Allison Lantz
CEO
Allison is the Founder and President of The SEO Department. While Allison wears many hats, she remains focused on developing relationships with new clients, strengthening existing client relationships, and formulating advanced SEO strategies to drive meaningful business growth.
Allison began her career in organic search in 2009. Since then, she has helped over 150 companies, ranging from the world’s top brands to innovative start-ups, to grow their bottom lines by unlocking the magic of strategic SEO. To this day, her impressive track record as an entrepreneur thrives entirely on positive word of mouth.
Allison is passionate about SEO because it sits at the intersection of psychology, technology, and creative marketing. Successful SEO requires hard work and precise implementation. Allison prides herself on her ability to discover unique SEO solutions which have the ability to create meaningful ROI for each client’s unique starting position and resources. No matter the challenge, Allison and her team at The SEO Department are the knowledgeable, smiling, honest team to grow your business.
In her personal life, Allison loves being a mom to her son and daughter, Anderson and Ginger. Her hobbies include exploring Colorado and its many amazing natural wonders, trying new restaurants, and enjoying cultural attractions with her loving husband Mitchell.
David Yarian
COO
David Yarian is the Vice President, SEO Operations at The SEO Department. As such, his day-to-day responsibilities include oversight of the Senior SEO Strategist team, managing company-wide systems & processes, and providing strategic insights & support for all clients.
David is a seasoned SEO expert. Since beginning his SEO career in 2006, his experience has included years working with many of the top SEO agencies in the country. David cut his teeth in digital marketing as a Senior Account Manager, before eventually migrating into running and managing SEO teams. In this capacity, he has nearly a decade of experience.
David’s philosophy on SEO is that it must start and end with what’s best for the user. As Google said, “focus on the user and all else will follow.” As such, David believes an effective SEO program should obsess over high-quality content, good user-experiences, and being the best available option to the audience. He also believes in a full-channel approach to digital marketing.
When not working, you’ll most likely find David either exploring the mountains of Colorado or traveling abroad with his family. He is an veteran mountaineer with hundreds of summits, climbs, and ski descents in Colorado, as well as internationally. He also enjoys exploring the world with his wife and two young boys, striving to find new places to explore every year.
Tom Kuthy
Chief People Officer
Tom is a highly accomplished executive with a career spanning 15 years of senior corporate marketing roles. Upon leaving the corporate world, Tom launched 5 startups – including a hugely successful digital marketing agency specializing in SEO, which he sold in 2017.
Since January of 2021, Tom has held the position of Chief People Officer at The SEO Department. In this role his primary responsibility is continuous talent acquisition to keep up with the rapid growth of The SEO Department.
Kim McSweeney
Director of SEO
Based in Sunny South Florida, Kim McSweeney began her journey as an SEO in 2014 and has worked with nationwide franchises, amusement parks, high-end retailers, cruise lines, law firms, e-commerce sites, local mom-and-pops, financial publishing companies and more. Her experience across many verticals and complete immersion into the marketing process has given her a diversified portfolio and unique approach to SEO enhancements for clients.
When not working, you can find her with her family at the beach, on a boat, or curled up reading a book on a rainy Florida day.
Alli Wolf
Director of SEO
Outside of her home office in Winter Park, Florida, Alli enjoys spending time with her husband Justin and their Maltipoo Henry. You’ll find them at the beach, a local brewery, or at home watching The Office again.
Allyzon Zahorcak
Director of SEO
When not working, Allyzon enjoys next generation web development, video games, and watching anime.
Zakk Glista
Senior SEO Strategist
Zakk started his career in 2014 and has a passion for Local SEO, Technical SEO, and building meaningful reporting dashboards. He believes successful campaigns start with establishing a trusting relationship with his clients and prides himself on being an intentful listener.
Earning an extensive background by driving results for multi-location organizations, Zakk excels at providing big picture organic strategies aimed at impacting each facet of a website. With both agency and in-house experience, he’s worked with small businesses and enterprise level clients to identify and execute on their largest opportunities.
In his leisure time Zakk enjoys playing the drums, skateboarding, tinkering with his car, and exploring Northern Colorado with his girlfriend and their energetic dog, Prince.
Drew Horst
Vice President, Client Services
Drew has over 12 years of agency experience in SEO and Client Services. He excels at building successful client relationships, leading high performing teams, and achieving results through creative strategy development.
Originally from Pennsylvania (or more appropriately, “PA”), Drew moved out to Colorado in 2009 to supplement his vitamin D supply and find the true meaning of the Colorado microbrew. In his spare time, Drew enjoys exploring Colorado and travelling in general, anticipating his next beachside destination (the one thing CO lacks), trying out new delicious food and restaurants, and most recently trying his hand with mountain biking.
Brittany Page
Director of SEO
Based in San Diego, Brittany Page is a well-rounded digital marketer who has been practicing SEO since 2010.
