Career Timeline

• (2006-2010) SiteCompass / SpurDigital (Agency – B2C)
• (2008) OfficeBlvd (Startup – B2B)
• (2010-2012) Fahrenheit (Agency B2B + B2C)
• (2012-2015) Hilton Worldwide (In-House, B2C)
• (2015-2017) AVX Digital (Agency, B2B + B2C)
• (2016-2020) Akimoto Ventures (Startup – B2B)
• (2017-2021) Bouncie / Tail Light LLC (In-House, B2B + B2C)
• (2021-2022) AVX Digital (Agency, B2B + B2C)
• (2022-Now) TCS (B2B + B2C)

Brands I’ve Worked With

Current Certifications

Google Ads

Google Analytics

Hubspot

Career Retrospective

In the beginning …

There was mesothelioma

June 2006 – Site Compass / SpurDigital

Search Specialist

A young Will Gallahue answers a Craigslist ad for an entry level marketing role with Site Compass (later part of Spur Digital then Wookie LLC). I didn’t know it at the time but I was going to be writing content and managing SEO for a set of sites in the most difficult space online: asbestos litigation.

Being in that space, you learn that ranking is so much more than links and content, it’s being innovative with your ideas. I was constantly pushed to do more and our entire team worked tirelessly to test ideas and come up with the next big thing that would get us ahead of the competition.

In that role I met two great mentors, Steve Latham and Alex McDonald who have been a source of inspiration and advice throughout the years.

Startup life

You always learn from failure

March 2008 – OfficeBlvd

Marketing Manager

Joined my first startup, OfficeBlvd. The company was an offshoot of a popular executive suite locating company and within the first two months we were profitable through my SEO efforts and a determined sales manager who spent every hour on the phone closing deals.

Unfortunately our commissions were tied to completed move-ins and when the recession hit and our centers began to clawback payment it really hit the business. I learned so much and I’m so thankful for every moment of the experience.

Agency Life

The client is the business

December 2010 – Fahrenheit

Search Marketing Director

I joined Fahrenheit and was in charge of online marketing for some of Austin’s premier personal injury / criminal defense firms and cosmetic medical practices. It was the first time I got to manage a team and some of my hires have gone on to do incredible work from AI to managing plant operations.

The owner, Ricardo Casas, was an incredible mentor. He gave me the space I needed to produce results, hire talent and we worked really work together. I honestly lucked out in my first few roles as my managers were principled leaders that could motivate, recognize, teach and appreciate you and your work.

Fahrenheit has since grown tremendously and now handles online development and marketing work for some of the world’s largest companies.

Corporate Life

Great culture and great responsibility

September 2012 – Hilton

Regional eCommerce Manager

Hilton recruited me to move to Dallas for a new eCommerce initiative they were launching. The Edge program as it became known was part of an overall re-org to bring their online marketing into the 21st century and the team they brought in reflected the hungry and innovative culture they wanted to instill.

Of course bringing in some of the best minds in digital meant pushing boundaries and the constant push for freedom was always having to be balanced with corporate governance.

In the end I made some incredible personal and professional connections, won a division-wide award and even had Chris Nassetta himself answer one of my questions during a company town hall.

However the biggest thing I learned was the importance of culture … Hilton was constantly throwing events to recognize brand and professional milestones and those kept employees engaged in thought, execution and brand advocacy on a personal level. I had never really considered the impact of culture but seeing that in person had a profound impact on my approach going forward.

Big Agency Life

Big names, big responsibilities

October 2015 – AVX Digital

Performance Marketing Director

I was hired for a SEO Director role and when I got there, I realized that if this company was going to make it I needed to bring in friend and colleague Amine Bentahar to run day to day operations.

When we first arrived the business mix was mainly automotive and healthcare and both industries were going through considerable shakeups at the time which posed a number of challenges but led us to discover even more opportunities.

The previous owners had no processes and P&L was well … lacking. We had to literally build every process from how accounts were serviced to how SEO hours were allocated and utilized. It was a lot of work but once in place, the new streamlined and process-oriented agency took flight.

By the time I left in 2017, the business had completely changed. We had a new name, identity and a desire for success that saw the business take the lead in a number of core areas. AVX had developed key industry partnerships and had become agency of record for some enviable brands … from humble beginnings come your biggest achievements.

Second Startup

Second time was the charm

September 2016 – Akimoto Ventures

Founder

I had been consulting for a number of years in the commercial real estate space and finally decided to build a brand that would take my years of experience and combine it with my online marketing acumen.

The resulting company was a success right out of the box, quickly generating thousands of high quality leads for office and industrial space and I found myself in a position where I was growth, product management, analytics/CRM and process manager all at the same time.

I (in hindsight) made the wise decision to sell the business in early 2020 before the commercial real estate market was impacted and this is proud moment in my career.

Scaling an eCommerce Business

Amazon is a beast. I tamed it but it wasn’t easy.

August 2017 – Bouncie (Tail Light, LLC)

Head of Marketing

When you get the right role, with the right team and the right leader you can really achieve some incredible things.

The role was incredible … essentially you have a budget of X and using your discretion get results of Y. I had full control and a leader who like my first agency role, gave me the latitude to make the decisions we needed to become successful.

Oh and around me was an all-star cast of developers, designers, creatives and project managers who humbled me with their knowledge and tolerated my constant questions to learn more about their work.

I can’t take any credit for a single sale without first mentioning that I learned that providing the best possible customer experience provides a network effect that’s better than almost any campaign you could dream of executing. Humans are by nature a social species and giving someone an experience that they talk and brag about is perhaps the best marketing you could ever hope for.

Our leadership was relentlessly focused on every customer chat, every email and every piece of feedback because they understood that addressing one concern, addressed ten and in time a thousand. At first I didn’t understand the microscopic daily focus on padding distance or font-weight or phrasing on some UI element but once reviews, ratings and feedback came in … I began to understand that the minor details make all the difference.

I learned something new everyday and that was the beautiful art of working there.

A big thank you to the following people for making this opportunity so special:

Caleb – Dustin – Jensen – Jordan – Kourtney – Matt – Peter – Scot – Todd – Victor – Vytas

Reunion Tour

May 2021 – AVX Digital

Head of Growth

Went back to AVX to help them scale even more on the agency side with a hybrid role focused on internal and external client performance and business development.

There was a diverse array of new clients and so many great opportunities to pitch new business, work on adding and implementing Amazon consulting and building a team to support our new projects and efforts.

We did some truly incredible work transforming the digital presence of brands in the healthcare, luxury retail and menswear space and I was so incredibly grateful to have another opportunity with such a warm and welcoming company.

New Frontiers

July 2022 – TCS

Senior Brand Strategist

TCS is doing some amazing work in experience transformation and I joined their team to support their goal of combining creative, visionary thinking with digital excellence. Thus far I’ve been able to work with outstanding brands like JLR and Pfizer to bring change and innovation throughout their organization.

Exciting times ahead!