About Us

Our Story

The Optix Digital Academy is brought to you by Optix Solutions, a long-standing, full-service, digital marketing agency based in Devon, UK. The agency itself has been running for over 20 years, and an Academy has been on the cards for a number of years, in order for the team to share their wealth of knowledge and expertise with others.

The Academy launched in 2019 with a small cohort of students, teaching a different digital marketing topic every month. Within only a year, we've already launched additional services, such as e-learning, which has been a real achievement for the team. This addition in particular allows us to reach far more people, without location or time being a barrier. 

Our aim is to break down Digital Marketing into actionable content that is easy to digest, practical, and applies to real-world examples. We want our participants to leave our sessions feeling confident in how to use that tactic or methodology in their own businesses, with the knowledge that they can come back for support should they need it. 

The Team

In front and behind the scenes

Alastair Banks

Co-Founder

Alastair is another Founding Director of Optix, and is very passionate about the Academy. He's a trainer in his own right on topics and has delivered courses across Europe, so has been desperate to bring an Academy into Optix for years. He still has a hands on role selling the Academy and is often present for the beginning of new cohorts to welcome delegates to our programmes. 

James Dawkins

Co-Founder

James is a founding Director of Optix and therefore very involved with the Academy. He comes from a UX and tech background, so is often the man behind the camera for all our video work. James also edits and creates the e-learning courses for us, and leads work on all our video explainers and animations. 

Jack Warne

Head of Digital

Jack is our industry guru and delivers most of the training on the Academy. He comes from both a digital marketing and a teaching background which gives him something unique when he's training these topics. He's very patient and engaging, so you can be sure that you'll learn from him and feel confident in asking him questions. He's sometimes said to be the 'face of the Academy' as you'll see him so often!

Xenia Casas Espina

Head of Growth

As Digital Strategist, Xenia currently manages some of the biggest clients at Optix Solutions. Using a strategic approach, she delivers successful digital campaigns using a range of marketing tactics: SEO, PPC, Paid Social, Email Marketing, CRO and Analytics. Xenia also helps new businesses understand how digital marketing can benefit them and scope a digital strategy that will contribute to their digital growth. Finally, Xenia leads some of the Digital Academy sessions to help upskill external marketing teams as well as the more junior people in the Optix marketing team.

Samantha Smith

Senior Digital Marketing Manager - Data Lead

Sam has worked in digital marketing for over 10 years, earning her level 6 Chartered Institute of Marketing professional diploma in Digital Strategy and several Google accreditations along the way. Her marketing journey has spanned a range of sectors, from education and financial services to leisure and eCommerce. She often leads our data-based training sessions as well as digital marketing topics like SEO, PPC and social.

Matt Fletcher

Client Account Manager

As Client Account Manager Matt helps to manage our client relationships and support them with the implementation of tasks to ensure they achieve their strategic digital marketing goals. He has a wealth of marketing experience across multiple disciplines including brand & digital strategy, SEO, email marketing, and social media. This extends to developing and managing brand strategies, project managing TV ad shoots and accompanying cross-channel campaign plans, as well as working on large-scale, cohesive sponsorships.

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Great content. Handouts really helpful. Good balance of presenting and interactive content. Nice mix of people and companies in the group. Personas are a great starting topic.

Anonymous

Attended Personas (Foundation)