Meet the Team

Kathryn Olive

CEO and Co-Founder

Co founder, Kathryn Olive, is Ashe Avenue’s CEO and business strategist. An Australian native and serial entrepreneur, Kathryn has a background in economics and business from the University of Melbourne, (Australia) and lots and lots of experience in marketing and global PR communications.

She loves to work with creative clients who know where they want to go and to help those who don’t.

Ashe Avenue: Strategic planning, business  development, financial management, operations.

Interests:  Opera, randomness theory, finance and business communications and chess.

Olive is a member of the PRSA and AMA.

Bruce Olive

Strategic Advisor and Co-Founder

A North Carolina native, Bruce Olive is the co-founder of Ashe Avenue. He has a background in electrical engineering and poetry from Washington University, St Louis.

After a stint in science and technology advertising with  DDB Needham Worldwide in Melbourne Australia, Olive launched Koroberi (www.koroberi.com) a tech-focused, BtoB marketing firm ranked number two in the 2009 Top U.S. Agencies Report, published by BtoB Magazine.

Olive was previously named Australian Software Developer of the Year, Marketing Impact Leader by Business Leader Magazine in North Carolina, is a published author, a U.S. patent holder and is recognized for his business and civic achievements throughout the Research Triangle Park.

Ashe Avenue: Olive serves as a strategic business adviser to Ashe Avenue. He assists with private equity funding, marketing and technology evaluations.

Interests: Organic gardening and flying his aerobatic airplane.

Matt Murphy

Senior Project Manager

Matt Murphy brings a background in advertising, public relations and journalism to Ashe Avenue. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, super calm Matt excels in managing teams through the strategic and creative development of interactive projects and facilitating communication across departments to ensure the painless and efficient delivery of all projects.

Ashe Avenue: Even when his hair is on fire, Matt keeps projects on time and on budget. A real Houdini, he bends over backwards to help clients establish project scoping, scheduling and milestones while directing jobs to completion.

Likes: Listening to and making music, competition, reading.

Locke Murray

Senior Developer

Senior Developer at Ashe Avenue, Locke is the brains behind the scene. Keeping the gears and bits running smoothly to “make it look easy” is his territory. He’s also responsible for seeking new tools and approaches to keep Ashe Avenue on top of the game.

Locke has been programming for the web since ’99. He attended the NC School of Science and Math and NC State University and has practiced his craft as a software developer for firms in the Triangle.

In that time, he’s worked with a wealth of content management systems, e-commerce platforms, frameworks, operating systems, custom applications, legacy nightmares, websites, and source control systems. Along the way he’s developed a specialty in open source tools, using community-backed frameworks to build rapid and robust solutions for a variety of clients.

Also…  He’s a ninja.

Heath Beckett

Senior Designer and Front-End Developer

Heath received his Bachelors in Graphic Design from the nationally acclaimed College of Design at North Carolina State University, and has been working with award-winning design agencies and dev shops since 2006. He has a reputation for delivering polished, pixel-perfect results on web, in print, and beyond. Ashe Avenue now benefits from his expertise in modern, semantic HTML and CSS, JavaScript frameworks (jQuery ftw!), and content management systems.

As Senior Designer and Front-End Developer at Ashe Avenue, Heath stays current with the latest trends and methodologies and provides the creative leadership for the team. Whether he is comping a design or bringing it to life, he keeps all fronts covered on the presentational scene.

Gavin Humphries

Controller

Making sure the “i”s are dotted and the “t”s are crossed, Gavin is Ashe Avenue’s Controller and the square of the group.

Hailing from California and aggregating 4.5 years living abroad, Gavin ended up in North Carolina. With a background in Economics from NCSU, he is now pursuing a Masters in Accounting at UNC.

Interests: Local theater and pick-up sports.

Sam Devine

Client Services

As client service liaison, Sam has put her Communications degree from UNC-Chapel Hill to good use. She is the client’s voice in the Ashe Avenue team, responsible for ensuring current client satisfaction and developing new relationships.

As she balances between the worlds of client and agency, she manages multiple deadlines, simultaneous projects and innumerable expectations, but insists that multitasking is her “bread and butter” (though she really doesn’t eat either).

She also enjoys looking over shoulders and seeing the work-in-progress, and regularly volunteers to test websites and proof online ads – just for fun.

Natalie Fioto

Intern

Natalie is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in journalism and mass communication with a minor in Spanish.

As an Ashe Avenue intern, Natalie weighs in just before Lupe the security dog. She is a plate-spinning, highly organized work flow manager that tests for bugs and cross browser functionality, drafts statements of work and contracts, proofreads copy and bakes a mean funfetti cupcake.

Natalie enjoys the freedom at Ashe Avenue to closely collaborate with web designers and programmers, contribute new ideas and add lots of energy.

She enjoys traveling, country concerts, outdoor sports and taking flying lessons.

Lupe

Security

Lily Koto

Public Relations

PR and social media maven Lily Koto is the ears and voice of Ashe Avenue. With a background in art and design from N.C. State University, Lily is undertaking a Masters Degree at the New York Academy of Art in her spare time. Shaping her PR skills at Yep Roc Records, Island Records and Shore Fire Media, Lily serves as mayor of Ashe Avenue and posts, tweets, scrobbles, and stumbles from her studio in Brooklyn, NY.