Energetic, Smart,
Perceptive, Reliable.

Adam 'Guru' Ramerth

He designs as he lives:
Kinetic & Calm + Frenetic & Balanced

The man is hyper-focused on superior user experience and interface design while bringing a certain zen to the space. Adam greets every UX/IA challenge with a hearty "Namaste!" while pushing boundaries and asking a heck-of-a-lot of questions that make us all go, 'hmmmmm' (picture a lot of nodding, fingers on chins). Adam loves this great city we live in and can be found out and about or in his back yard - improving things everywhere he goes (including his cooking).

A.J. 'Apex' Meyer

Confounded Co-Founder & Director of Client Services
A pioneer without that eye-watering pioneer smell

AJ has been scouting and blazing the cyber trail for over 15 years (or 15 virtual summers as he likes to explain). As founder of “Artropolis” Mr. Meyer broke the seal on many now common online tactics, techniques and technologies.

AJ rolls around like a happy dog in the world of interactive strategy and the all-powerful architecture experience. But, he also believes in the illuminating muscle of self-examination. Analyzing and asking questions is part of AJ’s DNA, as it is for GoKart.

The Meyer has put his brain cells to work for companies in the Fortune 500, plus operations medium and small, but no less mighty. He has earned his Red Stripes in mega AgencyLand, FreelanceVille and everything in between. And GoKart, is juuuuuuuuust right.

Andy 'Lemme' Kvamme

A Developer and Consumer of Gummi

Andy Evel-Knieveled his way into the development world. Driven by his affinity for pushing the boundaries of what's possible, our dare-devil strives to be the nuttiest digital engineer around. Not only is he willing to go the extra 30 bus lengths to get there…he builds the machines himself.

When he's not tinkering with 1's and 0's, Mr. Kvamme is reconstructing a handful of motorcycles, only some of which us mortals would dare to actually ride. Oh, and here's a little known fact…Andy can do a mean cross-stitch.

'Inquisitive' Chad Gillard

Purveyor of Business Intelligence & Danish Pancakes

Chad asks questions…a LOT of them…he truly wants to know everything about every project and makes sure he leaves no stone unturned. Curious Chad leads the team to excellence and we guarantee you'll learn more about your business from working with him.

Our digital foodie (with Irish blood) is a master of connections in the digital space AND in the analog world. Chad has a passion or two including the mighty UMD Bulldog's, friends, family… & food. Swing by the Mill City Market and sample the awesomeness of Aunt Else's Aebleskiver.

Cori Van Brunt

Herding cats and dogs and developers and clients and…

A decorated dog-walking entrepreneur, CVB traded in the leashes for spread sheets once again to join us at GoKart Labs. Cori can make an angry pitt-bull roll over and keep your project on time & within budget… before breakfast! She brings a certain perfectionism back to project management and applies her own brand of logic to balance our right-brained creative team. She debates like a champion and has a soft spot for list making - keeping us all organized and on task. But she's not all uber-serious... Cori has racked up over 1,500 miles on her Nike+ running account and continues to shower Lulu, her pup, with attention.

Cory 'Git' Preus

Back-end Development Guru.
Ass deep in oil, grease, WD42 and HTML tags.

Back when HTML tags were mere infants, squinting away the brilliant cyber light, C. Preus built his first website, raised it proudly to the tri-W heavens, and the electronic gods smiled.

Mr. Preus then discovered the Book of Mozilla and set forth on an epic journey. Is he a reluctant hero or “simply” a smart web guy with multiple programming language chops, software development mojo, elevated business management acumen and gourmet cooking skills? (That was a rhetorical question.)

Cory is also one of the few professionals who actually know what the heck “HTML” stands for.

Don Smithmier

Has persistent fear of headlines trumpeting his stellar skills rejected numerous Don-admiring headlines

To say Don Smithmier is creative with numbers would leave you in an erroneously Bernie Madoff place. D. Smithmier is a stirred, not shaken, cool cocktail of calculations and creativity. Mr. S. keeps us on-task, on-budget and all of our work on-point. D.S. believes in the unassailable reliability of smart scrutiny and the high-beam examination of all things we create, build and release to the world. Do not get me wrong ("me" being the ghostwriter of this bio), Don Smithmier is a wildly creative fella. Don helped light the fuse under Capella Education Company, which broke out with some of the web's first successful online marketing and development. Don has been recognized as a Star Among Stars for his business acumen and Don is a freakishly fine musician - once again we witness the melding of left and right hemispheres to create this planet we call, "Don."

