Meet the Team
What unites our cast of characters?
A culture of collaboration, a commitment to excellence, and a dedication to improving your business or institution through powerful web technology and compelling creative.
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Sports team
Wake Forest Demon Deacons! Go Deacs!
Travel destination
Any beach
Mark Dirks
CEO/Senior Partner
Before becoming Beacon's CEO, Mark climbed through the technical ranks, starting as an application developer for RJ Reynolds. He then spent 15 years at AT&T, where he led the creation of one of the world's first corporate intranets. Co-founding Beacon in 1998, he has driven consistent growth, long-term partnerships and a unique culture for 20 years. Mark was instrumental in forming relationships with Google, Accenture, KPMG Consulting, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Department of Education (when Beacon developed FAFSA on the Web). These relationships during the company's early years, coupled with Mark's leadership and business development skills, foreshadowed the growth of Beacon's Higher Education portfolio over the last 10 years. Mark holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Wake Forest University and an M.S. in Computer Systems from Kansas State University. He serves on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Technology Association, was named Small Business Person of the Year by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and received the Entrepreneurial Success Award by the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce.
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Hobby
Volunteering for Sea Turtle Project
Travel destination
Skiing in Steamboat, CO
Tracy Dirks
CPO/Senior Partner
Tracy is the Senior VP of Beacon’s Web Development Services division. She brings 30+ years of Information Technology experience to her clients after serving as a Technical Manager for Bell Labs and the Chief Systems Architect for AT&T’s HRIS. She specializes in strategic planning, intranets, systems architecture, and project management. She has led major Higher Education projects at Beacon for over 10 years for institutions such as the University of North Georgia, Colorado State University Pueblo, Winston-Salem State University, California State University East Bay, Husson University, and more. Tracy is a trusted source of guidance to her clients because she is uniquely skilled in correlating technical solutions to business needs. Tracy earned a B.S. in Computer Science at NW Missouri State and an M.S. in Computer Systems from Kansas State University. She regularly attends and occasionally presents at the major Higher Education trade shows. Tracy was selected for the Leadership Greensboro Development Program and was recognized by the Triad Business Journal in their Women in Business edition.
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Hobby
Coaching high school softball
Emoji
Rolling on floor laughing
John Scaramuzzo
COO/Senior Partner
John is the Senior VP of Beacon’s IT Services Group, a veteran technology strategist, innovative engineer, and creative entrepreneur with nearly three decades of distinguished service and experience in platform and server technologies, e-commerce, business consulting, and customer service management. Before co-founding Beacon, he worked for 12 years at AT&T, where he was instrumental in building the infrastructure to support AT&T’s global corporate intranet in the mid-90s while also supporting AT&T’s HR HW/SW/NW. John architected Beacon’s data center, serving hundreds of clients worldwide for web hosting and software to support content management, custom applications, and high-end e-commerce for Higher Education institutions and businesses. He also created Beacon’s IT Services division (BITS) which provides managed services for desktops, servers, and networks across many states. John also served as an IT consultant on government contracts through subcontracts with Accenture and KPMG and earned his B.S. in Computer Science/Mathematics from the College of Staten Island.
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Travel destination
Tropical beaches
Hobby
Knitting and crochet
Kristy Scaramuzzo
Payroll/Accounting Manager
For many Beacon employees, Kristy is one of the first points of contact and friends for new hires to our team. Since 2002, Kristy has been a crucial piece of the puzzle in facilitating various administrative tasks to support the success of the company and every team member. As the Payroll and Accounting Manager, Kristy is the go-to expert for important internal financial processes that keep Beacon's wheels turning. Always supportive with a smile, her favorite part of working for Beacon is getting to know everyone individually and working with such a passionate and diverse group of people every day. Kristy's alma mater is Montclair State University in New Jersey.
