Our Team

At Merge, we’re a passionate team of designers, developers, strategists and creative thinkers guided by the belief that our success depends on your success.

Dina Barnese

Project Manager + UX Strategist

As a UX Strategist, Dina applies human-centered design principals to websites and mobile apps, keeping the user experience top of mind. She approaches project management with a goal of guiding the client’s vision to reality, keeping the big picture in mind while managing details and tasks.

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Michelle Dodd

Founder + CEO

Michelle has a desire to magnify the reach of nonprofits and mission-driven small businesses through impactful websites and strategic digital marketing. With a belief that one’s personal mission can be achieved through meaningful work, Michelle creates an environment that inspires her team and builds valued, lasting partnership with clients.

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Brian Hutchinson

Creative + UX Designer

Brian is a digital creative designer who’s been helping businesses build a better brand experience through visual design for over 15 years.

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Alex Herrera

Support Specialist

Alex is a communications professional who’s worked in the non-profit sector for over seven years and specializes in email deployment, database hygiene, and metrics reporting.

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Carolyn Kerchof

Writer, Editor + Social Media Specialist

Carolyn is dedicated to understanding what clients want to communicate and conveying it in sparkling prose.

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Luda Polyakova

Marketing + Communications Coordinator

Whether she’s crafting ad copy, writing website content, or developing a communications strategy, Luda is adept at conveying her client’s voice and values.

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Stacey Schultz

Co-founder + Visual Designer

It was Stacey’s passion and enthusiasm for helping small businesses and non-profits elevate their online experience and digital strategy that led to her co-founding Merge.

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Dana Tracy

Writer, Editor + Social Media Specialist

Dana has a passion for story telling and connecting brands, companies and institutions with their target demographics.

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Julie Tuerk

Web Developer

Julie brings a diverse background to her practice of web development. She has studied computer programming, art, and psychology, and is also a certified sommelier.

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Our Story

Merge was founded on high standards for quality work, communication, and innovation. We share a desire to do only the best work, with the best people, for the best clients.

We help small businesses and non-profits achieve strategic and creative brand experiences that align with, and elevate, their organization’s mission. We deliver a full range of creative services from graphic design and branding to web design, web development, and digital marketing.

We strive to:

SUPPORT your organization’s business goals
CONNECT with your audience to engage, inform, and inspire them to action
SERVE the needs of your stakeholders and board members

We’re a small studio by design, delivering a personal, hands-on approach with senior talent. We measure our success by your success. You’ll be treated as a partner, we’ll communicate honestly, and you’ll get work that reflects your brand’s unique personality.

Get in touch!

Dina Barnese

Project Manager + UX Strategist

Dina joined the Merge team in 2017. As a UX Strategist, she applies human-centered design principals to websites and mobile apps, keeping the user experience top of mind. She approaches project management with a goal of guiding the client’s vision to reality, keeping the big picture in mind while managing details and tasks.

Dina has more than two decades of experience in the tech field. She has worked as a database and software developer, business analyst, UX designer, and project manager. She also has experience as a mediator: she served as a volunteer court-appointed mediator for eight years, during which time she continued training in advanced facilitation, negotiation, and mediation skills.

Outside of the IT world, Dina is a potter, musician and nature lover. She serves on the board of directors for the Flagstaff Foundry, a nonprofit performing arts incubator.

Michelle Dodd

Co-founder + Technical Strategist

Michelle was a web developer for over 20 years, but these days she is celebrating the joy of building a business with the focus of helping nonprofits and mission-driven small businesses improve their reach, communication, and web presence while leading a team of awesome, creative people who care about the client and their work as much as she does.

Today's new normal makes your websites and digital strategy more critical than ever to the success of your organization. We understand the pressure and we want to help you every step of the way. Whether it's a rebrand, upgraded website, or digital marketing - we want to be your partner for your success. And we think you'll enjoy the adventure with us.

Combining experience working for and in nonprofits and digital agencies, and owning three previous small businesses, Michelle brings a wealth of knowledge to each engagement, an understanding of challenges clients are facing, and a desire to solve problems and get results.

Michelle has planned and experienced several multi-month, self-supported bike tours, sea kayak expeditions, and through-hikes. These days she finds joy in backpacking, mountain biking and skiing with her husband and daughter, and playing indoor and sand volleyball.

