HINGE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Creative Director
- Senior Partner
- Leadership Account Creative Marketing Accounting Research All
A partner and co-founder of Hinge, Aaron brings over 20 years of marketing strategy experience to every client engagement. In his career, he's conceived and implemented engaging brand strategies for scores of professional services firms. In his role as Creative Director, Aaron oversees Hinge's award-winning creative team.
Aaron also has a talent for writing about complex topics in a clear, approachable style. He has contributed articles on various aspects of branding and marketing to the Washington Business Journal and numerous industry publications. Aaron manages Hinge's blog, writes our Pivot newsletter and develops content for client websites and marketing collateral. Aaron's background as a writer, marketing strategist and designer - combined with hands-on knowledge of the web's technical side - makes him an invaluable resource as clients apply more and more of their marketing spend to online strategies and content delivery.
He graduated from Davidson College with a BA in English. Aaron is a past board member of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington.
Aaron lives in Reston with his wife and two sons. In his spare time, he's been known to attack various home repair projects with ferocious gusto - often completing them. Aaron is co-author of the books Inside the Buyer's Brain, Online Marketing for Professional Services and Spiraling Up: How to Create a High Growth, High Value Professional Services Firm and edited the book Professional Services Marketing, Second Edition.
Alex facilitates the delivery of Hinge's signature programs and services. With a special expertise in high-performance websites, she is well equipped to guide clients through a project's process, answer the tough questions and explain technical details. Approachable, smart and attentive, she brings exceptional organizational and problem solving skills to every engagement.
Before joining Hinge, Alex helped market a boutique museum fabrication firm, generating over $50 million dollars in revenue from a diverse set of clients, including the Smithsonian Institution. She also provided critical marketing and business development services to a hospitality company in Northern Virginia.
Alex attended Radford University. When she's not at Hinge, Alex spends her free time pretending she's a nature photographer, baking French Macarons and enjoying the occasional Netflix binge. Some of her guilty pleasures include The Bachelor, rocking out to old Brittany Spears songs and keeping up with celebrity gossip.
Job Titles:
- Senior Digital Marketing Manager
Ashley brings over twenty years of marketing experience to Hinge. A veteran of the advertising industry, she has worked with hundreds of clients in a wide variety of industries. At Hinge, she brings a wealth of strategy, design, execution and analytics expertise to every engagement.
Before joining Hinge, Ashley was an entrepreneur and Director of Marketing for a commercial construction firm. She also led the marketing department of a sporting goods company where she developed campaigns for top sports brands such as Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and The North Face.
Ashley earned a Master of Science degree in Information Technology and Management from the University of North Carolina in 2010. She has studied digital marketing trends, SEO, social media, graphic design and website development. To keep her knowledge current, she regularly reads marketing books and attends industry conferences.
Ashley has a reputation for being relatable, knowledgeable and eager to show results. She currently resides in Augusta, Georgia with her two children: a son (14 yrs. old) and a daughter (16 yrs. old).
Austin brings an extensive range of skills to our marketing team, from project management to project delivery. As an optimistic, collaborative, and resourceful member of Hinge's marketing team, Austin leverages his versatility and energy to support Hinge and our clients.
Prior to joining Hinge, Austin served on the leadership team of Brain Injury Services, a nonprofit in Northern Virginia. In this role he carried out the organization's marketing and communications plan and ensured each initiative aligned with the organization's strategic direction. He has a B.A. in Philosophy from Liberty University with a minor in business.
Austin lives in Arlington with his wife, son, and dog named Finn. In his free time, you'll find him organizing weekly cookouts, cheering for D.C. sports, volunteering with his church, and practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Brianna is more than a project facilitator, she is an essential player in an initiative's ultimate success. A dynamic communicator and high-energy personality, she also has a keen eye for detail and a deep respect for project schedules.
Before joining Hinge, Brianna was a digital director at Lee Enterprises, where she managed digital marketing campaigns, clients' monthly campaign reporting, and unleashed her passion for marketing and client relationships.
