Marketing, Media, and Business Relations

Kurt Illian was the third person through the door at Solid Cactus. "I like to think of myself as our first domestic hire," he laughs. "Joe Palko, one of the co-founders of Solid Cactus wanted to bring Stas (Beletsky) and Andrey (Smagin) over from Kyrgyzstan. Once they had their visas Joe knew where he was headed and he hired me." Kurt came aboard with Solid Cactus in 2002. He has seen it all and done it all. Vice President of Marketing is where Kurt finds himself today.

"Before being Vice President of Marketing I was Director of E-Commerce at our sister company Neeps Inc.," Kurt recalls. "Before that I was a Senior Solutions Advisor at Solid Cactus, a sales position. Before that, I was a Solutions Engineer. That involved sales too, but with more of a technical leaning. I was assigned to our more complex projects. Before that I was Director of Sales. Before that I was an Account Manager. These days we call ‘em E-Commerce Consultants. Back then I was one of two. Now we have at least ten. We’ve grown. Before that, it was more of a grey area."

How grey? "Well, back then I designed, I managed, I handled sales,” says Kurt. “What can I say? There were 10 of us. We all did everything."

Kurt Illian found Solid Cactus the old-fashioned way. He looked for an industry he liked. "I studied Mass Communications at Kings College in Wilkes-Barre," Kurt recalls. "From middle school on I was fascinated by computers and even did my own designs. I took every design and Internet-related course I could in college. When I graduated I checked out local businesses by visiting their web sites. I saw one company I liked, but I liked their web site even better. I looked up who made their site and called. It was Joe Palko and co-founder Scott Sanfilippo. I told Joe I’d like to work for him and I thought I nailed the interview. He said if he could get these two guys over from Kyrgyzstan he’d hire me. When their visas came through, I came aboard."

Kurt says working for Solid Cactus has been a whirlwind. About the reaction you’d expect from a guy who watched his company soar from 3 to more than 100 in five years. "I came in excited about working for a cool design company," Kurt says. "Now I’m riding this incredible wave of growth. All the while some things haven’t changed. The people here care about you. From the very beginning, from the top down they’ve run a flexible, relaxed and positive environment. Working at Solid Cactus, you know people want you to be happy.

"That feeds throughout the company. Joe and Scott have made sure to hire quality people. Sure, we’ve had a few who didn’t work out, but only a few. We have quality people who care about each other and care about our clients. We’re succeeding and we’re passing that success on to our clients."

Spoken like a true Vice President of Marketing. But that positive attitude is what Kurt sells and he knows it works. He’s seen the results. "The most fascinating thing about watching this company grow is how skillfully they place the right people in the right positions. It’s wonderful to watch someone blossom with the freedom, responsibility and support they get here. It’s great. I’ve had the chance to work on great accounts like Lance Armstrong’s web site, Taylor Made Adidas Golf and many others."

Kurt loves the prospects. "I hope to ride the wave and continue to build this company," he says. "We have the chance to be one of the great e-commerce developers out there. I’ll do anything I can to benefit Solid Cactus." Kurt Illian has proved that, literally from day one.

John Dawe comes to his position as Marketing Operations Manager for Solid Cactus with more than eight years of related experience. As part of the Solid Cactus team, John manages the company's marketing campaigns and uses his experience in copy writing, strategic planning, and emerging marketing technologies to keep Solid Cactus far ahead of the curve. Before joining the marketing department, John served as Solid Cactus' Senior Project Manager, helping to streamline processes in the Store Development department.

Prior to joining the Solid Cactus team, John established a local consulting firm working with local charitable organizations to maximize their effectiveness through project management and technology integration. This makes him the ideal person to manage Solid Cactus Cares, our corporate charitable initiative. He is a member of the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN). He is an active member in the League of Professional Systems Administrators (LOPSA.)

A specialist in community development and diversity, he is an alumnus of Mansfield University where is earned his degree in communications, information systems, and choral music. Dawe is a 2006 graduate of Leadership Wilkes-Barre. He was recently appointed to the Luzerne County Diversity Task Force. He is 2008-09 President of the NEPA Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber Nonprofit and Diversity Task Forces, he currently resides in Kingston.

"We're rolling out new products for new clients in the new media. There is no ceiling for us as individuals or as a company."

Experience provides Greg with valuable experience to use in his role as Product Marketing Specialist for the Store Development Department.

Greg was an advertising major with a political science minor in college. Out in the working world, Greg had positions in marketing, PR and television media sales out west. When he moved to Pennsylvania he developed an interest in e-commerce. "When I found Solid Cactus it all seemed to come together," says Greg. "I had very little e-commerce experience when I joined the company, but my years in project management seemed to work well with their needs."

Greg likes Solid Cactus and he likes the blend of people. "Everyone has a different experience in e-commerce," says Greg. "There is a diversity of people here with different strengths. If one person doesn't understand something another one will and be willing to share. It's all so young—all these people came from different places to make Solid Cactus work." Greg said he was surprised to find a great company in a small town. "They've set the bar very high in e-commerce," he says. "It is very cool to be with a company like that."