Brian Hutchinson

Creative + UX Designer

Brian is a digital creative designer who's been helping businesses build a better brand experience through visual design for over 15 years, working with non-profits to tech startups. From concept creation to delivery, Brian brings a high level of professionalism and energy to everything he tackles. Although his expertise is in creating visual compiling websites and applications, he also excels at video production and motion design.

When he's not in the mountains snowboarding or mountain biking, he's in the studio composing, playing and recording music.

Alex Herrera

Support Specialist

Alex is a communications professional who’s worked in the non-profit sector for over seven years and specializes in email deployment, database hygiene, and metrics reporting. She joined the team at Merge in the fall of 2021 as a Site Support Specialist, providing website maintenance and content support to keep our clients’ websites running smoothly.

Outside of work, Alex has a passion for fiction writing, is an escape room enthusiast, and has a large collection of art toys. She also spends plenty of time playing with her adorable cat, Luna.

Carolyn Kerchof

Writer, Editor, Social Media Specialist

Carolyn is dedicated to understanding what clients want to communicate and conveying it in sparkling prose. She brings communications experience from the health care and elder care fields, the sustainable agriculture sector, and a wide range of research contexts. She earned a B.A. in English Literature from George Washington University, an M.A. in Communication Design from the Zurich University of the Arts, and a M.A. in the History and Philosophy of Knowledge from ETH Zürich. With a hybrid writing and design background, she thinks holistically about brand presentation.

When she isn’t working, Carolyn publishes zines, goes on hikes, and cooks elaborate dinners with the vegetables from her CSA box.

Luda Polyakova

Marketing + Communications Coordinator

Luda’s passion for writing began at an early age, and she developed her craft with a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing, M.A. in Textual and Literary Studies, and M.A. in Cultural Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, along with a graduate certification in International and Technical Communication. She brings her well-rounded perspective to every project with experience working in higher education, nonprofit, corporate, small business, and agency environments. In 2017, Luda met the Merge team to collaborate on the launch of the Qualistar Colorado (now Healthy Child Care Colorado) website. Whether she’s crafting ad copy, writing website content, or developing a communications strategy, Luda is adept at conveying her client’s voice and values. She’s also detail-obsessed and ready to debate the value of an oxford comma at a moment’s notice. When she’s not writing, you’ll likely find her making something, walking her dog, or listening to music. Luda is Chief Happy Hour-er of the Denver CreativeMornings chapter and creates opportunities for local creatives to network, collaborate, and build community. She's also an amateur potter and volunteers as a studio assistant for children’s pottery classes.

Stacey Schultz

Co-founder + Visual Designer

Stacey is a 20-year design + marketing professional with a unique background that combines a decade as a web designer (both on the corporate and agency side) as well as another decade as a marketing director for a cultural travel company. She has led dozens of website and mobile app designs, encompassing everything from marketing content to complex online applications. She is guided by a belief that humans always come first, and the best technologies are those that go unnoticed but add value. Stacey has a 360-degree view of everything that goes into creating and maintaining successful websites and an in-depth understanding of all the skills needed to accomplish even the most complex projects. She has served as Interactive co-director on the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Board of Directors and on the artists’ committee at PlatteForum, a community-based non-profit for the arts in Denver. She left Merge in 2018 to pursue other opportunities.

Dana Tracy

Writer, Editor, Social Media Specialist

Originally from Boulder, CO, Dana was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, and earned her B.A. in English Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. She began her career in sales and marketing with Nordstrom, Inc. and spent the next five years working coast to coast with international fashion houses Chanel and Kenzo, as well as with emerging independent brands. Returning to the Bay Area in 2007, Dana oversaw brand management and product design for a women’s fashion footwear company, where she helmed the marketing and design teams. Throughout her career, Dana has continued to work with clients including consumer products companies, fashion designers, small business owners, and start-ups. With a passion for story-telling and connecting brands, companies and institutions with their target demographics, Dana has created original copy for biographies, digital communications, internal publications, marketing and sales materials and websites. She believes that listening carefully to each client’s story, and understanding their goals is the path to clear, compelling communication with their target audience. Dana currently resides in Boulder, CO with her husband, two children and Chinese Crested.

Julie Tuerk

Web Developer + Code Creator

Julie brings a diverse background to her practice of web development. She has studied computer programming, art, and psychology, and is also a certified sommelier. Her eagerness to learn new technical skills has enabled numerous small businesses and nonprofits to create an online presence, improve website functionality, and manage data.

Julie loves solving problems with creative solutions, but is equally at ease using traditional methods to help clients realize their vision.