Alex Garcia – Principal

Alex Garcia has pioneered new media marketing in music and politics, and knows how to tap its massive outreach. In 2002, as head of marketing at SmartPunk.com, he grew the site by leveraging social media and accessing speciﬁc communities through music genre sites. In early 2004 he brought social media to Drive-Thru Records (Geffen) and made it one of the ﬁrst music labels with an extensive network of online fans. Read more …

Dave Hanley – Principal

Dave Hanley has worked in web marketing for several years, specializing in creating and marketing massively viral social applications. As VP of Marketing, Dave oversaw marketing and advertising sales at Shelfari, the largest social network for book readers, which he grew from 15,000 members to over 1.5 million in one year with no advertising. Read more …

Jenny Samppala – Principal

Jenny Samppala is enamored with all things related to tech, entertainment and social media. She wants to know what you think about gadgets as much as she wants to get her hands on them; she not only wants to know why your mom is on Facebook and Twitter, but she may be friends with her. At Banyan Branch, Jenny’s role is both simple and complex: follow and set trends within social media so that her clients have a strong and positive share of voice within online chatter. Read more …

Maggie Adams – Account Director

Maggie Adams is an exuberant mixture of creativity and critical thinking, and focuses on asking the right questions before determining the right answers. She brings a unique point of view to her role as an Account Director at Banyan, from having worked both client-side and agency-side, and has enjoyed successful partnerships with a diverse group of clients including T-Mobile and a vast array of Microsoft consumer products including Windows, Windows Live, Xbox, Bing, and MSN. Read more …

Leo Dirac – Director of Technology

Leo Dirac has a strong track-record of managing great software teams. Most recently he served as Product Manager for Google’s chat service, which more than doubled its usage during his tenure. Leo’s team added SMS functionality to interface with mobile phones and video chat technology to the service while expanding its online presence beyond Gmail to iGoogle and Orkut. Read more …

Jess Estrada – Director of Marketing

Jess Estrada oversees marketing initiatives for Banyan Branch through social media, events, conferences and more. Jess also manages training for the firm, ensuring everyone has the skills they need to grow and evolve as Banyan rockstars. Prior to Banyan Branch, Jess was events director for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, where she oversaw the chamber’s body of networking events and professional development programs. She created the Chamber’s online media presence to increase awareness for chamber events, including the Annual Tradeshow, the award-winning Restaurant After Hours and the Young Professionals Network (YPN), the largest business-related young professionals organization in the greater Seattle area. Read more …

Steve Evans – Account Director/General Counsel

Steve Evans is passionate about the intersections of technology, public policy and corporate development, and has worked for nearly a decade with companies on the cutting edge of all three domains.

Steve has worked in the fields of corporate communications and business negotiations for several years. Before coming to Banyan Branch, Steve was an attorney with K&L Gates LLP, specializing in corporate securities and mergers and acquisitions with technology companies.

Andy Fortson – Engagement Manager

In 2003, when Facebook and Twitter were not yet conceived, Andy started using emerging social media tools to bring brands and people together when he entered the music industry. From the ground up, Andy built a successful record label and artist management company by embracing the web to get the word out about his artists. Read more …

Alicia Hatch – Director of Business Development

Alicia Hatch worked in business development for XBOX for eight years, establishing strategic partnerships with film, publishing, music, and consumer goods companies for Microsoft’s billion dollar Halo franchise.

An avid proponent of the power of fan communities to sustain and build brand equity, Alicia was awarded Microsoft’s Gold Star Award for excellence in business development as she extended the world of Halo into comics, anime, novels, and mobile applications, through partnerships with Twentieth Century Fox, Marvel, and Random House.