Welcome to GasPedal.com

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People
We like what we do!

Andy Sernovitz, CEO

Whenever there's been an innovation in marketing, Andy Sernovitz has been there. A 18-year veteran of the interactive marketing business, Andy has spent years helping companies learn how to do better marketing. 

Andy teaches Word of Mouth Marketing at Northwestern, taught Entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of Business, ran a business incubator, and started half a dozen companies. GasPedal, his consulting company, advises great brands like TiVo, Dell, Ralph Lauren, Sprint, and Kimberly-Clark. 

He created the Word of Mouth Marketing Association around the latest revolutions in blogs, buzz, and word of mouth.  Before that, in the dot-com days, he ran the Association for Interactive Marketing.

Andy writes an amazing newsletter and blog called "Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That" and is author of the hit book "Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking."

Andy holds degrees in Marketing from the Wharton School of Business and in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Rubin, VP Community

Michael's key expertise is helping companies better understand and utilize social media to generate organic word of mouth between customers, advocates, and the media. Prior to joining GasPedal, Michael served in a dual-capacity as the Director of Editorial Content and Director of Member Services for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). During his time at WOMMA, Michael helped lay the foundations for the growth and maturation of word of mouth into a mainstream part of the marketing mix. He also developed a leading podcast series on word of mouth, authored and edited three weekly e-mail newsletters, managed several blogs, became a knowledgeable expert on word of mouth marketing, and acted as the group’s unofficial matchmaker. Other career highlights include stints at Zocalo Group, comScore, and ePrairie.com. A die-hard Cubs fan since he was five years old, Michael lives in Chicago with his wife Pam.

Philip Nieman, VP Information Management

Phil cut his teeth in the world of political organizing, where you learn to do a little bit of everything. Whether it’s fixing a computer, setting up a printer, or wiring the office phone system…Phil is there. When it comes to his official job, it’s all about the information! When he isn’t playing with databases and excel sheets, he is busy searching for blogging and social media leaders at major corporations. Phil is an avid blog reader about all things social media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, and politics. When not at work you can find Phil racing sailboats off of Chicago, mountain biking, cooking, traveling, and typically drinking double lattes.

Katie Crain, Director Client Services

Katie’s job is to make people happy, and she’s mighty good at it. A Chicago native, she has spent the last five years working with noted entertainment industry authors in her roles as Marketing Manager at AEBMedia, and as Executive Assistant to the CEO at Invisible Records. She coordinated every detail in the release of 10 different books, most notably Tour:Smart by Martin Atkins. With a Masters of Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago and a Marketing degree from Illinois State University, Katie is well equipped to understand the needs of not only our clients, but our staff as well.

Did we mention that she coordinates our internship program, too? She firmly believes that a smile and a friendly voice can help overcome the largest of obstacles and is always willing and able to help. Katie lives in River North with her husband, Brett and their two plants, Mo and Flo.

Kurt Vanderah, VP Operations

In addition to helping GasPedal keep its organizational focus, Kurt coordinates GasPedal and Blog Council events. A University of Illinois graduate, Kurt’s first career path was in radio. He worked for a number of radio stations, most notably WGN Radio in Chicago, where he spent 12+ years as either Assistant Program Director or Executive Producer of The Kathy & Judy Show. Kurt brought his skills to GasPedal in 2008, encouraged by the company’s firm belief that doing good business can be fun.

As detail-oriented as he is, Kurt so much wants everything to work out right, he sometimes repeats himself to make sure things get done properly. Which is curious, because as detail-oriented as he is, Kurt so much wants everything to work out right, he sometimes repeats himself to make sure things get done properly.

Evette Tan, Marketing Administrator

Evette was an accounting major before she discovered marketing, and after earning a degree in Business Administration she flew halfway across the world to pursue a master's in Marketing Communications at IIT Stuart School of Business. In between degrees she's taught English and worked as a student assistant at the International Center of IIT. She is GasPedal's Marketing Administrator, where she works daily to apply what she knows to what she does in organizing GasPedal's word of mouth marketing efforts.

When she isn't online she enjoys traveling, reading and watching magical realism, and keeping things to a hundred words.