Brianna earned a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies from Nebraska Wesleyan University. Outside of work, she is either planning her next DIY home improvement project with her husband, spending time with her family, or cuddling her cat and three dogs.
Candace brings her incandescent warmth to work every day. That's important because she personally trains and oversees our team of researchers. In fact, Candace herself has interviewed hundreds of CEOs and business owners for both major market studies and client projects.
As a member of Hinge's leadership team, she is responsible for the well-being of the firm's staff, and she handles a wide range of day-to-day personnel and operational issues at the firm.
A seasoned entrepreneur with over 20 years of product development, production and project management experience, Candace has managed hundreds of marketing campaigns over the course of her career.
Candace received a Bachelor's degree in special education from Augustana College and is a published author and speaker. Born and raised in Minnesota, her roots go deep into the permafrost - in fact, she still can't resist an opportunity to play in the snow.
Christian brings leadership, versatility, and a big personality to our accomplished design team. His talents range wide, from custom illustration and brand identity to web design and print collateral. He also once played in four bands - at the same time. Holy moly. Can this guy multitask!
Before he joined Hinge, Christian was lead designer for online retailers Perpetual Kid and ThinkGeek, where he developed products for Lucasfilm, CBS, and Valve. During an 8-year stint at Fuszion, he designed award-winning materials for National Geographic, The Smithsonian, Discovery Channel, Coca-Cola, CNN and other national brands.
Christian received a BFA in Graphic Design from the Corcoran College of Art + Design. Today, he lives in Vancouver, Washington with his wife and son, whom Christian is systematically indoctrinating in the theology of Stars Wars.
12: Number of meters in a St. Maarten sailing regatta where he had serious fun manning a winch.
Dave Bernard oversees Hinge's editorial department. With more than 30 years of experience in all facets of editorial-from print to digital-Dave leads our team of professional writers, editors and journalists. He works with our writers to produce the have-to-read content that our clients expect from us.
Before joining Hinge, Dave was editorial director of custom media for Penton Media. In this role, he worked with a team of writers and editors to produce how-to, need-to-know and thought leadership content for high-tech clients.
Dave lives with his wife in North Carolina. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Humboldt State University. In his free time, you will find him enjoying the outdoors, taking in nature and photographing wildlife.
David brings his gift for design and a K-pop intensity to work every day. Focused, motivated and talented, he's delivers creative work with consistency and style.
Before he joined Hinge, David was a designer, illustrator and motion graphics designer at George Washington University. He was also a print and web designer at Cafein.
He studied design at New York's School of Visual Art and receive his BFA from the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design in Washington, DC. A drum major in high school, David takes to his drum set at home when he wants to "relax."
Interests
Coffee
Dayna handles the day-to-day accounting and business operations at Hinge. She is in charge of streamlining key operational and business processes, and she manages all of Hinge's accounting functions - ensuring that the business financials are current, accurate, and timely to forecast the firm's revenue growth and cash flow.
Before joining Hinge, Dayna worked as the Revenue Operations Manager for a Senior living advisory firm. Prior to that Dayna was the Accounting and Administration Manager for a national security company. Dayna studied Accounting and Business Management at Broward College and Florida Atlantic University.
Outside of the office, Dayna enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She also enjoys creating stained glass masterpieces, listening to contemporary smooth jazz, taking long motorcycle trips and gardening. Mother to three lovely daughters, she currently lives in Ashburn, Virginia.
A life-long entrepreneur, Liz leads Hinge's business development team. You'll see her speaking at conferences around the country, and she writes for a wide variety of industry publications.
Elizabeth (Liz) Harr, a nationally recognized expert in high-growth marketing, leads Hinge's business development team. Liz is also actively involved in developing high-growth strategies for clients and delivering expert advice.
With a special expertise in branding and strategy, Jake leads clients through even the most complex marketing programs with confidence and skill. He brings more than 10 years of project management experience to every engagement. More importantly, clients love working with him-his positive attitude, collaborative approach and serious attention to detail deliver a low-friction, high-fulfillment client experience.
