Movers & Shakers: Jesse Ross, Haberman

A look at the people behind the numbers in area business:

Title: Director of digital technologies

Age: 33

Jesse Ross is bringing in-house programming skills to Haberman as the Minneapolis marketing agency's first director of digital technologies.

Ross is doing some Web development himself while offering feedback on digital aspects of creative ideas and coordinating with partner firms that continue to do development work for Haberman.

"We can work a bit more agilely and be a bit more nimble," Ross said. "We are trying to bring [development partners] in ­earlier, having someone on the Haberman side who can speak their language and be a translator for both sides."

Ross also is working to build a strong internal development team at Haberman.

Ross, who has a bachelor's of fine art from the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, already has done illustrations for Haberman client work. He pushed himself to learn Web development outside of class.

"Programming felt like another creative outlet, another set of tools I can use," Ross said.

Ross had a working relationship with Haberman before joining the agency, teaming on a project when he was a senior developer and director of development at the former Sevnthsin agency. He previously was an interactive designer for MRM Worldwide, one of the world's largest digital marketing firms, and has worked as a designer, illustrator, programmer and teacher.

Haberman, a full-service marketing agency, describes itself as "modern storytellers" who are telling "the stories of pioneers who are making a difference in the world."

Q: What appealed to you about joining Haberman?

Q: How did you go from artist to programmer?

A: I went to college for illustration and fell in love with Web design there. I realized that to do any bleeding-edge creative work that took advantage of having an audience voice as part of it, I needed to learn to program.

Q: What do you like about Web design and development?

A: To be part of something that didn't even exist when I was younger is just exciting to me. It's still so untapped. We're all still trying to figure out how the Web works, really, having that sense of being a pioneer in that space and pushing the technology as far as it will go.