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Sports team
Duke Basketball
Lunch
Mexican
Rob Darst
CFO
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Travel destination
San Diego
Hobby
Watching bad reality TV
Christy Phillips
Vice President, Project Management Office
Christy contributes over 15 years of expertise in project management as the Vice President of Project Management at Beacon. Her guidance in creating new processes to streamline Beacon's workflows and project management efforts has allowed the team to grow and thrive exponentially since joining the team in 2017, with the PMO (Project Management Office) integrated into every Beacon project to ensure consistent client satisfaction. Since then, Christy has changed the way Beacon provides customer service with her gifted problem-solving ability, crystal-clear explanations, and strategic business insights. Her favorite part of the job is developing trusting partnerships with our clients and keeping everyone at ease and on track during development projects. With Christy as a mentor and guide to your project, both our client and internal teams benefit from smooth, straightforward processes proven by years of experience. Christy holds a B.S. in Business and Accounting from Ashford College.
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Emoji
Thumbs up
Lunch
Japanese
William Nichols
Vice President, IT Services & Hosting
William leads both Beacon's internal tech support group and our managed client IT service team, BITS (Beacon IT Services), as our resident system administration expert. As the head of Beacon's IT infrastructure and manager of our dedicated and shared hosting environments, William's leadership is backed by decades of experience and provides the security these crucial systems require. After receiving an education at ECPI College, William proceeded to earn various professional certifications, including CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Net+. He is also a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator in addition to a ConnectWise Automate Certified Professional. With a special interest in supporting his team in their own education and growth, William looks forward to facing new challenges every day as our technology habits and processes change.
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Sports team
University of Tennessee Volunteers
Hobby
Golfing
Darin Humbard
Lead Senior Project Manager
Darin has been working on website development and digital marketing projects as a project manager with Beacon since 2015. Clients love working with Darin because of his contagious positivity, direct communication, and the fact that he's always ready to brighten your day with a pun, joke, or anecdote. One of Darin's favorite aspects of his work with Beacon is establishing ongoing partnerships with repeat clients and watching their business grow and evolve over time, as the trusting relationships stay the same. Darin holds a B.A. and M.S. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and in his spare time enjoys Tennessee sports and traveling all over the world.
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Sports team
UNC Tar Heels
Travel destination
Places with low populations and warm saltwater
Dena Scott-Caulder
Lead Senior Project Manager
Dena is the Lead Senior Project Manager at Beacon with over 20 years of experience in the field. Dena has worked on projects from various industries ranging from web development, traditional and digital marketing, content development, and IT solutions. Since joining Beacon in 2018, she has focused on web development and digital marketing for our higher education and multi-family residential clients, including managing their SEO, GA, Paid, and social media advertising efforts. Dena especially enjoys creating plans and timelines and is passionate about building relationships with her clients. She is a constant source of positivity and helps her colleagues daily with project planning and process questions, and always keeps her office's candy jar well-stocked for visitors.
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Lunch
Tacos
Travel destination
Walt Disney World
Keana Massey
Vice President, UX Design & Development
Keana leads Beacon's developers, content strategists, and designers as the Vice President of UX Design & Development. Since joining the team in 2010, she has led and consulted for over 100 Higher Education projects (so far!) and is Beacon’s CMS expert who has truly seen it all. Keana specializes in the analysis, design, and implementation of websites with an extreme passion for user experience, accessibility, multi-device interactions, and technical best practices. She is also passionate about her team and loves the opportunities for constant collaboration amongst talented, knowledgeable individuals with the same vision of delivering incredible results for our clients. Keana regularly presents at Higher Ed conferences on accessibility and CMS development topics, such as academic program page design and ADA compliance testing. Keana earned an Associate’s Degree in Web Technologies from Guilford Technical Community College.
