Brandon Wentland

CEO

Brandon is our CEO and founder. He is always striving to be “optimal” – not to be right, but to get it right. He loves to work on strategy and systems – to find patterns and meaning in random information.

Outside the office, he loves to read, hike, play board games, and spend time with his wife, Erin, and family of 4 kids.

John McKinney

Director of Operations

John’s goal is to ensure all Optimal clients receive amazing results and love working with their growth marketing team. He works closely with the Lead Growth Marketers to ensure client and team success – beyond just revenue numbers. He is a big proponent of helping all those in the Operations department live out the cultural values we have at Optimal.

When not “in the office”, he enjoys traveling, hiking, kayaking, backpacking, and doing as much in the outdoors as possible. He loves to build wood furniture and decor for around the house. As well as cook meals that require too many pots and pans (much to the chagrin of his wife).

Maggie Gilman

Lead Growth Marketer

Maggie is passionate about helping her team grow professionally and working with clients to help them grow their business. Her attention to detail, determination to set and achieve actionable goals, and genuine enjoyment of building relationships with new people have helped herself, her team, and her clients see success.

When she’s not coaching her team on strategy or project management, working to resolve issues, or getting lost in analyzing data, you can find her hiking, taking too many pictures of her adorable dog, or devouring as many tacos as possible. If you challenge her to a Harry Potter trivia night, she will win. Maggie is an avid traveler and a (beginner) yoga enthusiast, who believes in seizing the opportunity to better yourself every day.

Ryan Warner

Lead Growth Marketer

Ryan is a Lead Growth Marketer who works collaboratively with his team of Growth Marketers to not only provide growth for clients, but for each other as well. When Ryan is not in the office sipping coffee, you can find him at home with his family of four (Daughters: Ezra, Raya & Wife: Alyce). They love enjoying the outdoors and watching the newest Marvel Disney+ series (?Loki!). Ryan is not only a full-time Lead Growth Marketer, but he is also a full-time nerd. You can find him meddling with everything from board games, ancient history, and miniatures.

Josh Burns

Lead Growth Marketer

As a Lead Growth Marketer, Josh brings more than ten years of digital marketing experience with local and global organizations to his role at Optimal. As a mission-driven person who is passionate about storytelling for businesses, he works hard to remove barriers so the team succeeds and clients continue to grow. And, when he isn’t creating digital marketing strategies, you can find Josh chasing after his kids, biking around Chicago, or sitting down with a book and a good beverage.

Siobhan Tiulentino

Resource Manager

As Optimal’s Resource Manager, Siobhan supports the Specialist team by strategically balancing available resources, workload capacity, and project needs. By utilizing her past experience in project management and digital media design, she aims to implement workflow strategies that recognize strengths, address roadblocks, and facilitate continuous growth.

In her free time, Siobhan loves spending time with her husband and pets, reading manga, playing modded PC games, and completing massive jigsaw puzzles. She can also be found playing airsoft, building gunpla models, crocheting, or attending anime conventions.

Olivia Gussert

Controller

Olivia helps Optimal live out our mission of “Give More Than We Take” in so many ways. She has a hand in nearly all areas of our financial inputs, connecting important budget and spend information with our CFO and our different departments, as well as helping Optimal organize our financial information effectively. She also carries out all of our team culture initiatives and makes sure that our team, no matter where they’re located or which role they’re in, feels valued and appreciated.

When not at Optimal, Olivia loves spending time with her family, being outdoors, and taking part in her many exciting hobbies like beekeeping!

Jared Hanson

Paid Media Specialist

Jared Hanson has multiple years of experience in digital marketing as both an Account Manager and Paid Ads/Media Specialist. He has spent several years with Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Advertising partner agencies developing their paid media teams, strategies, and providing hands-on growth for clients ranging from e-commerce, service, B2B, SaaS, and brick and mortar both domestically and internationally.

