Meet Fionn Downhill
Fionn Downhill (or Fionnuala) was born and raised in Ireland. She is now a naturalized citizen of the United States. Fionn moved to the United States in 1996 with her family and has been taking full advantage of the strong supportive entrepreneurial climate of her adopted country. She has founded 5 companies since 2003 and has helped many entrepreneurs like herself to become very successful in the online space. Fionn has also worked with Fortune 500 Companies and she is passionate about training and education in a field which she loves and feels has been very good to her.
“Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined having a second career which has been so rewarding and fulfilling. Online Marketing has opened many doors and allowed me to grow as a business leader in a truly great industry where there is never a dull moment” – Fionn Downhill
Fionn is the Chief Executive Officer of Elixir Interactive (http://www.elixirinteractive.com). Established in February 2003, Elixir is a digital marketing agency that focuses on search and social media. They specialize in helping companies understand how their customers think and interact online and then use that information to develop highly targeted marketing programs. By leveraging experience, technology and creativity, they deliver results that generate sales, brand awareness and outstanding ROI. As an organic SEO company Elixir under Fionn’s guidance saw the need to create more efficient tools to manage the SEO process. They created the SyCara SEO tool set which became a separate entity which was acquired in 2015 by SimPartners.
She believes that the cornerstone of Elixir Interactive is delivering value and excellent customer service. Elixir Interactive strives to create dynamic partnerships with all their clients to ensure Search Engine Marketing is a major contributing factor in the growth of their online presence, and sales and lead generation efforts.
After completing her management education, Fionn specialized in training. She received advanced training qualifications with the prestigious Guardian Business Service and the Industrial Institute of Great Britain and worked with organizations such as British Airways, and Price Waterhouse.
Fionn is very involved in the advancement of search engine marketing and is a strong advocate for best business practices in the industry. She is a past board member of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). She is a founding member and past chair of the SEMPO Institute which was launched to provide first class training for the search engine marketing industry worldwide. Fionn is a frequent speaker on Search Engine Marketing and is actively involved in the Search Engine Marketing community. She has been a Search Engine Watch subject matter expert and wrote a very successful column called “The Business of Search”. She is an accomplished speaker on the subject of search marketing and search marketing training. Fionn has spoken at AD-Tech, Search Engine Strategies, SMX Expo, Searchnomics, AMA, Society for women engineers to name a few. She is often quoted on the subject of Online Reputation management and has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, NPR on the subject. Fionn is a Faculty Associate at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at ASU where she developed and teaches digital marketing for their Global MBA program.
I also love to have fun!..the search industry in one of the best industries I have ever worked in, great people, crazy funny innovative and always willing to help each other out.