Hey there! We’re Vermilion.

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We’re a full-service creative agency making a difference for clients who make a difference. And after 40+ years, it’s kinda our thing.

A Certified B Corporation and Women-Owned Small Business, our work focuses in three key areas: outdoor & environment, health & wellbeing, and CPG brands. (Often, a combo of all 3.)

So maybe your better-for-you product needs a digital campaign. Or your conservation organization needs a new website. Or something else entirely. From branding to advertising, whatever the assignment, we use our strategy, creative, and digital chops to create work that’s built to do more. To do better. That’s creative gone good.

Lindsay
Christopher

Business Development Manager (She/Her)

Thaddeus
Napp

Partner, Strategy (He/Him)

Jessica
Hakanson

Account Director (She/Her)

Jake
Marty

Art Director (He/Him)

Paul
Richard

Experience Design Director (He/Him)

Bob
Morehouse

Founder/Big Fan (He/Him)

Sarah
Halle

Partner, Creative (She/Her)

Erin
Coldiron

Art Director (She/Her)

Margaux
Booren

Account Manager (She/Her)

Betsy
Gill

Office Manager (She/Her)

Craig
Spalding

Business Development & Marketing Director (He/Him)

Ellen
O'Clover

Senior Copywriter (She/Her)

Sam
Peterson

Senior Performance Marketing Manager (She/Her)

Kevin
Bonner

Art Director (He/Him)

Kate
Mason

Senior Account Manager (She/Her)

Joe
Battenburg

Lead Developer (He/Him)

Tracey
Pulvermiller

Finance Director (She/Her)

Mike
DuFresne

Digital Director (He/Him)

Susan
Aust

Partner, CEO (She/Her)

Chris
Ash

Web Developer (He/Him)

Lindsay Christopher

Alias: Business Development Manager

Superpowers: Asking questions, adapting approaches, building relationships

Backstory: Homegrown Coloradan with deep experience in nonprofit fundraising and communications who brings a keen eye to social impact at Vermilion. Loves (winning at) game nights, crafting (with varying success), and helicopter parenting her dog and houseplants.

Thaddeus Napp

Alias: Partner, Strategy

Superpowers: Brand purpose, productive tension, audience and client mind-melds

Backstory: Husband to a husband and father to a son, Thad grew up a country kid in Hygiene, CO and followed his passion for people and storytelling to a film degree and time in reality TV. In 2010, he got lucky with a freelance gig — and professional mentors — at Vermilion and couldn't get enough.

Jessica Hakanson

Alias: Account Director

Superpowers: Strategic thinking, budget managing, snake-plant-growing

Backstory: Brings a unique perspective to creative problem-solving, partly thanks to her Advertising and Philosophy degrees. Feels lucky to put her passion for doing good into practice working with inspiring brands at Vermilion and raising future changemakers (two young kiddos) at home.

Jake Marty

Alias: Art Director

Superpowers: Shutter sorcerer, computer clicker, nose flautist

Backstory: Likes things better when they look good so he’s just doing his part to make the world a more beautiful place. Loves running, biking, photography, skiing in the mountains and chasing his two little kiddos as they chase the dog.

Paul Richard

Alias: Experience Design Director

Superpowers: Synthesizing, simplifying, structuring. Using words that begin with "S."

Backstory: Born and raised a Coloradan in every sense of the word, Paul’s DIY self reliance and inadvisably large list of interests make him a veritable Swiss Army knife of design. He’s also trapped in an exponentially-expanding balloon of hobbies. Help.

Bob Morehouse

Alias: Founder/Big Fan

Superpowers: Humor, patience, listening, perspective

Backstory: Came to Boulder in the late 70s, founded Vermilion in 1980, guided the firm through four decades, now taking pride in Vermilion’s remarkable culture, sitting back and ‘being’ more than ‘doing’.

Sarah Halle

Alias: Partner, Creative

Superpowers: Standout concepts, clever word play, improv

Backstory: Her deep creative, strategy, and PR experience make her a triple threat; her mixed metaphors will keep you on your toes. Married to a fellow agency vet and stepmom to two teen girls who keep her informed of burgeoning Gen Zisms.

Erin Coldiron

Alias: Art Director

Superpowers: Logo appraisals, typographic treatments, pixel pushing

Backstory: Formed a critical eye for (her own) poor handwriting in childhood, which has since shaped her design acuity across all project types. Keeps herself entertained with dog snuggles, good books, and house projects.

