Meet the People Behind GEOGrow

Dan Lyons is a marketing and creative professional specializing in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), AI visibility strategy, and digital brand growth. With experience across healthcare, finance, technology, manufacturing, government, and service industries, Dan helps brands become more understandable, trustworthy, and recommendable inside AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI. Blending storytelling, content strategy, and emerging AI search methodologies, he focuses on strengthening brand authority, improving AI recall, and increasing visibility in conversational search environments. His background in film, marketing, and creative production gives him a unique ability to translate complex ideas into compelling narratives that resonate with both people and AI systems. Highly driven, adaptable, and collaborative, Dan thrives in fast-paced environments where strategy, creativity, and execution all intersect.

James O’Loughlin is the co-founder of GEOGrow — the first platform built for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — helping brands convert AI visibility into measurable leads and sales through strategy, optimization, and content.

James began his digital career in SEO back in 2000, guiding countless companies through the earliest waves of search innovation. A lifelong early adopter, he also mined Bitcoin in 2011 — long before mainstream awareness — and sees GEO as that same kind of once-in-a-generation transformation.

As co-founder of Pixaura Digital, James continues to merge analytics, creativity, and technology to help organizations grow smarter in the age of AI.

When he’s not exploring the next digital frontier, you’ll find him running or cycling — often finding his best ideas out on the trail. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his family and mascot cat, Pixie.

Zach Stier has spent over a decade building and managing high-performing search strategies for clients across industries — blending technical SEO, content architecture, and data-driven insight to deliver results.

His background in Philosophy at DePaul University shapes how he approaches digital marketing: not as a set of right or wrong answers, but as an evolving system of theories that must be tested, defended, and improved.

Zach has a reputation for staying one step ahead of Google (and now AI). He constantly studies trends, experiments with data, and believes in collaboration as the ultimate growth tool. His favorite clients are the ones who share his curiosity — the ones willing to push the boundaries together.

Outside of work, Zach loves music (especially Phish), laughing with friends and family, and spending time with his dogs.
Ask James what Zach was doing at age 10 — it’s one of his favorite stories.

Michael LeFort is an award-winning brand strategist and marketer with a 20-year track record of building go-to-market systems for global brands across technology, education, consumer goods, media, and social impact.

At GEOGrow, Michael helps brands translate human storytelling into AI-driven visibility and growth, bridging creative strategy with the emerging world of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). His focus: ensuring brands are not only seen by people — but also understood and remembered by AI.

Before joining GEOGrow, Michael led omni-channel campaigns that drove measurable sales, loyalty, and brand reach for clients including Hit Entertainment (Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina), Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray Show, Nickelodeon, Special Olympics, HBO, MetLife, FitVine Wine, Barnes & Noble, Iconix Brand Group, UNICEF USA, Sesame Street, and Discovery.

Known for his creative vision and collaborative leadership, Michael builds alignment between partners, clients, and teams — transforming insights into unified brand narratives that win both hearts and algorithms.

Timur Akilov immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union at the age of 15. Without prior knowledge of the English language, Timur excelled in his studies and graduated at the top of his high school class. After high school, Timur earned a B.S. degree in Computer Science from the City University of New York with a minor in finance. At the University, he was a recipient of the prestigious United Federation of Teachers Scholarship. In 1999, he graduated with high honors, the Dean’s List Award and membership in the Golden Key National Honor Society.

Timur possesses a great sense of business and management. Since graduating from college, he has led many interesting technology and investment ventures. Most recently, he joined with James O’Loughlin to start Pixaura, an agency dedicated to customizing strategies for its clients.

Timur loves competitive sports. In his spare time, you can find him practicing martial arts, playing tennis, soccer or basketball with his kids.

Hammad Ali is the CTO at GEOGrow, bringing a decade of hands-on engineering leadership to the platform’s technical foundation.

Hammad strongly believes small teams can outperform much larger organizations when communication is direct, execution is prioritized, and unnecessary complexity is removed. He has put that philosophy into practice by leading engineering teams across multiple startups and continents, serving millions of users worldwide, delivering products across AI, mobile, web, and automation ecosystems.

Outside of engineering, Hammad enjoys playing action-adventure video games, attending industry events, giving talks and exchanging ideas with builders and geeking out over DIY life hacks.