We are incredibly passionate about the Mission at Acadia to be a trusted growth platform that delivers results via technology, digital media, retail marketplace & analytics expertise to help brands and companies out-flank their competition. We do this for a living because we are passionate about our employees, their growth and learning, our client’s growth, and because we believe we are creating a new type of growth platform. We can’t wait to get to know you better.
— The Acadia Team
CEO, AND CO-FOUNDER
Jared Belsky is CEO and Co-Founder of Acadia.
Before starting Acadia with Sean Belnick, Jared Belsky was CEO of 360i, one of the top advertising & marketing agencies in the U.S. Under Jared’s leadership, 360i was named Adweek’s Breakthrough Media Agency of the year, repeatedly ranked among the best Performance Marketing Agencies by Forrester Research, and featured in AdAge’s coveted A-List issue for eight consecutive years. Jared is also the author of The Great Client Partner, a book written to help educate and inspire around the topic of soft skills, and is a frequent contributor to AdAge, Adweek, and AdExchanger. Jared was named to AdAge’s “40 Under 40” in 2017, honored as “Executive of the Year” at the 2016 Bing Awards, on Adweek’s Media All-Star list in 2014, and has served as a trusted advisor to world-class brands.
Jared is an active member of the Atlanta investment and entrepreneurial community. Jared serves as an Operating Partner for Overline, a top seed-stage venture capital firm operated by Michael Cohn and Sean O’Brien. Jared serves on the board of directors for DTC laundry start-up 2ULaundry and serves as an advisor to Off Beat Media Group, On-Site Dental, and Grubbly Farms.
Before joining 360i, Jared had over a decade of digital marketing experience, including launching a new CPG brand, managing the integrated media budget for Coca-Cola’s Fanta brand, and working in media buying and account roles as one of the first employees at Avenue A (now Sapient Razorfish).
Jared received an M.B.A. from Emory University in Marketing & Management and a B.A. with Honors from the University of Pennsylvania.
When not working, Jared is with family. He enjoys time in nature—ideally, Acadia National Park. If not that, he can be seen rooting for the Mets (which creates a lot of resilience) or figuring out his life-long dream of being a college professor one day, 20 years from now.
CO-FOUNDER
As one of the co-founders of Acadia, Sean brings insights from more than two decades of e-commerce and digital marketing experience as a business operator. Originally founding BizChair in 2001, Sean guided the company as CEO through rapid and transformative growth, ultimately completing a successful exit in early 2017 to a private equity firm. Sean remains a full-time board member for BizChair, helping guide the company’s strategic vision.
Sean founded BizChair in the summer of 2001 at the age of 14 to distribute office chairs online after some initial success on eBay selling Pokemon cards. Within months, the bootstrapped company quickly grew, added employees, and expanded into a diverse array of office products filling a much-needed niche in the budding online retail space. Today, the company distributes products online directly to consumers and wholesalers, including Amazon, Wayfair, and Staples as a trusted partner. BizChair remains one of the largest furniture distributors to internet-enabled retailers and consumers and services hundreds of thousands of customers nationwide through the Flash Furniture brand. Through an intense focus on customer satisfaction, digital growth marketing, and supply chain excellence, Sean led the company to sales of over $300 million per year.
In his spare time, Sean enjoys spending time with his wife Sabrina and their three young boys, exploring outdoors, cooking, and traveling. Sean is also a prominent early-stage seed investor in the southeast with investments spanning logistics, direct-to-consumer retail, and technology.
HEAD OF OPERATIONS
Chad Crowe is Head of Operations at Acadia.
Chad brings his experience as CEO and partner of Techwood Consulting. There Chad earned the reputation as a savvy contemporary marketing strategist and leader in a fast-growing company.
Chad’s extensive background includes establishing multiple successful digital marketing agencies, developing a team of passionate leaders, and exemplified an unwavering commitment to core company values and culture.
In 2014, Chad received a Masters in Strategic Communications from Troy University and a B.A. in Visual Communication from Reinhardt University in 2007.
HEAD OF DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
Natasha Murphy is Head of Digital Experience at Acadia where she oversees the Design, Development, and Retention Marketing teams. Before Acadia, Natasha was the Founder and Principal of Nicely Built, an Atlanta-based agency offering full-suite services to online retailers, including brand identity design, web development, email marketing, and paid digital advertising.
Natasha has served as a board member for Girls in Tech Atlanta, which inspires women to join the tech industry through diverse programs and community building.
HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Jack Ogilvie is the Head of Business Development at Acadia.
Before Acadia, Jack Ogilvie founded Techwood Consulting in 2008, an Atlanta-based SEO and paid media agency. Jack has helped grow the company to serve 140 clients and employ 35 employees. Techwood Consulting was a recipient of both Inc 5000 awards for Fastest Growing Companies Best Workplaces.