The future looks bright to this California transplant. He was named a team leader within six months of starting with Solid Cactus. "The potential here is unlimited," says Greg. "There is so much growth for me personally and for us as a company. At Solid Cactus, the sky's the limit!"

Sean Gove likes to keep it simple. He says his job at Solid Cactus is to listen. "I pay attention," says Sean. "I match our clients’ needs for improving their web sites with solutions only we can offer. Solid Cactus is truly state of the art, so I listen. I know that once the client tells me what he or she needs so that I understand it, I can put our designers on it, and they will deliver the goods."

Sean found the other Solid Cactus principals while studying Mechanical Engineering at Binghamton University in New York. He and fraternity brother (and Solid Cactus colleague) Justin Rattigan had started one of the leading Yahoo! Store design companies, TurnAhead.com, while they were still in college. Sean handled the sales and logo designs. Suddenly, they were too busy for school! While designing over 200 Yahoo! Store sites themselves, they heard about the Solid Cactus team, loved their work, and decided there was strength in numbers.

Before Sean found Solid Cactus, he had already found his calling: sales. Sean took a part-time telemarketing job in college, and made two sales--on his training day! "I remember my boss saying it was amazing to make any sales the first week," Sean recalls. "A few weeks later I set the office record, 49 sales in a day. I knew I had a talent for selling. So I looked for a company I could believe in. Justin and I have both found it at Solid Cactus. Designing great web sites is great. We actually help people’s businesses. I’m selling something of value to someone who sees the value in it."

Sean believes his lack of programming expertise is a huge advantage when dealing with clients who usually aren’t experts either. "Before working with Justin I was an internet beginner," he says. "But by picking his brain I gained a solid understanding of Yahoo! Stores’ capabilities, and how to improve them. Here at Solid Cactus, I don't understand everything. But I ask the right questions, and I talk to the client in a non-technical way that both of us understand. Ironically, I feel as if I’m an authority on the subject, but at the same time I have never learned the guts of the system."

Sean grew up in Sandy Creek, NY, up near Lake Ontario. He loves beaches and hates the snow, having experienced plenty of both. Now he lives in Kingston with his Boxer Apollo. Sean enjoys poker, and golf…and not having cable TV.

"We’re operating in uncharted territory, in the sense that other web design companies don’t offer what Solid Cactus offers," says Sean. "In sales, it’s great to be the best. Your job suddenly becomes so much easier!"

Kevin Lynn says his entire career seems to have been preparation for being the Word Smith at Solid Cactus. That career includes news and sports reporting on national television, talk radio hosting, advertising copy writing, news letter writing and professional athletics.

At Solid Cactus Lynn writes their external newsletter, the internal newsletter, various news releases, letters and announcements. In addition he helps with advertising copy, gives regular presentations and works with the staff on communications skills. "I love working with Solid Cactus. It seems to be a perfect blend of my abilities and their needs,” says Lynn. “The Solid Cactus folks are great at e-commerce. My job is to make what they do understandable to bozos like me who are not computer wizards. I feel as if I’m home!”

Kevin had a long career in broadcasting. It started in 1976 when he came to work at WBRE-TV in Pennsylvania as a street news reporter. Within a year and a half he became WBRE's weekday sports anchor.

Lynn spent four years and 27 days (but who's counting?) at WBRE before heading to New York City and WPIX-TV as the weekend sports anchor. From there it was onto Chicago and CBS network for three years. Kevin did weekends in Chicago at WBBM-TV and also served as a Midwestern sports reporter for CBS. After Chicago it was back east and a gig at ESPN. He anchored Sportscenter and also served as the New York City area reporter for the sports network.

Kevin kept his hand in the TV game by hosting a series of nationally syndicated sports shows on USA and other cable networks. In the early ‘90’s he fell into commercial copywriting and has won 19 regional Addy Awards for his creative radio and television ads.

Kevin went back to work on WBRE-TV on a part-time basis in the 90's. It was long enough to win the Associated Press award for Feature Reporter of the Year in Pennsylvania in 1995.

After that Kevin got into news/talk radio full time at WILK News radio, an Entercom station. He found a most unlikely home on morning drive (6-9AM) with Nancy Kman co-hosting "The Morning News with Nancy and Kevin.” In the past 3 years they have won Associated Press awards as the Best Regularly Scheduled Talk Show in Pennsylvania. According to the AP, Lynn is the only person ever to win 1st place awards in both television and radio.

Along the way Lynn did freelance newsletter writing and authored the national newsletter for the ALS Association (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

Lynn currently teaches Advertising, Advertising Copywriting and News Writing at the University of Scranton where the kids seem to like him and the school lets him wear jeans to class.

Prior to his broadcast career, Lynn played on the professional tennis tour, traveling the world while beating and losing to the game's top players. He was also a successful teacher, developing many national junior champions and serving as the tennis coach at Yale University. Kevin is currently battling an addiction to golf. Others call it a hobby. Lynn knows better.

Kevin lives at Harvey's Lake with his cat Jones. He looks at, but rarely touches the lake water.