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Podcast
Bigger Pockets
Hobby
Antiquing & renovating old furniture
Andrea Cole
Vice President, Digital Marketing & Analytics
With over a decade of SEO, Paid Search and Google Analytics experience, Andrea is Beacon’s Vice President of Digital Marketing & Analytics and works directly with our Higher Education clients and large commercial accounts. She enjoys collaborating with her team and leads with a mantra that "the best marketing doesn't feel like marketing." In an ever-changing industry with clients who are also constantly evolving, Andrea loves that every day is different. Andrea earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of NC at Chapel Hill, is certified in Google Analytics and is invited annually to Google’s exclusive GA Summit. She recently served as an adjunct professor in Wake Forest University’s School MSBA Program and led a conference seminar for improving site search and SEO in Higher Education.
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Emoji
Alien
Podcast
Mysterious Universe; Real Ghost Stories Online
AJ Pope
Lead UX Visual Designer
AJ is Beacon’s lead graphic designer for Higher Ed, leveraging his extensive experience with design and marketing for websites, rebranding projects, print material and video. He brings a nice mix of today’s technology and design concepts that are brand-attentive and bridge common gaps between print and digital. AJ earned a B.A. in Media from the University of NC at Greensboro and specializes in creating designs that are both user-friendly and compliments the client’s branding.
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Karaoke song
Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
Podcast
How Stuff Works
Zedric Myers
Lead UI Developer
Zedric joined Beacon in 2011 and is a Senior Lead UI Developer for Beacon Technologies. After earning his degree in Advertising and Graphic Design, he spent 11 years with an advertising agency in Greensboro, NC where he was initially hired as a designer and transitioned to being a Web Developer.
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Travel destination
Walt Disney World
Brandon Canter
Director, UX Design and Development
Although Brandon has a developer title, his roots are in graphic design. After earning his A.A.S. degree in Advertising and Graphic design, he worked as a graphic designer in an agency before transitioning to development. He is involved with almost all of our Higher Ed clients, who have benefited from his unique blend of creative and technical experience over the last 10 years.
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Emoji
Grimace
Lunch
Chips & salsa
Wayne Garrett
Lead UX Strategist
Wayne Garrett contributes over 10 years of experience working with higher education institutions to the Beacon team. As a strategist, he is a thorough and dependable asset to his clients, taking care to ensure all web and content development projects produce engaging user experiences. Not only does he create strategies for content and user experience, Wayne also has expertise in developing, testing, and managing higher-education websites. After graduating with a B.A. in Communication Studies, Wayne worked as a Web Content Specialist at Miami University of Ohio before joining Beacon in 2016. At Beacon, he specializes in user experience for higher education with a focus on content strategy and web accessibility and always seeks to learn new strategies during every project.
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Emily Ledbetter
Regional Sales Director - Southeast
Emily Ledbetter joined the Beacon team as an Account Executive after a successful, 10-year stint in the banking industry. She excels in understanding the business and technical requirements of website redesigns and digital marketing projects for our college and university customers. You're likely to find her exploring these subjects at many of the major Higher Ed conferences. Emily has built lasting relationships with long-term Beacon clients, such as Hawaii Pacific University, Michigan State University, Lees McRae College and Birmingham Southern University among others. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Economics from Greensboro College.
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Lunch
Subway veggie sandwich
Travel destination
The Outer Banks
Kent Dickinson
Senior Account Executive
Kent is a web design and digital marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience in business development, strategic planning, operations, customer service, and sales management. He has worked in a variety of industries, including educational publishing, digital printing, direct marketing, consulting, financial services, among others. He has worked with many colleges and universities around the country and is a strong proponent of strategic partnership, performance management, and customer service/communication. Kent earned a B.S. in Business from Wake Forest University and his MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
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Lunch
Jimmy Johns Spicy East Coast Italian Sub
Karaoke song
"Just My Imagination" by The Temptations
Jordan Burleson
Vice President, Digital Advertising
Jordan leads the paid search team at Beacon, helping clients achieve positive growth and ROI through their digital marketing programs. Jordan leads the paid strategy for Higher Education, Multifamily, and eCommerce clients and nurtures long-standing relationships and trust. In addition to over a decade of digital marketing experience in traditional and digital marketing mediums, Jordan holds certifications in Google Analytics, Google Ads, & paid social. He is also a Google Ads Certified Professional in search, display, shopping, mobile, and video campaigns. A graduate of Appalachian State University, Jordan earned a B.S. in Communication with double majors in Broadcasting and Advertising. In his free time you can find Jordan exploring with his three boys, and also posting reviews, photos, and lists on Google Maps as a Local Guide.
