He has put his on-line expertise to work from all sides of the marketing spectrum for good causes and good businesses.

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDON 

Brandon Dempsey is a serial entrepreneur and driving force behind his marketing firm goBRANDgo! specializing in outsourced marketing services for privately held $10-100 million growth-oriented companies. He is also the Chair of EO Accelerator, where he oversees a global program for entrepreneurship. Brandon’s past startup companies include a remote work consulting company, a professional employers organization, a business continuity planning firm and a website development agency which all were either sold or merged into larger organizations.

Brandon is a featured thought leader in numerous online and print outlets, such as Forbes, Inc., and Huffington Post. When he isn’t working, he spends his time training for Ironman triathlons and motorcycling in countries around the world. Brandon lives in St. Louis with his wife Adriene and their three dogs.

Connect with Brandon

LinkedIn

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A BIT ABOUT BRIAN

Brian Lunt is an up-and-coming serial entrepreneur. Brian recently launched Medici MediaSpace, a membership-based collaborative space in St. Louis, Missouri dedicated to building and growing businesses, cultivating an abundance mindset and developing processes that enable people to be part of flexible, but disciplined projects. Medici helps connect and support the next generation of entrepreneurs and media, innovators and artists by providing industry resources, mentorship, workshops and special events within a collaborative co-working space that includes photography, audio and television studios.

Brian and his family live in Kirkwood, MO where he is active in his community as a member of the City of Kirkwood’s Citizen Finance Committee and a trustee for his subdivision. He also helps coach his son’s baseball and soccer teams. When he isn’t working on one of his projects, Brian can be seen working on his lawn and garden or spending time with family and friends.

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A BIT ABOUT DAVID

An accidental founder of Spoke Marketing, David is responsible for many of the concepts that drive our clients’ business, and most of the antics that drive us crazy. Perhaps more impressive than his ability to come up with ‘big ideas’, is his ability to execute them. He learned the ropes helping to build some of the biggest brands in the world (Coke, Kellogg’s, Nike, Allstate and Anheuser-Busch to name a few), and now uses those skills to deliver the same impact for emerging businesses.

David is active in the community through his involvement in the United Way, by chairing the marketing committee of the Missouri Venture Forum, serving on the advisory committee for the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, and by volunteering in entrepreneurial programs at Washington University’s Olin Business School and the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

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A BIT ABOUT DEVON 

Devon Moody-Graham, MBA is a native East St. Louis, IL dedicated to seeing a positive shift in small business, community and economic development. She earned a BS in Consumer and Textile Marketing from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign and received her MBA from the University of Phoenix-St. Louis campus in 2006.

She started Creatively Strategic Solutions and has assisted over 100 businesses with the marketing strategy, startup and business development firm since 2008. In this capacity she helps others to turn their Passion Into a Paycheck as a small business advocate and consultant, assists corporations and non-profits with building partnerships, program development, and non-profit management. This passion to see others succeed turned into a startup and small business membership organization called Passion Into a Paycheck University where she offers affordable business plan, marketing strategy and private coaching to individuals and small startups.

She is now working to build the East St. Louis community through The Biz Spot; a community business center, incubator, and accelerator.

Connect with Devon

LinkedIn

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A BIT FROM MIKE  

An accomplished leader, entrepreneur, and pioneer in the domains of Innovation, Service Design, User Experience, Digital Strategy & Design. My journey started with a degree in Dietetics and Sports Nutrition where I quickly traversed into the .com bubble in the late ’90s as a Marketing Manager of Product Development.

Currently, I am the Co-Founder and Managing Director of XperienceLab, a management consultancy and strategic design firm founded in late 2012 with a focus on helping clients achieve innovation and business transformation goals through human-centered methods and insights. I serve as XL’s chief experience officer overseeing the business strategy, sales and go-to-market direction for the firm.

I live by a personal belief that life’s too short to become the master of one trade. I work to live, not live to work all in an effort to spend time with my family, friends, children and beautiful wife.

Connect with Mike

LinkedIn

Twitter

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A BIT ABOUT EAST ST. LOUIS INITIATIVE (ESLI) 

East St. Louis Initiative (ESLI) was founded in 2015 to support local entrepreneurs from East St. Louis region by connecting them with graduate students from Washington University. ESLI has already worked with two entrepreneurs from East St. Louis, one of whom has started his own mobile barbershop and the other one runs a volleyball club for low-income girls. This year, they will be working with three new entrepreneurs from the region who were selected through a Pitch Competition.

The organization is founded by Gülcan Yayla (MBA &MSW student at WashU), Kirtika Singh (MBA student at WashU), and Wyatt Guttierez ( JD & MBA at WashU).

Connect with

Washington University in St. Louis

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A BIT ABOUT ELIOT  

The CEO and founder of marketing company Bigwidesky, Eliot Frick, has long been frustrated with our calcified communications theories and business cultures that ignore and exclude the humans at the center. In addition to serving as Bigwidesky’s synthesist and futurist, Eliot is a sought-after author and speaker on topics as disparate as epistemology, political science, economics, user-centered design and media studies. It was Eliot’s TEDxGatewayArch Talk, “Geese from Bottles: Saving Business by Making It More Human,” that became a springboard for Be Human Project, a non-profit focused on emboldening leaders to experiment with human-centered practices.

Connect with Eliot

LinkedIn

Twitter

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NO TIME TO LISTEN TO ANOTHER INTERVIEW? CHECK OUT THE INFOGRAPHIC SUMMARY BELOW! A BIT ABOUT JAMES 

Entrepreneur, technologist, and developer with a passion for product and brand development. Very strong views on design, style, implementation, development, and management.

Started as a developer during the run-up to the dot com days. Worked as an architect, VP, CIO and head of business development to contribute and launch a series of successful companies over the past 14 years. Gained a passion for building great teams – using those team to build great products – and together creating great companies.

100% believer that amazing people – focused on a clear goal – guarded by good management – and given the tools and time to succeed – will create truly magical outcomes.

Currently, a founder and Executive Director of Infoplus Commerce – a SaaS company focused on bringing clarity to the dusty chaos of eCommerce.

Founded in 2013, Infoplus Commerce is a SaaS company with offices in St. Louis, Missouri. We focus on providing simple, powerful, and magical solutions to solve the hard and dusty parts of eCommerce.

Infoplus is a multi-carrier, order management, purchasing, inventory management, integration, and shipping platform that integrates with online sales and marketplace systems including eBay, PayPal, Amazon, Magento, WooCommerce and many more. Infoplus provides direct support for all major shipping carriers including DHL Global Mail, FedEx, UPS, and USPS and plays a critical role in the daily operations and growth of online business in the United States.

Connect with James

LinkedIn

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A BIT ABOUT HEATHER  

Heather J. Crider is CEO of Heather J. Crider & Company. As an online business strategist, Heather is driven to empower business owners through her services and consulting, resolved to “change the world, one business at a time!”

Previous to heading her own strategy company, Heather gained many years of experience in the consulting and financial world, most recently in her years as a success coach and speaker on the John Maxwell team and as owner of EMPIRE Wealth Management Group.

Aside from all things consulting, Heather is an avid fan of fitness and a joyful mother of two children.

Connect with Heather

LinkedIn

Twitter

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