As an expert in SEO, Brittany has been effective in B2C and B2B cross-channel strategy, delivering top-notch strategic expertise to a plethora of Fortune 500 companies. Brittany enjoys sharing her SEO insights across the marketing community, having spoken at conferences such as SMX and Pubcon and featured across various marketing publications.
When she is not getting results for clients, Brittany enjoys surfing, running, reading, Netflixing, and spending time with her two rescue dogs who think they are humans.
Brian Lich
SEO Special Projects Lead
Practicing SEO for 8 years, Brian is a specialist who is motivated by the desire to improve the web for all users.
Maintaining the belief that great content and great user-experience achieves this, Brian excels at helping clients identify, develop and execute content and technical SEO needs.
Away from work, you can often find Brian enjoying Colorado’s great outdoors. Whether fly-fishing, trail running or climbing his latest peak, Brian loves adventuring in the West.
Reggie Sudduth II
Director of SEO
When he is not helping clients meet their digital marketing goals, Reggie can be found playing the guitar or producing and engineering records for Colorado musicians.
Mark Aspillera
Senior SEO Strategist
Mark is an SEO and digital marketing specialist with eight years of experience helping brands maximize the value of their organic web traffic. Experienced in both agency and in-house work across a variety of B2C and B2B industries, he takes a holistic approach to SEO that emphasizes great user experience built on solid technical SEO foundations.
In his free time you can usually find Mark writing, finding and servicing vintage watches, running the coastal trails of Northern California, or planning his next trip abroad.
Nate Appleby
Senior SEO Strategist
Nate is a Senior SEO Specialist with an interest in data analysis, user-focused SEO and client success. For roughly half a decade, Nate has been helping clients build and execute user-centric SEO strategies.
When Nate isn’t working, he can be typically found playing fetch with his dog, Sadie; competing to be one of the top players in the world in the first-person shooter battle royale game, Apex Legends; or working on one of his many planned home renovations.
Febian Salim
Senior SEO Strategist
Febian lives and breathes SEO and has over 8 years of experience in SEO and Web Analytics, both in agency and in-house roles. His past clients include national manufacturers, insurers, and global healthcare clients. Febian has a diverse set of SEO experience including Technical, Content, and Local, and he enjoys helping his clients succeed and achieve their goals.
Febian firmly believes in making data-driven decisions and knowledge-sharing; and in his free time, he enjoys personal finance and investing, traveling to a new place, or geeking out over new tech (He has over 40 smart, connected devices at his home!).
Erik Bergstrom
Senior SEO Strategist
Erik began his SEO career in 2014 with a focus on technical SEO and data driven content strategies. With a background in both agency and in-house SEO, Erik has experience in a variety of verticals ranging from B2C e-commerce to highly technical B2B engagements.
Erik lives in Milwaukee, WI with his fiancé and two dogs Benny and Bowie. When he’s not working, Erik loves running, swimming, playing strategy and role-playing video games, trying out new restaurants in Milwaukee, and above all else, gardening. He loves tending to his garden, trying out new ways of growing food hydroponically, and meeting farmers around Wisconsin.
Arthur Brodskiy
Senior SEO Strategist
Arthur’s roots in SEO come from his copywriting expertise. Since starting 7 years ago, he has taken a special interest in startups and SaaS. He’s fascinated with automation and the elements needed to position small businesses for success in the consumer market. He’s worked extensively with tech startups, data analytics brands, as well as in the travel and insurance industries. Arthur believes the best SEO comes from good UX–making the user feel that they’ve landed in the right place and making it easy to find what they’re looking for.
In his free time, Arthur likes reading young adult fiction and watching teen dramas (the nostalgia is real). He’s also big on travel, weightlifting, and acting.
Zach Morgan
Senior SEO Strategist
Based in San Diego, Zach Morgan is an expert digital marketer who brings over 5 years of agency SEO and CRO experience. He aims to help clients deliver the best possible site experiences, regardless of the industry they’re positioned in. He’s helped devise and implement marketing strategies for small and mid-sized businesses as well as a suite of enterprise-level clients.
When he’s not working, Zach enjoys reading, running, travelling, and scoping out new craft breweries.
Andrea Fitta
Senior SEO Strategist
Andrea Fitta is a Senior SEO Strategist who joined The SEO Department in April 2022 with over a decade of SEO and digital marketing experience. She has worked with enterprise-level companies covering multiple industries including ecommerce, fintech, CPG, home improvement, cybersecurity, higher education, and online reputation management.
Outside of work, Andrea enjoys spending time with her husband Andrew, her son Alexander, and her cats. You’ll often find her playing video games on her Nintendo Switch, binge watching shows on Netflix or Hulu, or playing board games with friends and family.
Jacob Phillips
Senior SEO Strategist
Jacob has worked with clients from a variety of industries over the course of his more than 8 years in the SEO industry. Jacob is passionate about link building, content optimization, and all other aspects of SEO.
Outside of his home in Seattle, Washington, Jacob enjoys traveling, hiking, rock climbing, and all things outdoors. On the weekend, you’ll find him at the neighborhood crag or planning his future travels.