Margaux Booren

Alias: Account Manager

Superpowers: Integrated digital marketer, social media maven, cat whisperer

Backstory: Denver native and accidental Instagram food influencer who loves hiking, growing plants, and taking pictures of her Ragdoll, Dolly. Holds degrees in Journalism and Speech Communications and brings strong insights from her years of CPG marketing to Vermilion’s clients.

Betsy Gill

Alias: Office Manager/Mom/Happiness Engineer

Superpowers: Adapting to life's curveballs, eagle-eye proofreading, nurturing the team’s bellies, hearts, and souls

Backstory: Betsy’s story has many chapters: artist, designer, environmentalist, fabric store owner, teacher, companion to handsome pup Disco, and the centralizing force who keeps things running smoothly at Vermilion. Whether you need an organic restaurant recommendation or comforting words during hard times, ask Betsy.

Craig Spalding

Alias: Business Development & Marketing Director

Superpowers: Demystifying client business challenges, breaking the ice, estimating budgets

Backstory: Craig knows purpose-driven organizations — after 10+ years of brand marketing for B Corps and CPG, he brought his client-side experience to the agency world. Loves exploring retail for fun (some call it research) and hiking Colorado’s mountains.

Ellen O'Clover

Alias: Senior Copywriter

Superpowers: Manifestos, taglines, alluring alliteration

Backstory: Graduated from Johns Hopkins with a creative writing degree and has used it to write for big brands, small brands, and young adult novels. Shares her house with a rocket scientist and two bulldogs named Puffin and Lilly.

Sam Peterson

Alias: Senior Performance Marketing Manager

Superpowers: Finding the story in the data, pushing pixels (different from Erin’s kind), baking lemon cream tartlets

Backstory: Known as “a golden retriever in human form,” Sam brings warm, buoyant energy to every project. Unlike a golden retriever, she nerds out over data and well-made dashboards. Despite being told that her Psychology/Communications double major would be unmarketable, she delights in applying both daily on behalf of brands doing good in the world.

Kevin Bonner

Alias: Art Director

Superpowers: Creative concepts, attention to detail, design speed (not The Flash speed, but pretty quick for a mere mortal)

Backstory: Started his career working for small boutique agencies in San Francisco before calling Colorado home. Find him hiking, snowboarding, listening to live music, sipping a beer, hanging with his kids, or wrestling his dog (who’s a popular visitor at the Vermilion office).

Kate Mason

Alias: Senior Account Manager

Superpowers: Solutions sorcery, connection-building, perfectly timed memes

Backstory: Former adventure filmmaker turned account aficionado, Kate is a passionate advocate for the outdoors, social justice, and businesses that give back. She spends unusual amounts of time contemplating THE WHY, biking down mountains, and collecting stamps in her “golden ticket” (passport).

Joe Battenburg

Alias: Lead Developer

Superpowers: Reading the Matrix, hacking the planet, squashing bugs

Backstory: Raised by both humans and computers, Joe helps bridge the gap between the two. When he's not at home watching screens and listening to music, he’s out among his fellow humans doing the same at movies or concerts. Definitely not a robot.

Tracey Pulvermiller

Alias: Finance Director

Superpowers: Excel aficionado, Workamajig wizard, left-brain legend in a right-brain world

Backstory: Raised by parents who billed at the breakfast table, Tracey has a lifetime of experience in professional service and has spent 8+ years in the agency world. She manages all things money so designers can keep designing and developers can keep developing. New Yorker at heart; Coloradan by choice.

Mike DuFresne

Alias: Digital Director

Superpowers: Building and optimizing high-performing campaigns, conducting fermented food experiments

Backstory: Packs 15+ years of digital marketing experience across paid advertising, email, social, mobile, and more. Father to a three-year-old daughter; husband to a wife; frequent hiker, camper, and backpacker.

Susan Aust

Alias: Partner, CEO

Superpowers: Leading from the heart, building gritty teams, becoming friends with clients

Backstory: Honored and humbled to lead the agency’s vision, culture, business, and client and community relationships as CEO after being a Vermilionaire since 1992. Learned the art of client service from founder Bob Morehouse and went brand-side for a stint before happily boomeranging back to Vermilion to lead the account and digital marketing teams. Lives with the husband she’s known since second grade; relishes time with her East Coast sons; loves entertaining and playing epic games of Sorry!

Chris Ash

Alias: Web Developer

Superpowers: Listening to and understanding client needs, curiosity, empathy

Backstory: Approaches life through thoughtful observation, self-reflection and wonder. Big fan of finding clean, concise solutions to technical web challenges and pondering the interconnectivity of everything.