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Meet Us

Who are we? Well, we are almost entirely comprised of people who can't draw. We're not that great with a camera. And when it comes to presenting who we are we can't do all that nifty Flash stuff that makes most marketers look super-cool and interesting to interact with. Still, we find a way to live with ourselves. So we'll tell you a bit about who we are, maybe show you a photo or two, and then hope that you like us enough to check us out a bit more. Maybe even hire us to name stuff for you.

Tate M. Linden

President & Chief Creative

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Tate is Chief Creative and founder of Stokefire.  He stays challenged by providing a creative spark to nearly every project we take on, and actively leading many of them.  Tate developed the initial analytical process we use to evaluate brands, and co-developed the current implementation of our proprietary FAINTS brand analysis tool with Dr. Florence Webb.  He's an in-demand speaker for national organizations and associations, and has been featured in articles in The New York Times, The Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, and The Washington Business Journal, among others. 

Tate is the driving force behind Stokefire's involvement in the developing field crowdsourcing, working to resolve the many issues that prevent the power and creativity inherent in crowds from benefitting organizations.  He also serves on the board of the Imagine Project - a non-profit organization in the DC area whose purpose is to celebrate and advance the field of commercial creativity. 

Among the many brands he's worked with or developed are ADP, General Electric, Causeworth, Columbia Sussex, Primark, OpenText and EMC.  He's worked with a veritable alphabet soup of non-profit associations as well, including AAOE, H2E, ASAE, AIIM, STIPDA, and dozens more.  He's led discussions and talks for employees of Accenture, Canon, Deloitte, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Kodak, The Washington Post, Xerox, and more than one hundred others.   


Turn Ons: Risk-taking. People who wave when you let them merge. Lake Lucerne. Tandem bicycles.

Turn Offs: Boring stuff. Pears. Castor oil. Repetition. Pears.

Little-Known Fact: He's a classically trained singer. Oh, and he's sung with The Chipmunks, too.

Dream Job: This one.

Florence R. Webb, Ph.D.

Consulting Principal

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Florence spends most of her time wrestling process details to the ground.  She's in charge of developing internal best practices and making us stick to 'em.  She has decades of experience developing, recording, and refining procedures for everything from association business processes to school accreditation protocols.  Florence has chaired or facilitated literally hundreds of meetings, and has unilaterally prevented any (significant?) bloodshed.  In the course of her career she participated in program evaluations throughout the Western U.S. and the Pacific. 

Her M.A. and Ph.D. are in education, with an emphasis on organizational dynamics and policy development, from the University Of California at Berkeley.  At the time of this writing -- in addition to holding her position with Stokefire -- she teaches educational planning at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire.  And we're not done--recently she was selected as an Examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program for 2009.

Turn Ons: Old houses. Tree-hugging. Islands and the people who live on them. Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.

Turn Offs: No-see-ums. Bad cinema. New England Mud. Traffic.

Little-Known Fact: Builds fine furniture as a hobby.

Elizabeth Rosenstadt

Senior Marketing Manager

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Elizabeth came to Stokefire as a Summer intern in 2007, doing such a stellar job that we nabbed her for our team in 2009 shortly after she graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Business and Media studies. She is an avid world traveler, spending time studying in China, and volunteering in Argentina, Costa Rica, and England. Along the road she has picked up loads of real-world international marketing savvy that we count on daily at Stokefire HQ. 

Turn Ons: Traveling to faraway places. Frozen Grapes. All forms of dance. Mixing anything modern and vintage.

Turn Offs: Sweet pickles. "Meaningless Quotes." People who throw garbage from their car windows.

Little-Known Fact: Liz got a huge bear-hug after performing as a ballerina in the Nutcracker at the Warner Theatre in DC from then-President Bill Clinton.

Kaitlyn Wells

Graphic Designer

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Kaitlyn brings a fresh artistic perspective to the Stokefire mix.  A graduate from SUNY Fredonia she earned a BFA in Graphic Design.  She leverages strong technical skills to find an emotional connection between art and audience.  A newcomer to the DC area, Kaitlyn is excited be a member of the Stokefire design team and thrilled to leave her snow boots, shovel and blizzard stories up North in the Snow Belt where they belong.

Turn Ons: Kickin’ it with loved ones. The beach (she hails from Long Island). Camping. Biking. Canoeing. Swimming. Walks through the woods…and of course long walks on the beach.

Turn Offs: Rudeness on the road. Folks who are unaware of their flashing blinkers. People who forget how to tell the truth.

Little-Known Fact: At the age of fourteen, Kaitlyn threw the ball around with former New York Yankees third base coach Willie Randolph at the ole Yankees Stadium.

Katie McIntyre

VP, Marketing & Creative

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Katie is Stokefire’s linguistics guru. With an MA in Linguistics from Georgetown, her work blends current analytical methods with the art of building differentiated, targeted names and taglines.  She has a knack for wordplay, a nuanced understanding of messages, and an ear for details.  With previous experience in sales strategy research, she thinks in systems and knows that great things are nothings unless they are properly communicated.  Also holding a BA in English from Wake Forest, Katie works with the enthusiasm and creativity gained from a lifetime of loving language.

Turn Ons: Scarves. Swimming. Comfortable chairs in coffee shops. Ethiopian food. Yoga. Cupcakes. Handwritten letters. Used book stores. Travel.

Turn Offs: Biting into the wrong flavor jelly bean. Inefficiency. “Oh, you mean the other Katie” moments. Traffic circles.

Little-Known Fact: At the age of 10, Katie swam in the Junior Olympics.

Jimmy Kruyne

Research Manager

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Jimmy is Stokefire's Summer '10 marketing intern.  He recently moved back to the DC area after a two-year stint in Madison, Wisconsin.  Contrary to popular belief, the cold was not a factor in his decision and Jimmy actually enjoys the snow.  He brings a positive energy and diverse experiences that he hopes will be great assets to Stokefire.  Jimmy earned a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Virginia Tech.

Turn Ons: Non sequiturs. New tastes. Perfectly thrown spirals. His two dogs. Witty t-shirts.

Turn Offs: Almost empty milk cartons. The willfully ignorant. Keeping up with the Joneses. Losing socks to the dryer monster.

Little-Known Fact: Jimmy was paid $400 to gain ten pounds. Easiest and most delicious ten pounds. Ever.

Karl Phenix

Marketing Manager

An Irishman now living in America, Karl has vast amounts to learn about the pronunciation of certain words, but already has the marketing side of the business nailed down. He brought first class knowledge of online media to our table as an intern, and proved that he has what it takes to head up the marketing efforts of the company. He has a BA Hons Degree in Journalism, which comes in handy for writing copy, handling PR, and everything in between.

Turn Ons: Bookmarks and blogs. History, literacy and music.

Turn Offs: The lack of any of the above for extended periods of time.

Little-Known Fact: He misses the rain.

Jonelly Sharp

Graphic Designer

With a strong passion for all things design and a drive to constantly push ideas, Jonelly graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2008 with a BFA in Graphic Design. An import from the deep South, Jonelly has an uncanny talent for storytelling and blends her skills as a creative problem solver and storyteller to produce work that is as emotional as it is creative. Recently, she has worked on projects for Cover Girl Cosmetics, Dell Computers and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Turn Ons: Bubble tea. Gourmet food. Design blogs. Lancome make up. Shoes. Personality quizzes.

Turn Offs: Public transportation that doesn't take you where you want to go. The act of spitting. Stepping in chewing gum.

Little-Known Fact: She used to compete in weapons division karate. Now she simply likes to collect Japanese weapons.