Before joining Hinge, Jake oversaw the projects department at a major environmental graphics company that served many of the nation's largest home builders.
Jake graduated from Longwood University with a degree in fine arts, concentrating in graphic design. He spends his free time working on small house projects and cooking with his wife and son at their home in Chantilly, Virginia. If downtime were an option, Jake would enjoy Sci-Fi and action movies and sampling seasonal craft brews with friends.
Job Titles:
- Director of Business Development
Accessible, enthusiastic and entrepreneurial, Joe is always craving for a conversation. It's a good thing, too. As Hinge's Director of Business Development, he's responsible for managing the organization's pipeline and connecting them to the right people at the right time.
Joe brings more than five years of strategic and technical experience in targeted opportunity capture, proposal development, marketing and project management work. A veteran of both federal contracting and professional services, he has worked directly with a large and diverse list of government agencies and consulting firms. In the past, Joe has been a regular attendee at marketing events, conferences and tradeshows, leveraging these opportunities to help companies network and grow.
What really enticed Joe to join Hinge was his passion for marketing and storytelling, which Joe traces back to high school where he edited an award-winning yearbook. He appreciates delivering a captivating and winning message.
Born and raised in Northern Virginia, Joe has dug his roots deep in the local community. He has a Bachelor's of Science in Biology from Virginia Commonwealth University and is an avid D.C. sports enthusiast and outdoorsman. When not at the office, it's very likely Joe can be found on a playing field or golf course, in the woods or in the stands cheering on one of his favorite teams.
Kaitlin is an essential liaison between Hinge's team and our clients. A skillful communicator and energetic go-getter, she ensures that each project meets everyone's expectations-from quality deliverables to timing to creativity.
Before joining Hinge, Kaitlin worked at digital marketing firm W2 Communications, where she managed a wide range of website, video and branding projects-and uncovered her passion for both the creative process and building lasting client relationships.
Kaitlin earned a degree in Communications from Mount St. Mary's University. She lives in Leesburg, Virginia, with her son and cat, both acting as her shadows. When not at Hinge, she spends her spare time snuggling her son, making music or reading, all outside when possible.
Karl is charge of Hinge's client delivery. A Visible Expert, he speaks at conferences around the country and blogs frequently on growth strategy and other topics that are relevant to the industries we serve.
Karl Feldman oversees Hinge's service delivery. A former entrepreneur, marketer and engineer, Karl is uniquely qualified to lead our account teams, continuing to evolve and improve the value we deliver to our clients. In addition, he advises leaders in the architecture, engineering and construction industries on growth and marketing issues.
Before joining Hinge, Karl was Director of Marketing at HITT Contracting, a top-50 US-based general contractor with 700 employees and offices nationwide. He has also led marketing operations for national retail, and B2B operations with brands like Herman Miller, Steelcase and Harley Davidson. And at various points in his career, Karl founded and ran several venture capital backed firms.
An expert in high-growth strategies, Karl blogs and speaks about professional services marketing and strategy at events around the nation.
A compulsive builder, Karl spends his free time designing and unleashing a panoply of (sometimes useful) gadgets - from robots to drones to motorized skateboards. Karl studied computer science at Virginia Tech. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and son.
Job Titles:
- Business Development Relationship Associate
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of Hinge Research Institute
Kelly is a recognized subject matter expert on a variety of B2B marketing topics including Account-Based Marketing (ABM), Marketing Automation Platforms (MAP) and Martech. A prolific writer and speaker, he has tens of thousands of followers on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Leadership Account Creative Marketing Accounting Research All
Lee oversee's Hinge's day-to-day operations and leads our research team. A recognized innovator in professional services marketing, he writes and speaks frequently on high-growth strategies.
Job Titles:
- Director of Client Operations
- Leadership Account Creative Marketing Accounting Research All
7 states she has lived in, give or take 10 cities…so far.
Job Titles:
- Director, Outreach and Partnerships
Job Titles:
- Business Development Relationship Executive