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Lunch
Taco Bell
Travel destination
Great Smoky Mountains
Jason Canter
IT Support Specialist
As an IT support specialist, Jason Canter comes to Beacon with over a dozen years of experience in retail managing technology sales, and personal and in-home IT solutions. He has spent much of that time providing complete IT support for national retail franchises, building and maintaining point-of-sales systems, and remotely managing franchised locations.
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Lunch
Poke Bowls
Hobby
Cooking & baking
Olivia Earley
Digital Advertising Strategist
Olivia is a Digital Advertising Strategist and Social Media Manager, managing day-to-day PPC tasks for a number of clients, as well as overseeing all of Beacon’s respective social media channels. Olivia brings over 5 years of social media management experience, most recently as the accounts manager at Social Moxy.
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Lunch
Greek/Mexican - it's a tie
Sports team
Carolina Panthers
Kevin Lackey
Senior Account Executive
Kevin has been a sales professional for over 20 years and has contributed his expertise to Beacon since August 2016. As the primary account executive overseeing our IT services (BITS) clients, Kevin is dialed into what our clients need from their business IT infrastructure. Kevin is a practiced partner in the field and works with clients year-round on managing their IT, scheduling maintenance, and looking ahead to future projects. His favorite part of his role is building ongoing relationships with colleagues and clients over years of working together. Kevin holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
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Podcast
Last Podcast on The Left
Lunch
Hibachi
Caleb Pruitt
Director, IT Support
Caleb joined the Beacon team in April 2011 as a Desktop Administrator. He graduated from ECPI in February 2011 with an associate degree in Computer Science and Technology and holds a second associate degree from GTCC in Architectural Technology.
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Hobby
Riding motorcycles
Lunch
Thai style red curry
Mike Ratcliffe
Director, IT Infrastructure
Mike Ratcliffe is a hard-working, self-motivated system administrator who adapts quickly to new technology, concepts, and environments. With over a decade of experience in information technology and numerous titles and responsibilities throughout his career, he currently focuses on system administration of Microsoft Active Directory and related technologies, Microsoft Exchange, as well as VMware virtualization.
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Sports team
New York Rangers
Lunch
French dip
Marissa Scaramuzzo
Associate Tech Support Specialist
Marissa is an Associate Tech Support Specialist assisting our BITS clients since 2014. While on the job, one of her favorite aspects of her day-to-day is figuring out how to solve each new support issue and learning new things daily. When not helping clients of her Beacon colleagues, Marissa enjoys reading and having new experiences while traveling.
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Emoji
Ghost
Hobby
Martial Arts (kickboxing and Tae Kwon Do)
Dustin Shives
Associate System Administrator
Meet Dustin, one of Beacon's Associate System Administrators on the IT Services team. He joined Beacon in early 2019 and with his sense of humor and positive attitude has been a great contributor to the team ever since. Dustin attended Western Governors University for System Administration and Cloud Computing and uses his expertise to assist our BITS clients with their support issues. While at work, he most enjoys the challenge of finding solutions to ever-changing problems as the IT world constantly evolves.
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Sports team
NCSU
Hobby
Woodworking
John Wallwork
Lead Software/DB Engineer
John Wallwork is a Senior Lead Software/DB Engineer. He has a B.S. in Chemistry and has taken graduate courses in chemistry and computer science at NC State University. John has over 16 years of IT experience and has the following software skills: VB, ASP, .NET, C, C++, XML, Delphi, SQL, Crystal Reports, VMS, Unix, MS Access, and SQL Server.
