
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Kaela Carey Cifonelli
Sr Manager, Accounts
Loves cooking, hates recipes. Organizational rockstar who starts her Saturdays with a coffee and croissant from her favorite Chicago bakery.
Julia is a marketing professional who passionately champions collaboration, creativity and culture. She graduated with a degree in Communication Arts and a certificate in Digital Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016. Her professional background includes a unique mix of hands-on integrated and digital marketing experience across various agencies. Prior to joining Transparent, she spent several years in shopper marketing account management working with a wide range of OTC brands at key retailers including Walmart and Walgreens. She prides herself on being able to wear many hats and step outside her comfort zone. When she isn’t working, you’ll find Julia experimenting with a new recipe or taking pictures of her dog, Sadie.


Julia Deutsch
Associate, Account Management
Energetic dog lover on a mission to try every great restaurant in Chicago.
Oscar is a natural-born consultant who finds intellectual joy in adapting to new environments, solving difficult challenges and exceeding expectations. His career passion for data architecture, customer experience and operations brought him to Transparent where he designs and implements data strategies that account for each. With a background in chemical engineering and laboratory science, Oscar is able to traverse technical detail, its processes and communicate them effectively which has helped him through his consulting experiences in Healthcare, Real Estate and Financial Services across some of the largest consultancies. Overall, Oscar’s enduring optimism for the future drives his life-long eagerness to build trusted partnerships and help solve large challenges. Outside of work, Oscar is usually still working on something. There’s a quote about loving what you do and work somewhere that captures it but he won’t mention it because of his dislike of clichés.


Oscar Guzman
Manager, Data & Analytics
Student at the school of hip-hop, cuisine and good design. Prudent first mate on the trip to your analytics future state.
Darren has over 17 years of digital marketing technology experience. Leading Major consumer brands such as HP, LG, Logitech, KitchenAid, Whirlpool, and Maytag transition successfully to a digital world. His dual expertise in digital marketing and technology was a critical element that enabled brands like Whirlpool deploy unique solutions for their audience. Over the last 9 years, Darren has lead digital strategy and execution across the marketing technology stack including CMS, Analytics, Digital Project Management, Content Strategy, Product Information Management, and Digital Asset Management.


Darren Jex
Director, Technology
Childhood tennis prodigy turned MarTech Expert, father of 5 boys, enjoys woodworking in his spare time.
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
Associate, Accounts
Motivated D1 athlete and marketing connoisseur, traded warm California sun for Chicago seasons and runs along Lake Michigan.
Phil has spent his career at the intersection of business and technology, helping large CPG and retail brands advance their maturation of powerful data analytics tools with an emphasis on change management and user adoption. He spent over 6 years at IRI, a leading market research and data technology firm, as a solutions consultant where he partnered with companies such as Hershey, PepsiCo and Campbells to build out their technology roadmaps, implement new data visualization platforms, and maximize the value they were getting out of IRI's full suite of capabilities. Phil has also worked in Corporate Strategy and Innovation at Ace Hardware, where he led transformational IT projects to increase Ace store’s consumer relevancy and keep up with the rapidly changing retail technology landscape.


Phil Kruzel
Sr Manager, Accounts
Genuine, strategic problem solver committed to client success. Known to smoke meats and listen to country music while chasing and cleaning up after 3 daughters under the age of 5.
Chris is a lifelong learner of all things web technologies. His passion for good design and clean code has fueled his professional career. With over a decade of experience developing for web platforms, he has worked with companies of all sizes to optimize and deliver best-in-class digital experiences. His dedication for writing code however does not negatively influence his eye for design. He is passionate about UI/UX, typography, and digital branding. Chris has worked with many stakeholders of fortune 500 brands to bridge the communication between marketing and technology teams. Prior to working with Transparent, Chris was a tech lead and solution architect with Whirlpool Corporation. Working with brands such as Maytag, KitchenAid and Whirlpool, he helped support in their global digital transformation.


Chris Lamb
Sr Manager, Technology
Technical Solutions specialist and Lord of the Rings super fan, known for solving Rubik's cubes in under a minute.
Nathan is a marketing and analytics professional currently pursuing a Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. He has experience working with analytic and BI tools such as SQL, Qlikview, Qliksense, and Tableau. Before joining Transparent, Nathan was a Solution Consultant at Sievo, a Finnish procurement analytics software company. He worked with C-suite level executives at various Fortune 500 companies to help identify the framework and taxonomy for their spend data, propose solutions to mitigate their challenges, and curate personalized reports and dashboards that align with the client’s goals, business objectives, and core KPI’s. In his spare time, Nathan likes to teach piano and cello, rehearse with his quartet, shoot pictures with his camera, and work out at the gym. He is an avid car and food enthusiast.


Nathan Lo
Analyst, Data & Analytics
Spontaneous and versatile Tableau & SQL aficionado, weekend piano and cello teacher.
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
Sr Manager, Accounts
Well-read Disney fanatic, best known for color coding spreadsheets and delighting clients.
Danny Mattis
Sr Manager, Data & Analytics
High energy presentation pro who loves basketball and hiking through the National Parks.
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
Manager, Data & Analytics
Homemade pizza chef extraordinaire, aspiring Ironman, disciplined and hardworking tech wizard.
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 Mahomes
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.
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
Associate, Accounts
Chicago born, Arizona raised- can handle the extremes. Avid reader, ardent planner and some would say deep-dish pizza aficionado.
Michelle is a data-fluent professional who spent most of her career partnering with CPG and PE/VC clients to help them translate and unlock the value of market research and consumer data sources. Drawing on nearly a decade of experience at SPINS and IRI, Michelle enabled her clients to achieve sustained, profitable growth by using data to pinpoint opportunities and develop strategies to effectively capture them. She's thrilled to bring her experience, can-do mentality, and occasional quick wit to the Transparent team and its partners.


Michelle Mahoney
Senior Manager, Data and Analytics
Analytical mind motivated by solving client problems and crushing to-do lists. Happiest when a bowl of smoked queso is involved.