Raven Richardson

Designer/Developer

Raven is a creative thinker that is passionate about designing for the web. With a background in graphic design and web development, she enjoys taking brands to the next level by helping them stand out from the crowd by creating their web presence that encompasses bold creativity and design strategy that is aligned with the user’s experience.

When not nerding out over the newest web technologies and code shortcuts, Raven is most likely playing video games, listening to the Magnus Archives podcast, taking pictures of her fur baby Bella, planning her travel wishlist, or ending up on the strangest/funniest places on YouTube after watching simple tutorials.

Noah Fidlin

Content Media Specialist

Noah Fidlin is the Content Media Specialist for Optimal Digital Marketing. He assists clients’ needs through graphic design, copywriting, social media, video, photography, and SEO.

When he’s not at work, Noah enjoys further indulging in his creative side through film photography, creative writing, and watching the occasional movie. You can usually find him playing chess, making pour-over coffee, or at the record store with his best friends. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Norbert College as an art major (with a graphic design emphasis) and an English minor.

Jacquie Pirnie

SEO Specialist

Bryan Steiner

Business Strategist / Growth Marketer

Bryan is a Business Strategist and Growth Marketer at Optimal. He has decades of sales and marketing experience, working at the executive level in many of his previous roles. Bryan takes a lot of pride in uncovering a client’s true growth potential and helping them develop data-driven strategies to achieve those goals. He’s passionate about continuous improvement and can often be found reading the latest business New York Times bestseller in his free time. Bryan has developed strong relationships with many of his clients and really enjoys seeing them successful!

When not at Optimal, Bryan enjoys spending time in the outdoors, hunting and fishing, kayaking and hiking, and adventuring in remote locales with his wife and three daughters. He is also Optimal’s resident “gamer” and will talk your ear off about trendy new video games if given the chance.

James Milliron

Senior Growth Marketer

James is passionate about using data, experience, and human psychology to build winning growth strategies. He loves working with clients to answer the question, “What should we do next?”

Outside the office, he loves traveling, running, and spending time with family.

Samantha Diederich

Growth Marketer

In her current role as a Growth Marketer, Sami’s goal is to create realistic and timely strategic marketing plans that will bring in a return on investment for her clients. She specializes in Paid Ads, Web Design, CRO, and building the best possible relationship with her clients. Sami continues to increase her skills and knowledge through online courses as the digital marketing atmosphere is ever-changing.

Outside of the office, you’ll find Sami in the park playing “chuck-it” with her rambunctious chocolate lab, Sparky. While Sparky may think this is all his ‘mom’ does, Sami also enjoys hiking, kayaking, traveling, craft beer, and pizza. If you find her with a combo of those items, just know that she’s in her “happy place.”

Jacob Eckley

Growth Marketer

As a Growth Marketer here at Optimal, Jake’s goal is to execute our “give more than you take” mentality. With a strong background in analytics, Jake looks to provide a “numbers backed” strategy to maximize growth for all of his clients.

Outside of Optimal, you can find Jake enjoying outdoor activities such as water sports, hiking, rock climbing, and mountain biking!

Liz Hollinger

Growth Marketer

Afton Wilke

Associate Growth Marketer

Afton is an Associate Growth Marketer at Optimal Digital Marketing who enjoys building strong relationships, understanding the “why” behind consumers’ actions, and checking off items on her to-do list. With a knack for project management, she thrives on working closely with her clients to achieve their digital goals and create growth.

When not developing and executing client strategies, Afton enjoys life on the go. You can find her snowboarding, riding her motorcycle, or exploring new places with her adventure buddy Montgomery, her English Golden Retriever.

Alex Vechart

Associate Growth Marketer

Alex is an Associate Growth Marketer who enjoys creating data-driven strategies to help others grow to their fullest potential. He’s passionate about increasing his knowledge through online courses, as well as building strong relationships with clients.

When he’s not at Optimal, Alex enjoys spending time up north on the lake, going for bike rides, and exploring new places with his wife. He also enjoys sipping on a fresh cup of coffee while he’s writing music in his home studio.