Beth J. Bates, Owner, Social Media Marketing & Web Strategist
Beth Jackson Bates is a jack of all trades in the web world. In 1998, Beth founded Web Strategies, a boutique digital marketing firm specializing in helping small businesses connect with customers.  She’s been in the web biz for over 15 years and enjoys putting a new twist on traditional web technology. She helps her clients understand their business needs and how digital marketing tools and tactics fulfill those needs.

In 1995 Beth began her career developing small brochure web sites for family and friends and realized that she had a real passion for technology. In the early years she developed small static websites, but quickly moved into managing large, custom software development projects. From 2001 to 2006 she consulted with USA TODAY, where she supported the Education and Circulation departments with projects ranging from new websites to application development. During her time at USA TODAY she was a three-time Jewell award winner for business innovation. She also has ten years experience working with associations and nonprofits.

Beth founded GoodDogz.org, Inc. in 2003 to help fill a void in the animal welfare community. GoodDogz.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to educating potential dog owners on dog selection and care and supporting the efforts of rescue groups. We believe that by assisting with good dog-owner matches, we’ll give each family the best opportunity for a life-long relationship with their new dog and help to keep dogs out of shelters. She currently serves on its board of directors as president.

She lives in Bentonville, VA, with her husband, Mark, five dogs (Willy, Mickey, Hugo, Bruno & George) and three cats (Zesty, Tangy & Spicy).

Whitney McKim, Project Manager
Whitney provides project management and WordPress development for Web Strategies.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.  Whitney has been managing and providing WordPress development for a variety of web design and social media marketing projects for Web Strategies over the past two years.

Prior to working with Web Strategies, Whitney has over seven years of experience providing administrative and customer in a variety of industries, including both private sector and government.  Being exposed to a variety of industries has made her very adaptable and prepared to take on any task or project.  Organization is one of her strongest suits, and she is able to maintain multiple projects with ease.  Her strong background in research and writing has greatly helped her with client research and navigating the Internet to find reliable, well-supported sources and solutions.

In addition to her formal training, Whitney is an autodidact in graphic and web design basics and photography. She continues her self-taught education through books, webinars and web tutorials, focusing on HTML, CSS, and WordPress and is beginning to dabble in learning to program for the iPhone development platform. Whitney continues to excel in discovering the newest tools and trends in social media and web development. This allows her to ensure that Web Strategies’ clients receive the most up-to-date recommendations in an ever-changing  landscape.

Whitney first connected with Beth through GoodDogz.org several years ago. Whitney has supported GoodDogz.org and their mission to find forever homes for homeless dogs and support rescue organizations. Whitney and her husband, Steve, are both very active in the Northern Virginia dog community. They own two Dalmatians and a Belgian Malinois and compete with the Beltway Bandits in NAFA Flyball.

Lori de Pedro, Office Manager & Researcher
Lori works with Web Strategies as an office manager and researcher. The attention to detail and strong organizational skills needed to run an office, even part-time, made for a perfect fit. Lori has learned much about the wonderful world of ‘Tweets’ and ‘Facebook’ updates over the years while learning the ropes of social media marketing. Aside from being a member of the Web Strategies team, Lori has worked in the Virginia wine industry for a number of years. Her experience with educating the public and the focus on local and sustainable business practices led to her desire to help other types of small businesses use all of the resources available to them to reach local and even broader audiences.

When not slinging wine or assisting Beth as her ‘Gal Friday’, Lori enjoys sewing, sci-fi and horror movies-the more gratuitous the better, being crafty, dog rescue and creating culinary masterpieces. Especially baked goods. She will always have a dog, more than likely rescued and more than likely named after a character from the ‘Alien’ movie franchise.

Caty Waterfield, Content & Marketing Specialist
Caty started as a journalism major at Winthrop University and found out she loved working with computers and technology along the way.  She started out with free hosting websites and as a result learned more HTML and CSS.  As far as design, Caty has been working closely with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign since 2005.  She has 5+ years of experience writing for different platforms, including feature stories, hard news and web-based writing.  She served as Editor-in-Chief of her college newspaper, The Trailblazer, during her sophomore year of college.  Aside from writing and designing, Caty also enjoys photography and learning new shooting and editing techniques.  She currently lives in Durham, NC, with her husband, Justin.

Tony Boies, WordPress Developer
Tony provides WordPress development for Web Strategies. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from James Madison University. Tony has worked in the IT field since 1992 in a variety of settings.

From 1992-1997, he worked in the Technical Services department at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. He moved to Fairfax, VA, and worked on federal IT contracts for Fu Associates, Ltd. until 2004. Tony created or assisted with several employment-related web apps as part of the Career One Stop initiative.

Since 2004, he has worked on numerous web development projects for clients in the public and private sector. Tony’s wife Jennifer maintains the entertainment blog PopSanctum.com, and in his spare time Tony provides website support for author Lisa Crystal Carver, artist/musician Dame Darcy, and the Fairfax, VA music label Nut Music. He also works with digital audio/video editing and DVD authoring.

Kelly Walker, WordPress Trainer
Kelly is a native of Georgia where she received a BS in Secondary Education from Georgia Southern College.  She has two decades of experience working with Chambers of Commerce in Kentucky and Virginia where she served on the Virginia Chamber Board of Directors.

Five years ago she left the non-profit world of work to pursue one of her passions – Art.  She is an award winning artist that now spends most of her time working as a daily painter and teacher.  Her students range in age from 7 – 90!  Her work can be seen at Delilah’s – an Art & Gift Gallery that she owns in Front Royal, Virginia.  Or you can follow her on her daily blog www.lifeofadailypainter.com where she describes her work as well as the progress of her students.

Kelly joined Web Strategies in 2011 as a trainer where she enjoys helping others learn the world of  WordPress.

A firm believer in community service, Kelly has been involved in many civic and non-profit organizations in the community and still serves on boards of several.  She also gives her time and talent to raising money for dog rescue.  She has rescued many dogs over the years and is currently “owned” by two rescues:  Jed, a black lab-basset mix, and Lincoln who is half wire-haired dachshund and half Robin Williams on speed!