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Hobby
Trail walking/hiking
Sports team
Virginia Tech Hokies
Sheryl Wardman
Sales & Contract Administrator
Sheryl is Beacon's resident Sales & Contract Administrator, tracking and managing many of our business's critical paperwork and internal systems. With Sheryl's attention to detail and support, every member of the Beacon team can keep their projects, contracts and workflows running smoothly. She joined the team in early 2012 and holds a B.S. in Economics from Virginia Tech. In her spare time, Sheryl likes to hike, kayak and is a big sports fan, especially for her alma mater's football and basketball teams.
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Lunch
A sandwich and sweet tea
Karaoke song
"You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC
Michael Wood
Lead Software/DB Engineer
Michael Wood has been with Beacon for over 20 years, having joined the team in 2001. He provides transactional programming expertise, mostly in VB.NET and SQL Server. In the past, he worked in the corporate worlds of AT&T and IBM.
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Lunch
Curry Bento
Karaoke song
Anything by My Chemical Romance or Queen
Kath Zoller
Digital Marketing Specialist II
Kath is a Digital Advertising Specialist with a particular passion for data analysis and research. Kath started at Beacon in 2018, and every day since then has contributed a positive attitude and eagerness to help the team. As a member of the Digital Marketing Team, Kath focuses on our clients' paid advertising and pay-per-click campaigns with a keen eye for trends and strategic analysis. Kath graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with a B.A. in Marketing. When not at work, Kath spends time on hobbies such as thrifting, digital art and music.
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Hobby
Playing video games and Dungeons & Dragons
Podcast
Too Scary; Didn't Watch
Sarah Strickler
Lead Digital Content Strategist
Sarah is a Digital Content Strategist at Beacon and comes from a background in digital marketing and website support. With experience in creating content for various clients from right down the street in Greensboro, North Carolina, to businesses across the country, Sarah values each opportunity to research client branding and identify audiences. Sarah enjoys reviewing, organizing, and educating others about digital content just as much as creating her own.
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Sports team
Barcelona FC
Karaoke song
Como Pagarte (How to Pay You?) – Carlos Rivera
Mel Gonsalez
Lead IT Support Specialist
Mel is our Lead IT Support Specialist after joining the Beacon team in early 2020. With years of experience and education in both computer and electronics engineering from ECPI, Mel's expertise in IT support is a massive help to the team. Always friendly and willing to help out with any issue, no matter how big or small, Mel loves the challenge of diagnosing problems. His favorite aspect of his job is the exciting diversity of clients, applications and software he works with daily. Outside work, Mel is a big soccer fan and loves spending time with his family.
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Lunch
Spicy pad thai
Karaoke song
“Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia (with honorable mention to “Take Me Home Tonight” by Eddie Money)
Josh Barrer
Lead Digital Content Editor
With a passion for strategy, Josh digs deep into every content project to ensure the best path forward for his clients. Josh joined Beacon in 2020, bringing 10 years of experience in marketing and communications to the website development and digital marketing teams. He’s worked with Fortune 200 clients and small local businesses alike to create websites, magazines, social posts, books, radio ads, and videos. An adept writer, editor, and storyteller, he collaborates with clients and colleagues to create and elevate content that engages, connects, and drives audiences to action through SEO content strategies. Josh graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
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Emoji
Laughing crying
Karaoke song
"My Way" by Frank Sinatra
Jeremiah Barrett
Digital Optimization Strategist
Jeremiah is a Digital Optimization Strategist with over 15 years of experience in inbound marketing, marketing automation, and social media marketing for both B2B and B2C. He’s also a full-stack web developer with a concentration on emerging marketing technology like psychographics, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Artificial Intelligence (Ai). Jeremiah has worked with clients ranging from mom-and-pop businesses to start-ups to major corporations like Chase Bank, Dicks Sporting Goods, Dell Computers, EA Games, Sonos, Intuit TurboTax, Bell Canada, and The Department Of Health and Human Services (DHHS). He also holds certifications in digital marketing, gamification, software development, web development, and project management.
