About
The Nicasio Design & Development Team
Our Story
Felix Figuereo
Chief Dude, Founder & Managing Director
Felix Figuereo is responsible for setting the strategic direction and product strategy for Nicasio Design while spearheading all efforts towards business growth for the company. Felix oversees the overall design, development, and technology infrastructure; he also works closely with clients and technology affiliates to fully optimize and manage company resources.
In 2006 Felix moved to Savannah from New York City and became General Manager of Color Maria Inc., a Savannah based web services firm whose assets he subsequently purchased in 2007; he then launched Nicasio Design. From 1999 to 2006 Felix was Payment Operations Manager for Community Connect Inc., a New York City based company which led the early development of online community. Felix’s primary role was to optimize the online member experience and payment processing of monthly membership, for which he helped achieve a 92% subscription retention rate and a 0.02% industry leading chargeback rate. Prior to 1999 Felix was the Member Experience Manager for Star Media Networks, a New York City based company which provided Spanish content and community forums for Spanish speaking web communities.
Felix is currently a CrossFit Level 1 trainer. Some of his prior roles were – Area Chair and senior professor at the Savannah campus of the University Of Phoenix school of business, Operations Manager at A&E Networks, and Support Operations Manager at CCI. He is a U.S. Army Veteran with multiple tours of duty overseas. Felix is married and enjoys spending his spare time with his wife and children.
Academic Background
Felix is a graduate of Audrey Cohen College in New York City where he earned an MBA in Media Management. He is a graduate of Buffalo State College where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Urban Analysis and Planning with a minor in Spanish. Earlier in his academic career he earned an Associate in Applied Science (in Business Management and Marketing) from Bronx Community College. Felix has also earned certification from The New York Theological Seminary in Theological Studies.
Chris Underwood
Chief Designer & Lead Developer
Chris Underwood is known as a “hybrid” in the design & web development industry due to his education and training in both practices. His interest for web development started in high school and during his free time he built his first website just for kicks. This quickly became a hobby and after graduating high school he left for college to learn more about web development and various programming languages. After taking some art & graphic design classes a couple years into his Computer Information Systems degree Chris had a change of heart and decided to focus more on web & print design.
Now, years later, Chris is doing just that right here for Nicasio Design as an Art Director, Lead Designer, & Lead Developer. He can take your design or web project through each phase, start to finish, and loves every moment of it. Chris is able to use both the creative and analytical sides of his brain on a daily basis, from one minute to the next, as he designs and builds effective websites for each of Nicasio Design’s clients.
In his spare time, you can find Chris at the beach soaking up some sun, socializing at one of his favorite watering holes, or working on character and background designs for a mobile/tablet game he is creating with friends.
Academic Background
Chris is a graduate of University of West Florida in Pensacola, FL where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Information Technology with an emphasis on Digital Media while also receiving minors in both Internet Technology and Communications.
Dan Cannon
Chief Technology Officer & Lead Developer
Dan Cannon handles all things technology at Nicasio Design. From setting up office networks to backend programming and database development, Dan is your guy. Dan joined Nicasio Design in 2008 and quickly bonded with the Nicasio team.
Prior to his work at Nicasio Design, Dan was the Web Applications Developer for the Center for Excellence in Teaching at Georgia Southern University where he designed and built a web based system that allowed for the management of the CET’s academic journal as well as managing presentation submissions for their annual conference. This process was previously paper/email based and extremely time consuming. It is thought this was one of the first web based management tools of its type.
Dan has been honing his development skills since he was 12 years old and first became interested in building websites. As a teenager, Dan built several popular fan sites for various video games.
Academic Background
Dan is a graduate of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology with an emphasis on Information Organization and Retrieval along with a minor in Criminology. He has also taken several certification courses on network infrastructure.
Zach Kozdron
Designer
From branding and identity design to web design and illustration, Zach has worked in many areas of the design industry and understands how they all relate. After graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design, he garnered awards while working as a page designer and creating illustrations at a daily newspaper. Since then, Zach has shifted his focus onto the Web and has learned how strategic design strengthens the brand of any company; he has used this knowledge to hone his skills for intuitive front-end design, and planned and executed a wide variety of design projects from beginning to end.
“I’m always interested in learning more about the world through understanding clients, their goals, and their products. My desire to learn and understand is applied to every project I undertake. I like cycling, fishing, the Golden Age of Illustration, cooking for friends and family, and gardening. Traveling makes me happy – being in transit is exciting. I love music, all kinds; lately, I find myself wishing I could play the accordion.”
My Role: I design and develop brands, as well as plan, design, and develop both print and interactive projects.
Inspirations: Motown, Diego Rivera, Pinup art, Frank Frazetta, Harley Earl, and J.C. Leyendecker.
If I could choose a different career, I would be: A primatologist, ethologist, or anthropologist, working in the field.
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
My heroes are: Jane Goodall, John Locke, and Steve Yzerman
One day I’d like to: Create an illustrated children’s book, front to back.
Academic Background
Zach is a graduate of Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, GA where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration.
Jeff Walters
Project Manager & Business Strategist
Jeff Walters specializes in the management of projects and strategic growth initiatives at Nicasio Design. He joined the team in 2013 after relocating to Savannah, GA from St. Petersburg, FL.
