Erin Coldiron

Art Director (she/her)

Kate Mason

Senior Account Manager (She/Her)

Kate brings to Vermilion 12 years of experience working for purpose-driven brands. With a passion for storytelling, Kate helped produce award-winning climbing docs for Sender Films and branched into creative work for nonprofits like the Environmental Defense Fund and Denver’s Open Media Foundation. Her love of wild places has led her to work on campaigns for 25+ leaders in the outdoor industry. Most recently, Kate was Head of Marketing at OneSeed Expeditions, a fellow B Corp and responsible adventure travel company that’s taken her around the world and back. When she’s not planning her next trip, you can find her mountain biking, exploring the backcountry, or hosting themed house parties.

Zeek Nwizu

Designer

Zeek found her way to Colorado during one of her many excursions around the world. As a lover of wellness, fine art, and media, she gravitates towards what is unique and bold throughout her experiences. She grew up drawing and taking photos of everything and anything while figuring out how to make HTML codes on her parents’ Dell computer. Art and design have always been a part of her life. She brings her eye for detail and love for color to the non-profits and creative businesses she’s worked for and continues to find new ways to connect creativity and communication. If she’s not in her studio painting, she’s at a yoga studio teaching, playing with her Frenchie, traveling to immerse herself in different cultures, or going to a live show.

Paul Richard

Experience Design Director (he/him)

Paul is a user-centric designer with years of experience working with nonprofit and foundation clients. He balances aesthetics, performance, business goals, user needs, and constraints by seeking to understand the needs of the design team, the client, and the audience. If you can’t find Paul, make sure you check outside. As a native Coloradan and avid outdoorsman, he is often exploring the land on foot, on skis, or on his bike.

Joe Battenburg

Lead Web Developer (he/him)

Joe has been using computers since he was 5 and hasn’t stopped since. For more than 12 years he has been developing for the web and loves all aspects of it; from animations and dynamic content to brainstorming with clients and making sites as cross-platform as possible. When not working he is either playing games on computers he has built or going out to see live music in Colorado.

Ellen O’Clover

Senior Copywriter (She/Her)

Lingo lover and certified word nerd, Ellen cut her teeth writing for brands like Mars Petcare, Dove Chocolate, and Eggo before bouncing client-side to develop brand voice for a software startup. She’s thrilled to be back in the agency world and even thrilled-er to be at Vermilion, specifically. (Every good writer knows when to bend a little grammar). She brings seven years of experience in everything from crafting sharp taglines, to building resonant brands, to developing launch campaigns. When Ellen’s not writing copy, you can usually find her writing fiction, hiking with her husband, or walking her pups Puffin and Moose—though not very far, since they’re a pair of lazy bulldogs.

Betsy Gill

Office Manager (she/her)

Betsy draws upon her experiences as an artist, designer, small-business owner, teacher, and administrator to keep things running smoothly at Vermilion. With her unique combination of skills, she tends to staff and clients alike, as you’d expect from her rotating list of titles which includes Chief Officer of Getting It Done, Happiness Engineer, and Office Mom. Her environmental awareness first bloomed in her early days at the University of Oregon, and continues with her work guiding Vermilion on the path toward zero waste.

Kevin Bonner

Art Director (he/him)

Kevin brings more than 15 years of experience in both brand development and design execution. He joined Vermilion in 2006, after honing his craft in San Francisco working for clients including SanDisk, Yonex, the San Francisco Giants and UbiSoft. At Vermilion, Kevin has designed for clients across all verticals, including Whole Foods Market, IZZE, JC’s, and Via (formerly Special Transit). Kevin recently returned to mountain biking (and promptly injured himself) and he’s teaching himself to play the banjo.

Jess Hakanson

Account Director (she/her)

With a degree in Advertising and Philosophy, Jessica brings a unique perspective to creative problem solving. After working at small agencies helping to build brands like Google and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, she jumped to CP+B and managed creative content for Domino’s, Jose Cuervo and the American Heart Association. A fierce advocate for women and girls, Jessica acts as a Co-Director of Changemaker Chats and enjoys volunteering for political campaigns. When not leading the Vermilion Account team and affecting change in her community, you can find Jess with her husband, two young kids and energetic rescue dog.

Susan Touchette Aust

PARTNER, CEO (she/her)

Following a two decade career at Vermilion, Susan was appointed chief executive officer in 2022, where she leads the agency’s vision and culture, business operations, and client and community relationships. Susan began as a client of Vermilion, first joined the agency in 1992 for 9 years, and boomeranged back in 2011. Since then, Susan has overseen the account service and digital marketing teams and championed Vermilion’s portfolio of iconic purpose brands and organizations. Susan is grateful for founder Bob Morehouse’s mentorship, friendship, wisdom and support over the years and looks forward to advancing Bob’s legacy.

Thomas Zanandrie

Performance Marketing Manager (he/him)

Thomas brings almost a decade of Digital Marketing experience to Vermilion. He specializes in everything Google Ads including Paid Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, and Discovery campaign strategy and management. A self-proclaimed “Search nerd”, he loves digging through data and testing new strategies. When he’s not optimizing accounts, he loves traveling, adding to his ever-growing sneaker collection, and staying active through playing hockey.