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Travel destination
Anywhere tropical
Karaoke song
"Don't Stop Believin'" or "Eye of the Tiger"
Austin Johnson
Digital Optimization Specialist
Austin Johnson is a Digital Optimization Specialist. He worked for several years at various agencies with a focus on CRM data and social media content creation. At Beacon, he works closely with Bassett Home Furniture, Bell Partners, burton + Burton, Kane Residential, and New Jersey Resources. Austin enjoys working in SEOClarity, Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, and Google My Business to help drive online traffic for his clients and help them be successful. Austin has a B.S. in Communications with a Concentration in Advertising from Appalachian State University.
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Hobby
Hiking
Karaoke song
"Under Pressure" by Queen & David Bowie
Lorian Landreth
IT Support Specialist
Lorian joined the Beacon team in 2020 as an IT Support Specialist in the Beacon IT Services (BITS) department. As an IT Support Specialist, he works with the rest of the team to address IT issues from our clients and internal departments. Working in a fun environment with a supportive team is his favorite part of the job, says Lorian. Outside of the office, Lorian plays trombone and sings in his church choir. Lorian holds a B.S. in Information Systems and Operations Management from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.
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Karaoke Song
"Hit the Road Jack" by Ray Charles
Hobby
Watching Mixed Martial Arts
Andrew Davis
Digital Marketing Strategist I
Andrew joined Beacon in 2020 and is one of our paid advertising experts on the Digital Marketing team. As a Digitial Advertising Specialist, Andrew assists in developing and performing paid advertising strategies for Beacon's varied clients. Coming together as a team to work through client projects and seeing that collaboration create client success is one of Andrew's favorite parts of his job. With an alma mater from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Andrew is local to the Piedmont Triad area and enjoys collaborating with his teammates and colleagues at the Beacon Triad office.
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Lunch
Buffalo macaroni and cheese
Sports team
Pittsburgh Steelers
Bill Morrissey
Systems Administrator
Bill is a Systems Administrator at Beacon at joined the team at the very beginning of 2021. Bills is a member of our Beacon IT Services (BITS) group and as a systems administrator, he specializes in troubleshooting our clients' issues with servers and networks. He enjoys the various tasks and issues from our diverse client base because there is something different to learn and deal with every day. Bill is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert in Messaging, and outside of work, dabbles in auto mechanics.
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Karaoke song
"Tequila"
Travel destination
Cayman Islands
Dustin Woods
Digital Optimization Specialist
Dustin joined the Digital Marketing Team at Beacon in 2021 as Digital Optimization Specialist focusing on SEO marketing for our multi-family and higher education clients. Dustin loves the supportive team environment at Beacon and is always proud to see the organic results of our efforts to improve our client's business SEO. He is a self-proclaimed "beach nut," and before joining Beacon, Dustin golfed competitively for 10 years; now he just plays for fun outside of work. Dustin holds an A.A.S from Surry Community College.
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Emoji
A day never goes by when I don't use the thumbs-up emoji
Podcast
The Daily
Emily Wright
Lead Senior Project Manager
Emily joined Beacon in 2021 and is an experienced Senior Project Manager with a background in digital marketing for worldwide brands and North Carolina local businesses in various industries. With years of expertise in project management, Emily lends her skills to every corner of Beacon's operations, from higher education redesign projects to IT services support contracts. She is a reliable partner and takes care to consider the big picture while minding every detail in her project plans. Emily is thankful for the opportunity to work with so many different and amazing clients across a multitude of business sectors throughout her career. Emily's alma mater is Marquette University, and when not supporting her team in the office, she enjoys traveling, running and reading.
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Sports team
USA Women's Soccer
Podcast
Radiolab
Sarah Donahue
UI Developer II
Sarah comes from a design background and joined the development team at Beacon in 2021. With a passion for bringing designs to life with code, Sarah enjoys building user interfaces and collaborating with her teammates on creating the most user-friendly websites possible. Since starting at Beacon, Sarah has contributed to several major higher education website redesign projects and many internal initiatives. Sarah holds a B.A. in graphic design from Bellevue University and a Master of Interactive Media from Elon University.
