Beyond the Chaos is blessed with excellent employees and contractors who help us serve and support our clients at an exceptional level. Please meet our Chaos Killers:
Andrea Stevens
Consultant/Project Manager
Making things work smoothly in chaotic environments is exactly what Andrea thrives on. She leverages her extensive corporate experience as a project manager, developer, tester, and business/systems analyst to understand how a variety of teams work. “A picture is worth a thousand words” is her motto, as she finds depicting processes incredibly valuable when working toward calmness and stability within a team or an organization. A recent empty-nester after six children, she and her husband live in an 1890 Minnesota farmhouse, enjoy watching their grandkids grow (too fast), and draw straws to see who gets to use their John Deere tractor for yardwork (or anything else they can think of).
Arin Preston
Consultant/Project Manager
Arin has a passion for operations and project management that evolved over many years working with small businesses – developing custom applications and optimizing workflows. Just out of high school, Arin served one tour in the U.S. Navy and, upon return to civilian life, went back to school and began pursuing a career in business management and technology. Over the years, Arin has worked with a broad range of technology in various capacities, managed remote teams as VP of Operations, and spearheaded initiatives of all sizes as a versatile project manager. Arin trained for one year with a Certified EOS® Implementer and developed a deep understanding and fondness for these highly effective concepts and tools geared towards gaining “traction” in business. She also has a Bachelor’s in IT and an MBA in Data Analytics from Colorado Technical University. Outside of work, Arin sponsors 3 children for schooling in Guatemala through Connecting Hearts Ministry and volunteers as their webmaster. She is also a singer/songwriter, plays guitar, and enjoys exploring outdoors with her 3 rescue pups.
Susan Jacobsen
Consultant/Project Manager
Susan is a skilled business and IT project manager and management consultant with over 20 years of experience. She has been a strategic advisor to CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and senior executive teams with Fortune 500 companies and non-profits. She is an expert in process and procedure design, product life cycle management, portfolio management, operations, productivity improvement, and comprehensive strategic planning.
Caralee Grimes
Project Manager
Caralee thrives on bringing focus and process consistency to projects, developing order and leadership to the team. With a background in engineering and over 15 years in manufacturing, she provides analytical process improvement and efficiency to solve complex problems and meet team goals. Caralee is an energetic, collaborative project manager, leading the team with an unwavering job focus and work ethic. Caralee enjoys time with her five adult children and their families. She loves the outdoors, travel, and time by the water.
Christina Hillestad
Consultant/Project Manager
Christina has been an advertising and marketing professional in Chicago for 25+ years. Operations, project management, and all things related to sorting out chaos is where she thrives. She believes that chaos is an opportunity to help her clients move closer to their goals. And speaking of goals, her goal is to help clients figure out what works best for them and then determine the right implementation structure.
Randall Nelson
Consultant/Project Manager
Randall is a fellow Texas resident like Susan and resides in Austin. Originally from Minneapolis, Randall has spent the last seven years managing each and every detail, vendor, task, and deliverable for large-scale corporate events and projects for a wide range of clients across multiple industries. She prides herself in developing highly functional and enjoyable working relationships with all project stakeholders and keeping all involved on task, on time, and on budget. When not bringing her organizational skills to clients she loves cooking, reading, listening to true crime podcasts, traveling, and exploring her new city.
Katie Mack
Project Manager
Here’s an brief bio on her: Katie is based out of Chicago, and brings to our team over eight years of marketing agency client services, with a focus in project managing pharmaceutical projects. Katie received her undergraduate degree at Illinois State University and her MBA in Marketing from Loyola University Chicago. She spends her free time with her family of five, which includes her husband, daughter, son, and two small pooches. She also keeps adding to her international travel list, which already includes visits to Southeast Asia and Europe.
Katie Betkowski
Consultant/Project Manager
Katie is an experienced advertising, communications, and marketing professional who brings 15 years of agency experience to the Beyond the Chaos team. Katie is a natural problem solver who is able to bring together disparate pieces of information to create a cohesive view and quickly understand where opportunities exist. She has successfully led clients and agency teams through initiatives both large and small and is excited to leverage her strategic and operational experience to help small business leaders build a strong foundation for growth. Katie is located in northwest Indiana, just south of Chicago, and enjoys spending time with her family anywhere near a body of water.
Danielle Dahlem
Virtual Assistant/Project Coordinator
Danielle joins the Chaos Killers a Virtual Assistant. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her two daughters. Danielle earned her bachelor's degree from Illinois State University and a master’s degree from Keller Graduate School of Management. Danielle took a break from corporate America when her first daughter was born and is now excited to be jumping back in, bringing her unique skill set of managing chaos in all forms with her. In her free time, she enjoys adventures with her kids, spending time with family, and playing tennis.
Michelle Lynn
Virtual Assistant
Behind every CEO (Chief Eradicating Officer) is the person that keeps the chaos at bay. Michelle is that person for Susan. Michelle is a skilled virtual assistant with five years of experience supporting executive levels, as well as providing social media management, lead generation, and business coordination services. Known for her focus on stellar client service, Michelle loves finding new ways to embrace her support duties. In her free time, she enjoys keeping up with the latest social media and marketing trends through podcasts and webinars. Outside of the virtual office, she spends time planning her next travel opportunity and watching mixed martial arts.
Kim
Content Manager
Kim is the team’s content manager. She is responsible for crafting compelling content to build and extend the reach of the brand. Based out of Kansas City, Kim graduated from The University of Kansas in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. She spent her early years in Chicago working at several different advertising agencies, including Williams-Labadie where she worked with Susan. But, Kim has returned home to Kansas City. During the day, Kim keeps busy with her Consumer Insights and Analytics role at a large financial planning firm. In her free time, she can be found traveling the world (over 20 countries and counting!). Plus, she enjoys taking classes at the local art institute. Kim has been one of our Chaos Killers since February 2018.