Dustin Lundebrek

Bringing the Outside Inside (and visa versa)

An orienteering mastermind, Dustin has an uncanny ability to navigate between front and back-end development. Although an avid collector of 19th century maps of Minneapolis, Dustin traded in his traditional compass for one with HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP as his cardinal points.Aiming to create the best possible user experience is this developer's "North Star" and he always seems to find his way out of the woods.

You can tell it was another successful day when Dustin is found at the Eagles Club square dancing the night away. Dustin will bike, canoe, ski, show shoe or take virtually any other mode of transportation in search of the many hidden gems Minneapolis has to offer. So whether he's using his navigation skills to move about his home town or around JavaScript, Dustin is our personal Tom-Tom.

Evan 'E-trade' Heisler

A Green Designer + Developer
with The Experience of a Sequoia

It's not that easy bein' green, but our very own organic hippy technologist Evan Heisler embraces it. Mixing his love of nature with a MAC-a-licious bachelor's in graphic design, Evan found his passion for the interactive experience as a designer for a variety of environmental groups. He does amazing things with CSS, XHTML, JavaScript, Flash (and a little pixie dust or whatever he calls that stuff) to make your website dance in the pale moonlight.

K2 also comes with a bonus - his really smart dog 'Millie' who often helps with complex JavaScript arrays and Comet applications.

Gordy 'Moses' Stremke

Thinking of the things we don't think about...and all the other stuff to make us go fast.

We call him Moses…and you can too. Gordy keeps the windshield free of bugs and the well-oiled machine well…oiled. He knows when the tires will be flat before anyone else and calls us in for a pit stop to avoid a blow-out.

It's not unusual to ask for a new 11/16" torque converter belt only to have him tell you, "I thought we might need one, so I picked up a couple over lunch." How does he do it?? He claims it's a weird genetic thing on his Mom's Uncle's Grandfather's Father's side... and a little help from Excel.

Moses. We love him.

Jackie Dela Pole

Guiding, Driving, Calming & Fun

Jackie is 3 parts strategist & 1 part project manager and it's this unique mix that keeps GoKart firmly planted in its zen space. Our moon-lighting Yogi isn't opposed to applying her eastern philosophy to connect our creative geniuses with beloved clients and results are sublime. When she's not handling your digital brand, Jackie spends her time in various creative pursuits with her artisan husband (who does amazing things with wood).

GoKart Labs and many clients have come to know and love her ability to handle any situation. Sometimes it's her infectious energy in the conference room and every now and then, it's her deep breathing exercise that keep us sane (or help us come down from a quadruple cold-press buzz).

Jordan Keating

A man with a purpose…design with a purpose. Jordan = Design

Jordan embodies the transitive property of design equality. Never sacrificing aesthetic for function or usability for trend. He has a knack for uncovering “the interesting” (go ahead, check out our Findings, see what product or technology he’s obsessing about this week) — pay attention to Jordan, you just might learn something.

Jordan not only likes to work, he also bangs on the drums all day and when the weather is cooperating, he’s been seen about town on a flat-black Harley-Davidson (perhaps on his way to Leviticus).

Kevin 'Ka' Schenk

Truly Gifted Development Specialist
Bringing the mojo to the machine

K. Schenk is GoKart’s Chief Mechanic. Kevin crawls under, around and through every engine, chassis and suspension system we create to make sure it all runs with ruthless efficiency and high-octane ka-pow. The Schenk has a graphic design background, but shifted gears due to his deep love for the user experience. This is a great thing — a man uniquely equipped to think like a designer, but work like a mechanic — scary in its wondrousness.