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Hobby
Riding motorcycles & Boy Scouts
Travel destination
Golden Isles, GA
Dereck Pettitt
Systems Administrator II
Dereck came to Beacon in 2021 as a Systems Administrator in our IT Services department. His specialty as a systems administrator is to assist our Beacon IT Services (BITS) clients when they experience problems with their networks and/or servers. Dereck likes to ride motorcycles and participate in the Boy Scouts when not at work. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro with a B.S in Computer Science.
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Sports team
Carolina Hurricanes
Travel destination
Italy and the Mediterranean Coast
Teresa Kline
Digital Marketing Strategist I
In 2021 Teresa joined the Beacon team in the Digital Marketing group as a Digital Advertising Specialist, working on paid advertising campaigns for our marketing clients. Coming from a more traditional marketing background, Teresa loves the variety of work across Beacon's broad and diverse client base. One of her favorite aspects of the job is the endless opportunities to learn and grow daily from client projects and her teammates' knowledge and specializations. In her free time, she likes to do yoga and listens to investigative journalism podcasts. Teresa graduated from the University of North Carolina in Asheville with a B.A. in Mass Communications.
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Podcast
Critical Role
Lunch
A sandwich, Reuben or classic Italian style
Jonathan Eades
Digital Advertising Specialist
Jonathan joined Beacon in December 2021 and has worked with the digital marketing team to support our clients' paid advertising efforts. He has worked with various high-profile clients in our multi-family residential sector and enjoys the variety and flexibility his work at Beacon entails. During a regular day, you can find Jonathan researching and analyzing advertising strategies for pathways to future success for our clients. Jonathan received an education at Liberty University and enjoys photography, board games, and visiting the mountains in his spare time.
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Podcast
Sincerely Fortune
Lunch
Leftovers are always fun to use up
Elizabeth Ellingson
HR Generalist
Elizabeth is Beacon's Human Resources Generalist and is herself a beacon of light in the office. With a decade of experience in human resources for digital companies, Elizabeth brings expertise and the know-how to support her team that helps make Beacon such a great place to work. Always ready to lend a friendly ear and have a chat, Elizabeth has been a force of positivity and compassion in the office since joining the team in the summer of 2022. At work, she loves learning from and supporting her colleagues and Beacon's passion for volunteering and community service. Elizabeth graduated from Peace College and, in her spare time, enjoys visits to the YMCA for RPM and spin classes.
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Lunch
A sandwich from Steve's Garden Market
Travel destination
Hiking in the Shenandoah Mountains
Kaitlyn Marino
UI Developer
Kaitlyn is a multifaceted UI Developer and designer with years of experience in web development. After starting her career as a graphic designer, she soon realized a passion for coding and web development strategy which eventually brought her to Beacon. Kaitlyn’s expertise in both web design and web development results in unique key insights into every project. Her eagerness to explore the latest best practices in higher education user experiences makes her an instrumental member of the development team.
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Travel destination
Chicago
Podcast
Behind the Brilliance with Lisa Nicole Bell
Precious McKoy
Digital Optimization Strategist
Precious joined the team in 2022 as a Digital Optimization Strategist for our digital marketing sector with an extensive background in working in higher education. At Beacon, Precious combines her business, technology and marketing skillsets in every project. Precious is always thinking ahead about how technology can help our clients be successful while looking at the big picture to understand what will help them stay competitive in today’s ever-changing world. She holds various credentials through Credly and belongs to the Young Professionals Advisory Committee through the EDUCASE organization. She attended Queens University for her undergraduate education and also attended graduate school at High Point University. Precious enjoys creative pursuits like painting when not working on a strategy for our digital marketing clients.
