THE TEAM :

BEN TRAN  //  FOUNDER + CREATIVE DIRECTOR, B.F.A.

Ben's career in design started in 1995 at Cypress College. He earned a BFA in Visual Communication Design at one of the top design programs in the country - Cal State Long Beach. Ben has worked with several brand + ad agencies, including Landor, one of the largest brand agencies in the world. Brands that he has worked on: Nissan, Pepsi, Disney, Toshiba, Donald Trump, Frito Lay, Qdoba, Deseret Book, Kootenai Health, City of Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai Electric Cooperative, and many more, in different markets: Los Angeles, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Utah, San Antonio, Seattle, and the Inland Northwest.

Ben is a 2x Ironman at Coeur d’Alene + Arizona (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run), 3x Ironman 70.3 at Oceanside, Boise, Grand Columbian, and has completed nearly 20 triathlons. He is also a self taught professional pianist, a husband, and a father of five active kids. Ben is currently the founder of Tri Inland Northwest, a community that promotes Triathlon | Healthy Living | Active Lifestyle : triinw.com

AARON KRALL  //  MARKETING SPECIALIST, B.A.

Aaron is specialized in Web + (S.E.O.) Search Engine Optimization + Advertising. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Advertising from Brigham Young University (BYU). He has worked on a number of large accounts including Burger King, Deseret Book and L'Oreal. Aaron was a full time magician in high school and likes to ride motorcycles. He came to Tran Creative from New York and currently enjoys living in Liberty Lake.

Aaron is currently managing CLIQ, a marketing division of Tran Creative, that specializes in:

ELISE STRIEFF  //  DESIGNER, B.F.A.

Elise is a graduate of Eastern Washington University with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communication Design. She is versatile in all aspects of design. Elise grew up on a cattle ranch in Eastern Washington. She is an extremely hard worker, has a great love for nature, the arts, and is a fabulous cook.

RICH MARKS  //  WEB DIRECTOR, B.S.

Rich is a graduate of University of Advancing Technology with a Bachelor's of Science in Multimedia. He came to Tran Creative from Sagle, Idaho. Rich has a strong passion for web development and coding. He is constantly finding new ways to improve his web development skills and enhance the users experience. Rich has over 10 years of experience in programming. He has extensive experiece in SQL, ASP.net MVC, JQuery, E-Commerce, PCI-Compliance, and much more. He could code just about anything. Rich is a husband and father of 4.

SHANNON STEELE  //  MARKETING COORDINATOR, B.A.

Shannon came to Tran Creative via “one of the best place to ski and snowboard in the U.S.”. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Utah with emphasis in design. She’s also extremely tech savvy when it comes to dealing with Mac computers. Besides her creative marketing ability and 5 years of experience, Shannon was fiercely known as one of the toughest competitors in the snowboarding network in Utah. She and her husband reside in Coeur d’Alene with their 4 kids.

ADDITIONAL HELPERS :

CARSON MCCOMAS  //  WEB DEVELOPER, B.A.

Carson has a Bachelor's degree in Communications from Gonzaga University. He has been developing, launching and marketing web sites & web apps professionally since 1998. He is advanced in HTML(5), CSS(3), Javascript, jQuery, Content Management Systems (WordPress, Shopify, etc.) 

PHIL MASTRO  //  WEB DEVELOPER, B.S.

Bio coming soon...