Bob Morehouse

FOUNDER (he/him)

Bob founded Vermilion more than 40 years ago, and he’s been fostering long-term relationships with clients locally and nationwide ever since. Bob has deep roots in Boulder’s nonprofit community, and he’s passionate about promoting the arts and sustainability locally. He’s a founding member of the Colorado chapter of the AIGA, and an AIGA Fellow, and he has served on numerous boards, including the Community Foundation Boulder County, the Colorado Chautauqua Association and the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. Bob is known for attending an alarming number of social events after the office closes, a fierce determination to address climate change, and a fascination with outer space.

Craig Spalding

Business Development + Marketing Director (he/him)

One of several “boomerangers,” Craig was a client of Vermilion before joining the team. Craig’s love for good food led him to the natural products industry, but his passion for marketing and growing better-for-you brands made him stay. He’s worked on every side of the grocery aisle. He started in natural grocery and retail, then in-house at 1908 Brands where he helped develop, launch, and manage eight natural product CPG brands. After that, Craig’s passion for art took him to Kidrobot where he launched 100+ limited edition SKUs per year and developed strategic partnerships and licensing relationships with many groups including The Met, The Smithsonian, Disney, Sanrio, In-N-Out, Sonic Drive-In, and others. When he’s not exploring the shelves of a grocery store for fun, you can find him exploring Colorado with his mutt, Margot.

Sam Peterson

Performance Marketing Manager (she/her)

Sam joins the Vermilion team from a unique background in higher education. She spent eight years working in marketing communications at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, helping students find their college community while preparing to become leaders in their field. As a member of the digital marketing team at Vermilion, she’s passionate about uplifting brands and organizations that have a truly positive impact. Sam’s combination of degrees in psychology and communications inform her understanding of consumer behavior and motivation. Most days you’ll find her indulging a good book, hiking, or joining her partner in going for a ride on their tandem bike named Schwinnie Cooper.

Lindsay Christopher

Business Development Manager (She/Her)

As a homegrown Coloradan with robust experience in the nonprofit space, Lindsay brings a keen eye and unique perspective around social impact to Vermilion. After 10+ years fundraising for innovative local organizations — including the Humane Society of Boulder Valley and Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center — Lindsay is excited to pivot into the agency world. The best part? At Vermilion, she can still bring her passion for change to a team that works to make a difference. Lindsay loves game nights with friends, crafting (with varying success), and watching movies with her partner. She can often be found in the backyard playing soccer with her now giant “COVID puppy,” Peach.

Tracey Chaney

Finance Director (she/her)

When it comes to keeping Vermilion prosperous, efficient, and happy, no one does it like Tracey. Her Business & Economics degree, deep creative agency experience, and fast-paced New Yorker roots means she Gets. Stuff. Done. Whatever the project or client. But don’t let her no-nonsense approach fool you. Her calm demeanor and positive attitude reminds you that sometimes you gotta take it easy and just “fuh-getta-bout-it.” When she’s not optimizing business operations and processes, you’ll either find her lost in a good book, in the mountains, or spending time with her husband, two cats and dogs, and three adult stepchildren. (Sadly, the cats don’t make it to the mountains much.)

Elise Braun

Digital Strategist + Media Planner (she/her)

With over 7 years of agency experience between North Dakota and Melbourne, Australia, Elise joined the Vermilion team with well-rounded knowledge in the digital advertising space. She brings great organizational skills having started in each of her previous roles as a producer/project coordinator, working on website development projects to managing clients’ full social media strategies and execution from content creation to media planning. After spending the last 4.5 years in Australia, she decided to move back to the US—and Colorado where she was born—to advance her career and be closer to family. Outside of work, you can find her in the gym, planning weekend day trips to go hiking somewhere new, or booking concerts to enjoy live music with her friends.

Sarah Halle

PARTNER, CREATIVE (she/her)

A writer of words and lover of improv, Sarah harnesses her power of creative, strategy, and PR experience to lead creative at Vermilion. From the big ideas to the (dreaded) 300×50 mobile banner ads, Sarah’s a champion of creating work that does more than win awards, but that helps address the important issues of our day. In her past life she did the big-agency thing in NYC working on integrated campaigns for brands like Chobani, Holiday Inn, and more. But now that Colorado’s home, she’s happily traded subway rides for backcountry skis.

Thaddeus Napp

PARTNER, STRATEGY (he/him)

Thad leads Vermilion’s strategy discipline, uncovering consumer insights and developing strategic branding, positioning, and communications for clients across Vermilion’s portfolio. Thad earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Animation with high honors from the Rochester Institute of Technology and spent time in casting for reality TV in Los Angeles. Outside the agency, Thad and his husband have a young son and spend their time discovering all the parenting tropes are, in fact, true.

Jake Marty

Art Director (he/him)

Jake comes from a diverse background of active lifestyle companies, startups, film festivals and nonprofits, bringing a passion for design, photography and video with him every step of the way. Oh, and running shoes, because when you worked at Newton Running, you build quite the collection. A graduate of Colby College in Maine, Jake lived in NYC and small-town CO before settling in Boulder to pursue, among other things, everything outdoor-related. When he’s not at the computer, you can (or can’t) find him playing in the mountains, chasing his Border Terrier or voraciously reading.