DirectoryOne.Com

Philip O'Hara is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Directory One. In 1981, he moved to Houston from Louisville, Kentucky to establish a career as a yellow pages advertising consultant. For sixteen years he assisted small business owners who wanted to generate leads using Yellow Pages Advertising.

In 1996, Philip formed a team to help develop his Internet site for his yellow pages consulting business, and quickly found clients were making the switch from pages advertising, such as Thomas Register and Martindale-Hubbell directories to Yahoo and other search engines.

When his clients made the shift, they still needed advice on how to build websites. Eager to assist his loyal customer base with all of their advertising needs, Philip founded Directory One Inc.

It wasn't too long before, Directory One, Inc. made web marketing its sole focus. To do this, Philip followed the same principles of Yellow Pages advertising and applied it to Internet searches. Just like AA Auto Shops who appeared first in the yellow pages, he wanted his clients' websites to appear first in online searches on the Internet. He wanted their websites to have a good call to action at the top of their pages. With this in mind, he hired a qualified team to execute SEO strategies.

While Philip admits he had a great deal of help along the way, his direct approach has enabled much of Directory One's success. Many customers meet with Philip and call him on his cell phone to discuss Directory One's service offerings or other marketing information directly.

In 2001, Philip expanded Directory One, Inc. by purchasing www.checkhouston.com, and again in 2004 when he merged Directory One, Inc. with Artistic Video and Around Houston Website Design.

Currently, Philip is working to build local search engine technologies through checkhouston.com, making it the premier search engine to use for Houston happenings and businesses. Philip's vision, high regard for customer relations, affordable pricing schemes and innovative web solutions drive this company to be the best in its field.

Philip is more than just a CEO. He is a loyal salesperson, as he often dedicates his time to making personal visits with customers and enjoys the relationships he builds in the field. He personally saw over two hundred customers last year. While it may seem like a monumental task, Philip remains humble, "I love what I do and the people I work with."

Beatriz Leija is the Chief Operating Officer for Directory One and has been with the company since September 2004. She was educated at the University of Houston-Downtown and received a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) in Administrative Management.

Directory One first hired Beatriz to train in Search Engine Optimization. As the company grew and the needs changed, management felt her skills could best be utilized in the accounting department. She was in charge of all monetary transactions, recordkeeping and billing. She has helped Directory One with its long term debt and has accomplished building better credit for the company.

In 2006, Directory One had a change in Management, Beatriz received her degree and was able to step in and take a higher role at Directory One. Today, she oversees day-to-day operations, managing orders, technical support, customer satisfaction, accounting, legal affairs, facilities, human resources, and information services. She is also responsible for integrating customer-focused initiatives throughout the company's operations.

Throughout the many changes and its prosperous growth of the company she is excited about Directory One's future and is dedicated to the success of the company and the expansion of its services.

Arthur Brown has been employed by Directory One since November of 2006 serving in the position of web designer. Having an advanced level of experience working with Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesgin, Adobe Flash and Dreamweaver, using these programs to create web sites which best communicate the client's message and adhere to current web standards. In addition, utilizing his knowledge of html and CSS to make sure the web sites are easily optimized and search engine friendly.

Bringing with him over 8 years of experience, in both online and offline marketing, Arthur has served in key marketing positions for several companies. Some high lights included being the Marketing Specialist in charge of the overall online marketing efforts for Exhibit Express, a Houston based litigation graphics firm in 2005. Prior to working at Exhibit Express Mr. Brown was the Marketing Director for OfficeMakers, Inc., Houston's largest dealer of refurbished Steelcase®, from 2002 to 2005. Arthur also worked as a Freelance web designer for K Smith consulting in 2004, being responsible for designing the initial graphics and the html layout for the company website, in addition to working on several projects for clients of K Smith consulting. Mr. Brown began his Marketing career working for Aurora Entertainment an independent record label based in Laurel, Mississippi in 1998.

Arthur holds a MS in Mass Communication and a BA in Advertising from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Danny Morgan has held a long time fascination with computers and technology. In 1981 he received his first videogame system, the Atari 5200, for Christmas. This opened his eyes to the joys of computer gaming. Fast forward to 1994, where the new high school graduate received his first PC as a graduation gift from his parents. With this new technology, Danny was introduced to the local BBS services in Austin. There he experienced his first bout with the "online" community. He would soon see the arrival of the Internet; very much in it's infancy.

Danny then decided he wanted to learn the ways of web design. He relocated to Houston in the spring of 1999 where he attended The Art Institute of Houston. There he earned an Associates Degree in Web Design and Multimedia. While in the final stages of schooling, Danny interned at a small web design company. He frequently teamed up with schoolmates to tackle numerous freelance web design jobs. These jobs allowed him to flex his mental muscle and do what he loves best: create!

At Directory One, Danny Morgan works in conjunction with clients to generate creative designs for websites. He also plays an intregal role in the construction of said websites, helping with content population and other site construction duties. Danny enjoys the line of communication he has with clients and thrives on their feedback. This enables him to help clients realize their web goals and identities.

Danny is computer savvy and loves learning and using programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Zbrush. Danny is an avid gamer and a hardcore video game collector.

As the founder of Artistic Video Productions in 1985, Herb Firestone immediately saw the need for affordable professional video services in Houston, Texas. Spanning the entire spectrum of video production experience, from thirty-second commercials to feature films, he recognized as early as 1995 the inevitable convergence of video with the Internet and established Around Houston Web Design to help make it happen.

Even during those early years, while Mark Cuban was able to sell broadcast.com to Yahoo for 5.7 billion dollars, Artistic Video was able to produce and stream broadcast quality video over the web. In the fall of 2005 both companies were merged with Directory One, and now more than ever, the opportunity exists for your business to produce a short CEO video introduction for your website.

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Firestone has lived everywhere from Boston, Massachusetts to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a B.A. in philosophy, little did he know that he would eventually wind up in Houston, Texas heading the SEO division of Directory One with duties ranging from creating metatags to directory submissions.

SEO team member Terri Stevens is a professional writer and former staff journalist. Her experience with the Internet began in the early nineties when first accessing through direct dial Bulletin Board Systems found in the magazine Boardwatch. As the Web grew she began to create personal sites while working as a writer, web content provider and small business owner. She designed and maintained a variety of personal and professional websites, and many of her articles appeared in national magazines and web publications. Her writing skills and Internet experience, combined with an interest in online marketing and the opportunities Web 2.0 brings, led her to Directory One. "I've learned a lot about search engine optimization since joining Directory One, and I'm excited about being a part of such a great team!"