Meet Your Leadership Team

ConvoSpark is made up of a team of leaders that drives each of our services and departments into ongoing excellence. We pride ourselves being open about who we are and what we stand for, and we believe that because the world of social media and technology improves every day, so should we. Meet the ConvoSpark team leaders below, many of which you can speak with when you begin working with us on your own project. How many other development companies can you do that with?

Derek Manual – President and CEO

With over 10 years of experience in internet marketing including search engine optimization and marketing, PPC marketing, affiliate marketing, e-mail marketing, social media marketing, leadership and personal development, Derek has the experience as well as a unique and innovative approach for marketing in the New Age of technology.

When he’s not finding better ways to improve the company, you can usually find Derek improving his passion in the sport of mixed martial arts, training in various arts such as Brazilian Jujitsu, Muay Thai kickboxing, wrestling, and boxing. The balance between mental and physical development keeps him sharp at both.

Brenton Gieser – Lead Social Strategist

Brenton is best known as a creator, builder and a social media architect. Recently, he has built a startup, became an advisor on several other internet startups, became the social media consultant for a large Angel Investment Firm and worked with several Fortune 500 companies on their social media strategy.

His central focus is to help build a systematic approach for brands, organizations, public figures and entrepreneurs to leverage social media on the right platforms.

When away from his laptop, you can often find Brenton nose deep in an interesting book or unintentionally butchering the French language.

Lamont Jones – Vice President of Accounts

Lamont manages all of ConvoSpark’s accounts. His focus is to ensure that the app development process is seamless and to fulfill client’s satisfaction and experience.

Prior to joining ConvoSpark Lamont had 15 years experience working as a marketing Consultant for small businesses; specializing in brand management and business development. With the introduction of Social media sites like Facebook and Linked in, Lamont noticed that traditional marketing was becoming more and more obsolete and the consumer voice was becoming the driving force behind product success.

When he is not working Lamont is very involved with the youth in his community. He mentors youth and shares his gift of Hip-Hop dance to encourage them and help them focus on their goals. He also enjoys taking long runs with his dog Marty and hanging out with friends and family.

John Connolly – Vice President of Sales and Marketing

With a profession background in corporate event sales and strategy combined with an educational degree in Sociology, John has found his niche in social media. John has been successful in seeking out new business relationships in a range of industries and showing them how social media tools can directly affect their bottom line.

When he’s not working you can find John traveling, enjoying movies and rooting for the San Francisco Giants.

Risa Gandy – Senior Project Manager

With over 10 years experience in the field of project management for information technology and social media, Risa is masterful at organizing teams, getting the job done right and making it as smooth process as possible for clients. Social media application development can be daunting task for anyone, but with Risa at our clients sides it becomes a simple and enjoyable process. Multi-tasking and handling important requests on the fly is just another day in the office for Risa, but when she’s not in the office, she’s usually out perfecting her photography skills or playing beach volleyball.

Aqeel Ahmed – Chief Technology Officer

On top of being one of the highest level technical experts in the development world today, where Aqeel really shines is his experience and leadership skills. His ability to execute efficiently and understand high level and innovative technology is one of the biggest reasons ConvoSpark is the leading social media application development company’s today. The technological understanding and experience to get the foundation aspects of an application from Aqeel and his team allow’s other members of ConvoSpark to master and share the social media strategy of a project. When not engaged in ConvoSpark, Aqeel can be found blogging about his favorite foods.

Shoaeb Shams – Board Member and Advisor

Shoaeb has an experience of over 15 years in working with technology companies and helping them to build up their services as well as processes so that enablement for growth is made. He has been working with companies like Netsol (Ticker:NTWK) and ABN Amro bank. A serial entrepreneur who is currently Founder and member of a Netherlands based Technology Company in addition to being the CEO or E2E Solution Providers.

His specialty is to help identify and implement new services so that consistent growth is achieved in a systematic manner, while maintaining the highest level of customer satisfaction.

Brittany Rubenstein – Social Media Manager

Brittany is a self-proclaimed digital and creative junkie. As a graduate in digital media from the University of Denver, she has always had a huge passion for digital media and technology. Fascinated by how social media allows us to reach millions of people and places we never could before, she loves researching and learning about web trends and new ways to create a strong brand presence online. In addition to exploring what amazing thing the future of the web holds, she also enjoys blogging and tweeting about new and exciting web trends and technologies.

She has had experience in assisting managing brand presence and developing web content as well as web and graphic design. When in need of break from her digital life, you can find Brittany enjoying the great outdoors hiking, skiing or playing tennis.