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Lunch
Chipotle Chicken Bowl
Podcast
Very Amusing
Brittany Peaks
Digital Content Analyst
Brittany is a Digital Marketing Analyst supporting Beacon's web development services content team. As an analyst, Brittany assists with content strategy for our higher education clients and contributes to content optimizations for our digital marketing clients. Since joining Beacon, Brittany reports that some of her favorite parts of her day-to-day are the endless opportunities to learn something new. She enjoys being able to experience and learn all the different steps each department takes to complete a successful project. Brittany attended Winston Salem State University and, when not at Beacon, loves visiting or planning a visit to Walt Disney World.
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Hobby
Working on my car
Travel destination
Boone, North Carolina
Ryan Glass
Associate Tech Support Specialist
Ryan is an Associate Tech Support Specialist at Beacon in our IT Services group, BITS. He joined Beacon in 2022 and has since been a collaborative member of the support group, eager to help with every task and client support call. Ryan's favorite aspect of his job is the variety of work and the fact that he experiences something new every day. Ryan graduated from Forsyth Tech and holds a CompTIA A+ certification.
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Lunch
Vodka Pasta
Karaoke song
"Underneath It All" by No Doubt ft. Lady Saw
Taylor Millaway
Digital Content Specialist
Taylor, a Digital Content Specialist, joined the Beacon web development services content team in 2022. With a background in social media marketing and content creation for businesses, Taylor joined the team practiced and prepared to write engaging copy for our clients. She has worked on various projects and contributed content to our internal marketing and communications, multi-family property clients and higher education website redesigns. When not writing at Beacon, Taylor loves to cook for her friends and volunteer. Taylor holds a B.S. in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
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Hobby
Facetiming my dog, Sushi!
Lunch
Banh Mi sandwich
Kayla Timpson
UX Visual Designer
Kayla is a UX Visual Designer on Beacon's Web Development Services team. She joined the team in 2022 with a B.F.A. in New Media Design and a minor in Information Technology, ready to immediately dive into website redesign projects and more. Kayla also holds a Google UX Design Certification and is passionate about taking the time to create the right design-based solutions. Since joining Beacon, Kayla has most enjoyed working in a creative and collaborative environment with a supportive team. When not designing websites and other UX solutions for our clients, Kayla loves playing with her dog, Sushi.
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Karaoke song
"Valerie" by Amy Winehouse
Hobby
Gardening
Caleigh Vincent
Digital Advertising Analyst
Caleigh joined us at Beacon during the summer of 2022 as a Digital Advertising Analyst in the paid advertising division of our Digital Marketing department. Her favorite part of the job is having such an incredible team of colleagues to work with every day. Since joining Beacon, Caleigh has become Google Analytics certified and looks forward to expanding her skillset even more with guidance and support from the team. After hours, you can find Caleigh gardening or cheering on UNC sports. Caleigh graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Communications major and a focus on digital marketing.
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Lunch
It's difficult to beat a good slice of pizza
Sports team
Red-Bull Racing Formula One team
Matthieu Defize
Digital Marketing Specialist
Matthieu joined the Beacon team in 2022 as a Digital Marketing Specialist focusing on SEO optimization for our varied client base. Before Beacon, Matthieu was born and raised in the Netherlands, graduated from the University of Amsterdam with a degree in Communications and has now lived in the United States for over a decade. His hobbies include traveling home to visit Amsterdam when able, and also being outdoors and cooking—especially if those two activities can be combined.
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Sports team
Portland Trailblazers
Podcast
Last Podcast on the Left
Michelle Paras
Project Manager
Michelle is a Project Manager at Beacon and joined the team at the very beginning of 2023. Before becoming a part of the team, Michelle worked on remotely managing expansions and onboarding campaigns for Podium, and prior to that had extensive experience in sales and B2B projects. She enjoys the partnership, communication, and relationship-building aspects of her role at Beacon with both her teammates and our client partners. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys traveling, particularly to her favorite destination Italy, and going to see live music. Michelle graduated from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro with a degree in Liberal Studies, Humanities.Think You're a Great Fit for Beacon?
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