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Michael Chesta
Technology Director at Fitch Solutions
Professional Background
Michael Chesta is a multi-talented professional known for building innovative solutions and leading diverse teams in the field of technology. With a well-rounded experience in developing technical strategies and customer experience initiatives for digital platforms, Michael has an impressive track record of managing and supporting multi-disciplinary development and UX teams. His ability to blend creative vision with technical prowess has positioned him as a leader in the industry, translating complex ideas into efficient software applications and impactful marketing campaigns.
Throughout his career, Michael has played pivotal roles in several prominent organizations. As the current Technology Director at Fitch Solutions, he continues to define and optimize technical strategies that enhance customer experiences. His previous positions, including Senior Development Manager at FCB Global, Technology Manager at Digitas, and Lead UI/UX Developer at ZS Associates, reflect a robust career marked by leadership and innovative contributions. Michael's expertise encompasses all stages of production—from defining architecture and interaction design to overseeing application development and deployment.
Education and Achievements
Michael's educational journey began at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he studied for a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Film, Animation and Electronic Media. This academic background laid the groundwork for his unique blend of creativity and technical skills. Driven by a perpetual desire to expand his knowledge, Michael is currently pursuing a Certificate in Advanced Mechatronics, focusing on the interdisciplinary fields of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and robotics. This endeavor reflects his commitment to lifelong learning and his ambitions to integrate his skills in a way that rivals the expertise of fictional engineer Chief O'Brien from Star Trek.
Notable Skills and Specialties
Michael's professional specialties are diverse and expansive. He is highly skilled in defining and scoping technical requirements that effectively align with business goals. His proficiency in digital strategy allows him to optimize customer experiences across various platforms while focusing on user-centered design principles. Michael is adept at team and project management within Agile environments, ensuring that development processes remain efficient and aligned with project timelines.
His technical skills extend to web and application development, where he has successfully produced interactive kiosks and captivating digital signage. Additionally, his talents in motion design and animation—spanning 2D, 3D, and stop-motion—enable him to create visually striking and engaging content.
Personal Interests
While Michael thrives in the technology sector during the day, his evenings are spent indulging in creative pursuits that further showcase his passion for building and problem-solving. He engages in woodworking, animating, and tailoring, all of which reflect his commitment to melding engineering with creativity. This unique combination not only serves as a personal passion but also continually enhances his problem-solving abilities, which he applies to both his professional and personal projects.
In summary, Michael Chesta is a dedicated professional whose career is characterized by technical leadership, innovative thinking, and a commitment to blending creativity with engineering. His extensive experience in digital strategy and his passion for building things—both digitally and physically—make him a significant asset in the technology landscape.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.