Mr. S. has the developmental chops and savvy to optimize sites for carbon-based beings and the army of Google bots alike. Kevin's alphabet soup of expertise includes (in alphabetical order): AJAX, CSS, Flash, Javascript, MySQL, PHP, XHTML and WHATEVER’s next.

Mia '33' Faeth

Diamonds? Pfft...
Numb3rs are a girl's best friend.

What do The Twins, Brett Favre, Analytics, Tennis, and Greek Salad have in common?? Only the smartest digi-lytics protegé we've ever known! Mia took everything she learned in school about best practices/concepts/behaviors from the traditional marketing world and chucked them in favor of the digital world. Love might be a strong word, but she IS 'super into' the analytics and the wealth of information & data made available to produce measurable results for GoKart clients and partners. Oh, and rumor has it Perez Hilton asks Mia for insider celebrity gossip. Yeah, she's that good.

Matt 'Ma Ma' Johnson

The creative realist with his left
and right brains battling for majority ownership

The chicken or the egg? We don't know either, but it keeps MJ up at night. Design or the strategy? User experience or metrics? Traditional or emerging media? MJ says YES (with authority).

We love the professional cocktail he brings to the team. MJ is a trained economist, accomplished song writer, photographer, strategist and designer. He's a business owner and an employee - the jack of all trades and (annoyingly - he's just that good) a master of many. His passion for the arts is equally matched by a love for the numbers, but all are trumped by his love of dogs and his amazing wife (who says he's a pretty good cook).

Paul 'Post-Genius' Clements

Apple's Loss is GoKart's Gain

Although he's not a fan of theme parks, Paul has welcomed and embraced the roller coaster that is 21st century communication (complete with flailing arms and girlish screams of enthusiasm). With a sweet spot for connecting human livelihood to obscure data, Pauly C is a marketing force to be reckoned with — rockin' the analytics with both arms up.

He's a gamer, a musician, a husband & father…and so much more, Paul crosses many planes to connect with the people (and non-people) around him. Rumor has it he's also still upset that Brent Farve won't retire in the Green and Gold jersey. You never know, Paul…

Rebecca Zanger

More Mind Reader Than Executive Assistant

With a survival bag under her desk at all times and a smile on her face, Rebecca is the warm welcoming face of GoKart Labs. Rebecca is the wind beneath our wings and this place runs smoothly as a result. She is our very own concierge, our yellow pages, encyclopedia and swiss army knife…and she knows what needs to be done around here before anyone else. Thanks Rebecca!

Rob 'Rah' Rosen

Despite criticism, continues to develop the digital Rice Krispy bar

As the brains behind Media Strategy, Rob Rosen has an almost fanatical passion for developing brands into meaningful and relevant consumer experiences. He has been red-lining the tachometer on innovation for better than a dozen years. Mr. Rosen not only applies his smarts to new solutions, he also takes responsibility by defining new ways to measure and test his success. This man actually knew about Google before any of us outside of the Silicon Valley zip code. He was making online banner buys before most of us knew what that even meant. R. Rosen has worked in digital marketing for newspapers, ad agencies and most recently Capella University — helping them become a best-in-class industry leader and pushing enrollment to new heights.

The “Krispy” thing…? Rob was a member of a world-record setting, longest Rice Krispy bar team in college… top of resumé.

Steve 'Agile' Anastasi

He could tell you...but then, well...you know.

As GoKart's Director of Special Projects, Steve looks at the world differently from you or me... he's nine steps ahead and has fourteen possible paths planned depending on exactly what happens next. Fear isn't part of his vocabulary and he's the first one to jump into the driver's seat to take the new ride for a spin (even when there's a high probability of conflagration).

The legendary Mr. Anastasi is the guy who will deliver the XP-80 Prototype, designed to specification and ready to fly.

Tony Lane

In The Beginning, There was Darkness

Out of nothing comes brilliance…it's like the book of Genesis and Tony is some sort of divine digital creator.Building unforgettable designs and experiences is the essence of an artist and Tony is an artist to the core. He uses his extensive knowledge of traditional design and branding to breathe life into the pixels on your screen. Whether he draws inspiration from a local craft beer, his fiancé or one of his two dogs, Tony's methodology can't be questioned…and the results are spot on.