Stephen Jackson

President & CEO

Steve joined Smashing Ideas in February 2005 having been active in the new media industry for over 12 years. Prior to joining Smashing Ideas, was President and CEO of Applied Semantics, a Santa Monica, CA-based producer of software applications (AdSense) for the online advertising, domain name and enterprise information management markets. The company realized a half billion unique impressions a month across its domain-name network, with a click-through rate of 50 percent on many of the listings. Applied Semantics was acquired by Google in 2003.

Before joining Applied Semantics, Steve served as senior vice president and general manager of iXL, Inc. during which time he created the global Media & Entertainment division, which produced innovative consumer-focused Internet sites and revenue-generating business-to-business online initiatives. Under Steve's direction, the division grew annual revenues from $2.5M to over $15M in under 18 months. iXL went public in 1999 and reached a market capitalization of $3.5 billion with 38 offices globally. An entrepreneur and early Internet provider, Steve was founder and CEO of Spin Cycle Entertainment which he sold to iXL. While overseeing the implementation of numerous Web sites for Spin Cycle clients, Steve directed and produced six TV shows for Universal Studios as well as the Microsoft television special on the launch of Windows 95. Steve's company (a Smashing Ideas client in 1998) was credited with creating Universal's first Java-enabled online game with Jurassic Park, as well as the first utilization of streaming audio for a Waterworld online game over nine years ago.

Evan Clarrissimeaux

Co-Founder, Senior Director, Mobile & Devices

As a founding member of Smashing Ideas, Evan comes with over 10 years experience in digital production managing major brand and entertainment property companies such as Disney, Nickelodeon, Ford, and Kraft among others. Having been involved with Macromedia Flash since its inception, he has built fun, interactive rich media for the web, TV and mobile devices working on such projects as Postopia.com and the Madonna "Music" video for Shockwave.com. Evan began as an educator at the Ethical Culture School in New York and later at the University Child Development School in Seattle, focused on teaching art and technology to children. He has spoken at conferences both in the US and abroad.

Ben Yenter

Co-Founder and General Manager, Smashing Ideas Portland, OR Office

Ben's roots are in advertising and marketing and doing good things for good companies. In 1996, he co-founded Smashing Ideas Inc. and over the next 11 years built and managed relationships with a long list of fortune 500/1000 companies. In addition to a working in the private sector, Mr. Yenter has managed a variety of projects with non-profits and foundations including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations and American Moroccan International Exchange (AMIE). In 2006 Mr. Yenter opened Smashing Ideas Portland to leverage the Portland talent pool. In an effort to develop relationships in adjacent markets and to establish new service offerings, he focused his efforts on the growing energy efficiency market, landing a three year contract to run the marketing of the Northwest ENERGY STAR Homes and Products Program. Mr. Yenter also serves on the Board of Directors of ITB, a Seattle based textile design and manufacturing company and on the Advisory Boards of Zotes Products LLC, a Salt Lake City, UT-based consumer products company, and Fluid Market Strategies Inc., a Portland, OR based environmental and energy efficiency program management consultancy.

Barbara Pritchard

Executive Producer

Barbara Pritchard thought nothing could tear her away from her career in the music industry as a record label promoter and band manager. But then Al Gore invented the Internet. Leaving tour schedules and record releases behind, she spent the dotcom heyday at AtomFilms.com, then a couple years at Xbox working on the first ever Xbox Live! titles. Since becoming a producer at Smashing Ideas in 2003, Barbara has led the development of most early-childhood work including projects for NickJr, Out of the Blue and Noggin. She produces some of the studio's largest and most complicated projects, from large-scale downloadable games and real-time multiplayer games to portal websites. Now as Executive Producer, Barbara leads a team of 7-10 producers and manages all resources for the studio.

Andreas Heim

Director of Technology

Andreas Heim is Director of Technology at Smashing Ideas and a Adobe Advisory Board member. He specializes in projects that challenge his Flash expertise and prefers projects that include Flash-server interaction or lead to building reusable components. His insights and expertise in this area have led to numerous contributions to books as well as earned him invitations to speak at several Flashforward conferences. In his time off, Andreas enjoys playing soccer, which he has enjoyed since he left his hometown of Hattenhofen in Germany.

Chad Otis

Executive Creative Director

Chad Otis serves as Smashing Ideas’ executive creative director and brings more than fifteen years experience in the Internet and CD-Rom industry to the company. Having been an art director, designer, illustrator, animator and game designer Otis brings his extensive knowledge of graphic design, animation, illustration, interface design and character design to the company and manages a team of sixteen people.

Otis has won numerous awards including Communication Arts Illustration Annual- Outstanding Illustration Award; MacWorld Magazine's Annual Editor's Choice Award; Newsweek's Editor's Choice Award; and PC Magazine's Top 100 CD-ROM for his designs. He received his BFA in Visual Communications from the University of Washington. He lives in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.

Brian Burke

Executive Director and GM, Mobile and Devices

Brian joined Smashing in 2005 and leads corporate and business development efforts for the studio. Also serving as GM, Mobile and Devices, Brian and his team focus on design, development, and content distribution for the "third-screen".

Prior to Smashing Ideas, he held leadership positions at several pioneering digital companies, including Zango Inc, where he served as Senior Director, creating the company's online content business, and Atom Entertainment (now an MTV Networks company) as the Vice President of Syndication, where he built the company's multi-screen, content syndication business. Brian also held senior roles at Vendaria Media Inc, and Imation Publishing Software (formerly a division of Adobe). He received his M.A. in European Studies from K.U. Leuven, Belgium and earned his B.A. in Communications Studies at Seattle University.

Dimitri Sevenster

Director of Finance

Dimitri Sevenster joined Smashing Ideas in June of 2005 as Manager of Operations and Finance. Before joining Smashing Ideas, Dimitri’s finance experience encompassed multiple industries such as Freight Forwarding, Trash Removal, and Banking for large companies like WaMu and UPS. Then he realized small business is where he wanted to be. Dimitri proudly hails from Rotterdam, Netherlands and claims to be the first person in his high-school to beat Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Legend of Zelda and Metroid.

Strategy Team

Smashing Ideas has a talented group of experienced employees who focus on internal operations, cross-team communication and company strategy. This team allows us to constantly evolve and improve our process, strive for greater quality and better ideas, and prepare for what's next in this ever-changing digital landscape.