Jill Crimmins

Partner, Lead Developer

Jill's engineering career started with a degree from UCLA - Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. To blow off a little steam from the course work she headed for the ski bum life. During seven powder-filled years in Alta, Utah, Jill found herself and husband spending the off seasons in the Columbia River Gorge. One year, they never left, and Jill picked up where she left off with engineering, writing custom glass cutting software.

The software engineering job fed into a web development job at a local agency serving clients such as Nike, Swiss Army Brands and Xerox, where she met Locus co-founder Tracy Bech (then Duryee). There, Jill became the Lead Developer, and eventually, the Director of Operations. Wanting to fully realize her entrepreneurial goals, Jill found herself and Tracy writing business plans on cocktail napkins and one day forming a corporation - Locus Interactive.

At Locus, Jill excels in streamlining complex ideas into manageable products, always keeping both the big picture and bottom line in mind.

When not at Locus, Jill and her husband Corbin, and hound Myla can be found taking full advantage of all of the recreational pursuits Hood River and The Gorge have to offer, as well as bee-lining for the Canadian border to play in the bike parks and mountains of Whistler.

Tracy Bech (formerly Duryee)

Partner, Sales & Account Management

Tracy is a self-taught HTML programmer who learned the skill first while posting data for her Oceanography research on the web.  Upon graduating from the University of Washington with a BS in Oceanography, Tracy headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to try the ski bum lifestyle on for size.  Realizing that her BS in Oceanography wasn't going to get her far in the Tetons, she made a career path change and became the office manager and production assistant for a small Internet agency in 1998. When the ski season ended she packed up to head back west, to be a little closer to home (Seattle), and to spend a summer in Hood River, Oregon.

The endless recreation opportunities of Hood River sucked her in, along with a job at a local Internet agency where she shared a cube with Locus co-founder Jill Crimmins. Building on her working knowledge of the web, Tracy spent 3 + years as a Project Manager there serving clients such as Nike, Xerox, Dr Martens and Smith Sport Optics.

Seeing a dynamic team forming between she and her cube mate, Tracy and Jill started dreaming of working for themselves, providing affordable web solutions. Making a leap of faith, they started Locus Interactive in 2003. Working with clients to understand their individual needs, and being part of a dynamic working team who can fill those needs, is what Tracy most enjoys most about working at Locus.

When not emailing at light speed, Tracy teams up with her husband Tyler, and trusty "White Salmon Sheppard", Mica, and spends as much time as possible biking (road and mountain), sailing (windsurfing and boat), skiing (alpine, cross country and randonee) and relaxing (playing guitar, gardening and reading).

Matt Rutledge

Technical Project Management

Matt has had a broad range of career experiences which have developed his technical, problem solving, and organizational skills. His last stop B.L. (before Locus) was as a marketing director at North Sports Inc. Locus and Matt initially joined forces when Matt was on the client side of things while working on WindsurfingHatteras.com. Shortly thereafter Matt made a permanent career move and became Project Manager at Locus.

At Locus, Matt manages and oversees all projects, making sure that timelines, deadlines and expectations are met, both internally and externally. He isn’t afraid to pull numerous hats off the hat rack to fulfill many needs, from scheduling to domain transfers.

Like most Gorge residents, Matt moved here to pursue quality of life and the abundant recreational opportunities in and around Hood River. Dependent on which way the wind is blowing you might find him kiteboarding, windsurfing, stand up paddling, or hitting the dirt on the local MTB trails when he isn’t in the office. Matt & his partner Justine were recently inducted into world of parenthood with the birth of their son, Finian, in June of 2007. Finian has usurped Indy (the wünderhound) as #1 son.

Jody Barringer

Programmer

Jody's Engineering degree from the California Polytechnical Institute and her years of experience in high tech marketing combine to make her the perfect Locus team member. Jody is a multi-tasking expert, able to produce websites efficiently, and accomplish virtually any other task given to her.

Jody has two boys, Josh and Jason, and husband Dave. As a family, they take full advantage of Hood River living, skiing, biking, hiking and camping as much as possible.