Native Lift's co-founders are digital marketing veterans and old friends, with a long-standing history of questionable karaoke duets.  With backgrounds in online community management, streaming media, and search engine marketing, they first collaborated at Reprise Media in 2004. For the better part of a decade, they managed media, services, and product development, and business operations for the agency, which was acquired by Interpublic Group in 2007. Joel and John developed Native Lift in early 2013 to combine their expertise in paid advertising and content marketing. They are excited to grow Native Lift with their partners and clients, and promise to never stop working on their version of The Human League's "Don't You Want Me." 

Joel Lapp has managed media operations, product development, and business strategy for several start-ups and agencies. Joel has had the pleasure of working with some of the world's biggest brands, building teams of digital experts and developing integrated marketing campaigns. He loves efficiency, and works to simplify the most challenging elements of digital advertising without sacrificing effectiveness. As a St. Louis native, he dreams of one day finding the right chef to bring toasted ravioli to Brooklyn.  

John Chan has successfully developed and scaled technology-enabled media solutions that provide a strategic digital backbone for Fortune 500 brands. He has a knack for deconstructing data-driven systems into basic elements and relationships, and optimizing how people interact with those objects. John is an above average Rock-Paper-Scissors player and always sings the guy part of "Don't You Want Me."