Together we can do amazing things

Be a comrade. It’s much more than our name—it’s how we work, who we are as people, and how we engage with our community.

Thelton McMillian

Founder, CEO

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For more than 20 years, Thelton has been partnering with clients and creative teams to brand, design and market products and service experiences. As founder and CEO, he provides creative and visionary leadership at Comrade, while fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence. He has a passion for getting to the heart of any problem by listening, understanding and quickly connecting with people. After serving as President and COO at Critical Mass and VP, Managing Director at Organic San Francisco, Thelton founded Comrade so he could work more personally with clients and comrades on a day-to-day basis.
With strategic insight and attention to detail, Thelton has led digital programs and large scale website and e-commerce builds for the likes of AT&T, Bank of Montreal, Bank of the West, BlackRock, Ford, Home Depot, Hyatt, HP, ING, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Macy’s, Mercedes-Benz, Morgan Stanley, NASA, Sony PlayStation and Starbucks, among others.

Recent Articles

• Security, customer experience and innovation: what’s the connection?
• Comrade joins CI&T – A letter from Comrade’s CEO
• Key strategies to drive mobile payment adoption with consumer-focused design
• Key steps to accelerating digital product innovation
• Balancing fraud and customer experience in a mobile world

I’m grateful for the talented group of people I’ve been able to call my comrades, and proud of the company that we’ve all created together—one built on respect, a love for smart design, creative solutions, and a desire to make everyday experiences better.

Christy McMillian

Founder, COO, Client Partner

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As one of Comrade’s co-founders and leading Client Partner, Christy has set the standard for effective and efficient client collaboration. She’s helped build an environment where her fellow comrades can do their best work, get inspired, learn from one another and, most importantly, be fed. Have you tried her homemade strawberries and cream gelato?
Overseeing the Bank of the West relationship for four years, Christy has led several of the bank’s major initiatives, including a complete website redesign. Previously, Christy served as the account director for Mercedes-Benz USA and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority accounts at Critical Mass. Her client experience spans a variety of consumer and Financial Services brands, including JPMorgan Chase, Harrah’s (now Caesar’s) Entertainment, Schwab, Scotia Bank, Sony PlayStation, TIAA-CREF, Ubisoft and WaMu. Christy holds a BAA in Media Arts from Ryerson University.

Recent Articles

• 7 ways to overcome obstacles to design thinking buy-in
• Four things we learned at the American Banker Digital Banking Summit
• Designing a flexible approach

What I love best about working in this industry is that it challenges me to adapt to the perpetually changing landscapes of technology, strategy and design.

Darren Murata

Founder, Creative Director

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Darren is an award-winning creative director with more than 20 years of experience in digital marketing, advertising and visual design. He believes in a results-focused, practical approach to design, guiding his clients and team towards tested and proven executions. As a Creative Director and co-founder of Comrade, he has created interactive marketing campaigns, websites, film/video and a variety of web and mobile applications.
Darren provides analytical thinking across the full creative spectrum from initial concepts to final implementations for such clients as Bank of the West, BlackRock and FICO. He built his design career at industry-leading agencies Modem Media, Digitas, and AKQA, working on brands including Visa, BFGoodrich, Intel, Michelin, PlayStation, and Sprint. He co-created an interactive design course at CCA and has been a judge and panelist at numerous conferences. Darren holds a BFA from Ryerson University.

Recent Articles

• IoT Showdown: Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Money 20/20 Hackathon: Comrade wins the ModoPayments challenge

What will success look like, and how will we measure it? Those are the questions I ask about every idea that’s brought to the table.

Young Pham

Chief Strategy Officer

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A seasoned consultant and serial entrepreneur, Young has been providing strategic guidance to businesses for 20 years. At Comrade, he helps our clients envision, build and launch new products, marketing programs and service experiences. He believes any problem is a catalyst to move forward through innovation.
Young began his career in digital advertising at Modem Media, where he designed CRM and analytics programs for top consumer brands. Most notably, he was an executive for Washington Mutual’s Online Group and later helped form mortgage start-up Home Account and the global investing start-up InvestLab. He has led digital product and marketing teams for large financial services institution, FinTech startups, and a variety of consumer brands including Citibank, Intuit, Intel, AT&T, Levis, Dockers, Delta Air Lines, Alamo Rent A Car, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Hewitt Packard and Michelin Tires. He has co-presented the launch of two Fin-Tech Start-ups at Finnovate, Fall 2009 and Demo, Spring 2009. Young holds a BBA in Business Analysis and Information Systems from Texas A&M University.

Recent Articles

• B2B2C Marketing: Controlling the message when you don’t control the experience
• How financial services can embrace the customer revolution
• The three costliest myths about Gen Y

Happy people help make a work culture great which can lead to high-quality work and, in the end, happy clients. I’m glad to add value to such an inspiring team of people.

DiAnne Bueno Lozano

Chief Happiness Officer

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DiAnne, trained as a graphic designer and photographer, brings creativity and passion to setting the Comrade corporate culture. Her role includes creating programs that support team development and general operations of the company.
Prior to joining Comrade, DiAnne spent over four years working at a leading Bay Area non-profit where she was responsible for various marketing and graphic design initiatives. In this role she organized and developed fundraising campaigns that helped the organization spread happiness to many. She also cultivated relationships with key donors and sponsors, including Macy’s, San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors and others. DiAnne holds a B.A. in Design Studies from San Jose State University.