Previously Jack joined Radiant Systems (now NCR) to develop a suite of digital marketing services across a base of 800+ retailers. In 2008, Jack received a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
CO-HEAD OF SOCIAL
Shantel Kriss is the Co-Head of Social at Acadia.
Before joining Acadia, Shantal co-founded Imagine Media, an agency built to connect brands with purpose and authenticity to their audiences.
The agency successfully cultivated and nurtured relationships first, profiles second. Imagine Media was named Best Places to Work by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Over the last five years, the agency doubled to reach $1 million in revenue in 2017, an achievement celebrated by only 4% of businesses on average (only 2% of Women-owned companies).
Before founding Imagine Media, Shantel founded a Chicago-based wedding planning company and co-founded a non-profit Operation Celebration to assist students and families in need. She is a true entrepreneur with a deep love and respect for small businesses.
Shantel is a board member for the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) Atlanta chapter and a previous member of the EO Accelerator Program. She also serves on the incoming boards of Atlanta Children’s Shelter (YPAC), Plywood People, Break Into Business, and has helped launch a non-profit named Ripples of Hope with Jeff Hilimire. In 2018, Shantel originated a weekly podcast, Imagine More, featuring successful entrepreneurs inspiring and building community.
In her free time, she loves spending time walking the BeltLine with her big, lovable (and very hairy) Golden Retrievers, Gunnar and Odin, and bike riding with her husband, Joseph.
CO-HEAD OF SOCIAL
Margot Dukes is the Co-Head of Social at Acadia.
Before joining Acadia, Margot co-founded Imagine Media, an agency built to connect brands with purpose and authenticity to their audiences.
The agency successfully cultivated and nurtured relationships first, profiles second. Imagine Media was named Best Places to Work by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Over the last five years, the agency doubled to reach $1 million in revenue in 2017, an achievement celebrated by only 4% of businesses on average (only 2% of Women-owned companies).
Margot is an Atlanta local who lives in the Buckhead neighborhood with her husband and young daughter. Out of the office, she is an active member of the Entrepreneurs Organization Atlanta chapter and is passionate about the arts, having served as a board member for ArtsATL, Atlanta’s premier Arts Publication.
In 2013, Margot graduated from the College of Charleston, earning degrees in Arts Management and Business Administration.
CO-HEAD OF ANALYTICS
Before Acadia, Seth was the President of Lift361, a customer analytics consultancy that focused on helping data rich businesses gather, understand, and leverage their data to drive sales. Seth had been with the company for 15 years working his way from an analyst to leading the company. He has a passion for helping business leaders find actionable answers that are trapped inside the complications of data and analytics.
Seth is a graduate of the University of Miami and reached the analytics field through the study of spatial data analysis as a Geography major.
Seth is married to his high-school sweetheart, Sara, and together they have three boys. As a family, they love any kind of outdoor adventures (hiking, biking, skiing, and time on the lake) and spent a year living in an RV traveling the country together.
CO-HEAD OF ANALYTICS
Before joining Acadia, Sally led the analytics and data teams at Lift361, a customer analytics consultancy that focused on helping data rich businesses gather, understand, and leverage their data to drive sales.
Sally loves blending analytics and strategy to drive business outcomes. She was with Lift361 for over 9 years after receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from the University of Georgia and a 2 year stint analyzing data for the National Cancer Institute.
Outside of the office, Sally can usually be found spending time with her husband and three young children as well as morning runs with her dog Avery and swimming laps at the local pool.
HEAD OF RETAIL MARKETPLACE STRATEGY
Kiri Masters is Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia. Before its acquisition by Acadia, Kiri was previously the founder & CEO of Bobsled Marketing, a digital agency that helps established consumer brands grow their retail marketplace sales channels. Bobsled was named one of the top 18 Amazon firms by Business Insider and ranks in the Marketplace Pulse Top 100.
Kiri is a contributor to Forbes, where she writes a weekly column about retail marketplaces from a brand’s perspective. She hosts the Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, and is the co-author of the books Instacart for CMOs and Amazon For CMOs (ranked one for the top 100 retail books of all time).
Kiri is an Australian national that has lived in the US (off and on) since 2012, most recently becoming an Atlanta transplant.
HEAD OF RETAIL MARKETPLACE SERVICES
Julie is the Head of Marketplace Services at Acadia. She was most recently President at Bobsled Marketing before it was acquired by Acadia.
Julie joined Bobsled in 2015 and was appointed President in 2019. During that time she developed a unique boots-on-the-ground perspective of the Amazon & retail marketplace landscape, eventually parlaying this experience into an operating structure that allowed Bobsled to be consistently named a leader in its category and one of the Inc 5000 fastest growing companies in America in 2020.
Prior to her career in ecommerce, she was a teacher and senior administrator for a fast-growing independent school in the Chicago area. Julie has a BS in Education and an MS in Psychology and Counseling.
When she’s not working, Julie enjoys spending time with her husband and two young kids, cooking, doing pilates and working in the garden.
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