Our Experience

Learn about our history, expertise and leadership.

Leadership

officer photo

Brent Teiken

Chief Executive Officer

As one of the original founders of Sundog, Brent has spent his career riding the front of the online marketing and technology wave. Brent started his career with Great Plains Software (purchased in 2000 by Microsoft) in 1992. Through his experience with that rapidly expanding company, he saw the revolutionary effect the Web would have on business, society and more specifically, marketing. He’s a natural leader, entrepreneur and communicator. Brent is constantly finding ways to deliver more value to our clients while enhancing Sundog's own competitive advantage through innovation, growth, service and operational excellence. Brent is a graduate of Concordia College, and has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas. He enjoys sports, the outdoors, networking, reading and spending time with his family.

officer photo

Greg Ness

Chief Strategy Officer

Greg helps Sundog and its clients take advantage of the rapidly changing branding, marketing, and media environment to achieve maximum return on investment. He’s had a life-long fascination with how marketing and creativity can be empowered by technology to achieve important business goals. In 1977, he founded GL Ness Advertising and Marketing and grew the company into one of the region's major advertising agencies. Greg has been recognized by the regional business community and by his peers. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) named Greg the North Dakota Businessperson of The Year in 1990. He’s a past recipient of the Advertising Federation's prestigious Silver Medal Award. And, in 2006, he was named Outstanding Alumni of The Year from the School of Business at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. Greg has a degree in mass communications and a Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) from Minnesota State University Moorhead. He enjoys mountain climbing, photography, music, travel, reading, writing and endurance sports.

officer photo

Johnathon Rademacher

Chief Technology Officer

Johnathon Rademacher is the Chief Technology Officer at Sundog. With over fourteen years of experience in the IT industry, Johnathon works with companies ranging from a hundred million to over a billion in revenues setting technical direction and implementing complex solutions. His specialty is systems integration – involving multiple software systems and leveraging them for specific business goals. He has extensive experience in large scale computing environments and is currently focused on delivering cloud solutions (Amazon EC2, Salesforce Force.com and Google AppEngine) and mobile solutions (Android, iPhone, iPad) for his clients. Johnathon’s role at Sundog is focused on Innovation, Business Development and Technical Systems Architecture. He leads the Software Engineering Team, Web Development Team, Quality Assurance and Support Teams. Johnathon is a graduate of the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and holds a Master of Science degree in Software Engineering from the University of St. Thomas. He enjoys spending time with his family, skiing, electronics, photography and the outdoors.

officer photo

Eric Dukart

COO, EVP Insights & Planning

Eric leads our customer insights and planning process at Sundog. With more than eight years of CRM experience, he focuses on customer strategy for our clients, along with marketing optimization, data management and analysis. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies in the manufacturing, travel and telecommunication industries helping them implement marketing and analytic campaigns that ensure exceptional return on investment. Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from North Dakota State University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Mary.

officer photo

Jim Heilman

EVP, Business Development

Jim leads our sales efforts and works with new clients to develop marketing and sales strategies to boost their bottom line and improve their return on marketing investment. Jim spent more than two decades directing local television at KXJB-TV and WDAY-TV. Then, his natural entrepreneurial instincts took over, and he founded the region’s first entirely digital video/audio production company in 1996. Building on the success of his first production company, he founded BankShot Productions in partnership with G.L. Ness Advertising and Marketing in 2002. In 2003, he became an integral part of the management team with the three companies that merged together to form the present-day Sundog. Jim’s approachable style and considerable business savvy make it easy for him to gain the respect and confidence of our clients. He’s a certified sports nut, enjoys live music events, and hitting the open road on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

officer photo

Ron Lee

EVP, Client Services

Ron heads up our client services team of account and project managers who deal directly with our clients. He has more than two decades of marketing and interactive experience on both the corporate and agency sides, with a particular emphasis in financial services. Prior to joining Sundog in 2004, Ron served as Vice President of Product Management and Strategic Development for Community First Bankshares, where he was responsible for product design, profitability, customer relationship management and sales strategy. Previously, he was director of account services at an integrated marketing agency in Minneapolis, where he focused on interactive development, branding and marketing strategy for clients such as Transamerica Financial Institutions Group, John Deere Credit, M&I Trust, and U.S. Bank Institutional Trust. Ron also worked for ten years at American Express Financial Services as communications manager. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and communications from Concordia College. He’s our resident coffee aficionado and enjoys windsurfing, photography and skiing.

officer photo

Matt Gustafson

EVP, Operations

Matt is responsible for the areas of Finance and Human Resources for Sundog. In addition, to managing our accounting staff, Matt is heavily involved with our executive leadership team in various operational issues and strategic planning. He’s a ten-year veteran of Sundog and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Minnesota State University, Moorhead and an MBA from North Dakota State University. Matt enjoys going to sporting events such as Bison football and Minnesota Vikings football. He also likes live concerts, golfing and spending time with friends and family.

officer photo

Kerry Shelton

GM/Director of Photography

Kerry’s commitment to digital production technology pushed Sundog to become the first regional production house to specialize in high-definition (HD) video. In addition, he manages a talented staff of writers, producers, videographers and editors to produce award-winning commercials, full-length programming and web videos. As the director of photography, Kerry is the visual “eye” for our clients, working to develop a unique look and style for each. He has nearly three decades of experience behind the camera. Kerry worked in television news in Bismarck and Fargo before starting his own video production company. He’s won numerous advertising awards including several Telly awards, American Advertising Federation awards and International Film & Video awards. He enjoys spending time relaxing at his lake cabin, fishing, hunting and golfing.

officer photo

Jodi Heilman

EVP, Creative

Jodi leads Sundog’s talented teams of designers, editors and writers to develop effective content for our clients. With more than 20 years of experience in television, radio, web and video production, she’s found her niche at the intersection of marketing and technology – leveraging Sundog’s expertise to meet our clients’ marketing, branding and business objectives. She’s spent more than eight years at Sundog, developing award-winning campaigns that have yielded measurable results for clients. Jodi is a graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead with a degree in mass communications. She enjoys golfing, music, interior design, travel and cooking.

Contact Us

Fill out and send the form below to learn about our refreshing approach to measureable marketing, or call 1.888.9.sundog.

     
Follow us on:
Twitter
Facebook
Flickr
Google+