Karla Santi
Creative Director
Karla is integrally involved in the design and creative direction of projects done at Blend Interactive. She has worked with a wide range of clients extending from small local and regional clients to large national clients. Her conversational media work has included campaigns for many large firms, some of which include BMW, Microsoft, Hewlitt-Packard, Sony, JCPenney, and Nintendo.
Karla taught Web Design and Development at Morningside College for three years, from which she also has a B.S. in Graphic Design and a Minor in Business. Prior to merging with Blend Interactive, Karla owned her own interactive firm for 5 years.
Deane Barker
Senior Developer
Deane has been developing on the Web since 1995, including work for Citibank, BANKFIRST, and NAI Sioux Falls Commercial.
At BANKFIRST, Deane was the lead developer on the re-design of the Official Web Site of the Minnesota Vikings, before taking over management of BANKFIRST's intranet developer group.
Deane's passion and experience is in content management, and his experience in this area ranges from simple open-source systems to large-scale commercial platforms. Deane programs primarily in PHP and .Net with other experience in everything from Ruby to ColdFusion.
Visit Deane at LinkedIn.
Joe Kepley
Director of Development
Joe has been working in IT for over a decade. After studying computer science at Dakota State Univeristy, Joe went to work for the Sioux Falls School District where he managed their intranet and Internet presence.
Prior to joining Blend Interactive, Joe was a development manager in the IT group at BANKFIRST where he developed and implement a number of Web-based systems including a streaming content delivery system for the Minnesota Vikings, and a customer service platform to support a user base of 1.2 million BANKFIRST cardholders.
Joe programs primarly in PHP and Ruby, with a broad range of experience in .Net, Java, and other languages. Joe has extensive experience in Linux and Windows server implementation and management, including high-availabilty and multi-server scenarios.
David Mays
Director of Business Development
David has the right skills to lead your project from start to finish. He's worked in marketing and technology for over 15 years. A graduate of the University of South Dakota, David started his career in advertising and marketing in Kansas and Iowa.
His experience managing technology implementations for all business on a local and national scale have given him a unique insight into business operations and the value of being a strong business partner to customers.
As the Director of Business Development, David will work with you to simplify using technology in your business for marketing and operations.
Chris Lukenbill
Developer
Chris earned his BS of Computer Science at South Dakota State University. While working as both a student employee and full time employee he has worked at Daktronics, Liberty Point, and now Blend Interactive. Along the way, Chris has worked in software quality assurance, business intelligence, database / Web / application development, and SQA management.
Chris' past experience is primarily in C#/C++, T-SQL and ASP.NET, with exposure to everything from COBOL to PHP.
Sam Otis
Senior Interactive Designer
Sam graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa in 2001 with a double major in Graphic Design and Computer Science. Before joining the Blend team, he honed his design skills for five years in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, accumulating numerous awards for his creative efforts along the way.
With experience in both print and interactive media, Sam is able to juggle a wide assortment of projects ranging from Interactive CD-Roms, to identity development, to the layout and design of large publications and books.
Ben Bertrand
Developer
Ben earned his B.A. in Art and Mathematics from Briar Cliff University. He was a Junior Designer intern for the renowned typographer Don Strandell, formerly of Chicago's Strandell Design.
Ben spent time with Target Corporation Financial Services in their development group. He picked-up HTML, CSS and Adobe suite proficiency around the design community in Minneapolis, before freelancing in his hometown of Sioux City, Iowa.
Dennis Breske
Sales, Marketing, Strategy
Dennis has spent his entire career in sales. He got his start with the Southwestern Company selling books door-to-door for five summers while earning an MBA from the University of South Dakota. Dennis then spent three years recruiting companies to the State of South Dakota as an Industrial Development representative with Governor George Mickelson's Office of Economic Development.
Dennis has worked in the Sioux Falls commercial real estate market since 1991. In 1999, he started NAI Sioux Falls Commercial, Inc. which is now one of the largest commercial real estate firms in South Dakota. Dennis has handled over 1,000 commercial real estate transactions and has been involved in over $100 million dollars worth of sales and leasing transaction volume.
Dennis assists Blend with its sales, marketing, and strategic planning efforts.