Prior to Nicasio Design, Jeff was a Senior Project Manager at Raymond James corporate headquarters where he was responsible for the delivery of major transformative projects to make over the integrated financial advisor platform. This platform received immediate accolades from the firm’s financial advisors when it was launched in 2011-12.
Jeff spent over 11 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Tampa, FL in a variety of project and management focused roles. During his tenure there he delivered software, infrastructure and services projects and led strategic change management initiatives. At various points he was also responsible for major internal training initiatives.
Jeff also started and managed several diverse small businesses, so he can relate to the needs and experiences of clients of all sizes and industries.
Jeff is past President of the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Project Management Institute, where he led a 30 person volunteer Board of Directors where they served 1,400 members. He also served on the SIFE/Enactus Business Advisory Board at the University of South Florida.
Academic Background
He holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and is a graduate of Rutgers University.
James Burruss
Developer
After graduating from Savannah Tech in 2014 James continued as a service technician for Direct Tv. In 2016 he found an opportunity with Georgia Tech to learn Programing for a full-stack position, learning HTML, CSS and javascript among other necessary skills, graduating in late 2017 from Georgia Tech. In 2018 a friend from college, Blaire Renfroe, introduced James to Nicasio Design. For two years James has continued working for Nicasio, building new skills.
Spare time involves weekend beach trips, fishing and finding new and strange music genres. Every Sunday evening he continues his friend groups dnd campaign, running on six years now.
Academic Background
Cisco Networking
Information Technology
Georgia Technical College-
Web Development Certification
Douglas Segovia
App Developer
Graduated as an Industrial Engineer in the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) Caracas in 2007, he began his research career on new trends in technology in 2011, opening his competitive field to the programming of online systems, apps , web sites, and perfecting their knowledge in MySql and Mongos databases, all this, to try to understand how the neural networks of the servers work, and to be able to create their own AI system.
Passionate father of 4 children, believer in faith, lover of music and painting, he spends his time distracting himself in photography, mainly commercial photography.
For about 5 years, he has worked with Google open projects in Latin America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela) and creating photographs for Google Business View.
A lover of systems and new technological improvement tools, he enrolled in a complete course on Adobe packages for video and photo editing.
Academic Background
Universidad Central de Venezuela
Industrial Engineer
Network Management
Google Trusted Photographer
Adobe Certifications
Julie Lea
Sales/Branding/Social Media
Hi! I’m Julie! I believe glitter makes the world sparkle. I live for Mardi Gras as it brings more joy to this world than anyone realizes and brings people together like nothing else. I think finding the perfect clients for Nicasio Design and the perfect tech partner for your business is life altering.
I’m probably most known as the Captain of the Mystic Krewe of Nyx, an all female parading krewe with over 3,400 women that I started in 2011 (which has grown to be the largest Mardi Gras Krewe in history – bananas, I know!) While at Nicasio Design I have had my share of helping many of clients. I’ve watched bonds and business relationships form in front of my very eyes time and time again for over 16 years. I understand personal relationships, logistics, leadership, grit, and the need for us all to belong is the key to a successful business endeavor.
Let me know how I can be of service and let’s make tech a thing that finally improves people’s lives… not complicates them.
Mary Capellan
Administrative Coordinator
Mary is Nicasio Design’s Administrative Coordinators. She has helped the organization in creating and executing production schedules, managing budgets, greeting and communicating with staff and clients, and maintaining effective workflow in the Nicasio virtual office. Mary is not only our Administrative Coordinator as she has also taken on many other duties regularly associated with Nicasio office and team management, which includes filing, tax matters, creating memos and reports, and performing other clerical duties. Her role requires and she greatly possesses active communication skills and is highly organized.
From her teen years to today, Mary has always been the backbone of organizations such as real estate, medical offices, and tech facilities. Her educational background is in Literal Arts and Education. Her interests are in travel, fine dining, and faith based ministries.
Anna Mitchelle
Junior Video Editor
Anna Michelle is Nicasio Design’s Junior Video Editor. She says – “I find the process of video editing to be a challenging and fun process that allows me to create compelling content and tell stories. I’ve created and directed the content, tone, and overall style for video productions, graphic background projects, reunion booklets & print materials, photo editing, advertising, and pamphlets.” Anna enjoys cooking, travel and is actively pursuing her career in Graphic Design, and Multimedia Film and Production at Georgia Southern University.
Brain Bailie Jr.
Project Manager
Brian studied political science and the humanities at the University of South Florida. He has always had a knack for organization and built the customer service department for Orthomatic Adjustable Beds from the ground up, installing a customer and technician database. When he started with the company, only service techs were in Florida; after establishing the customer service department, Orthomatic had service techs across the United States and Canada.
Brian’s technical management skills came into play at Gardner-Gibson as he took over the Technical Services department. His achievements included the removal of a competitor’s driveway sealer from every Home Depot store in North America, a feat that saw it replaced with Gardner-Gibson’s product. He also led the digitization of the entire department, a move that reduced paperwork and ensured the safety of records.
Brian uses project management tools to organize and swiftly complete any project.
