Our Team: 70+ Years of Combined Experience

Founder, CEO | LinkedIn

From early stage startups to Google, Brandon’s career journey has taken him through businesses of all sizes and industries. Throughout, he has adhered to a core philosophy: deeply understanding how each company he joins generates value.

Walking the manufacturing floor at Honeywell in his first job taught him the importance of understanding the end to end manufacturing process from an employee’s point of view, rather then a PowerPoint slide. Learning how to create video games from the developers themselves brought him closer to full cycle video game development. His multiple startup experiences, where you don’t have large internal partner organizations, taught him the true nature of accountability and the need for scale and automation.

Throughout his journey he heard feedback that his “No Bullshit HR” approach and passion for getting close the core of the company differentiated him.

Brandon’s goal in founding UpturnHR is to reset the perspective held by most business owners that HR is out of touch. He is specifically building a team of industry professionals from both HR and non-HR backgrounds to prove this out.

Learning & Development Leader | LinkedIn

Matt's journey in business began in his family's small business, where he gained invaluable operational experience and developed the practical mindset that defines his approach to HR. After earning both a BA in Psychology and an MA in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota, he built a successful career through progressive HR leadership roles at IBM, 3M, and Thomson Reuters.

Known for translating complex challenges into practical solutions, Matt understands how to scale practices to organizations of all sizes. His initiatives have achieved remarkable results, including 80% cost reductions while expanding scale 20x. His unpretentious style and servant-leadership approach consistently bring out the best in individuals and teams while ensuring solutions are both innovative and practical.

Today, as the leader of Talent, Learning, and Development at UpturnHR and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, Matt combines academic insights with hands-on business experience. He partners with leaders to develop practical strategies that drive growth, enhance team performance, and deliver measurable results.

Business Operations Leader | LinkedIn

In his more than 30 years of project management and development experience in the entertainment software industry, Kevin has held several leadership roles at some of the highest-grossing video game publishers in the sector. Prior to joining the UpturnHR team, Kevin served as Head of Operations at Maxis, Head of Development Operations at Electronic Arts’ mobile division, and Vice President of Development at Scopely. During this time, he led teams that launched some of the highest-grossing franchises in industry history, including John Madden Football, NHL Hockey, SimCity, The Sims, and Monopoly Go.

Kevin has extensive experience leading globally distributed teams of over 350 employees across diverse disciplines through complex development challenges. He is skilled at organizing intricate efforts to deliver high-quality products and services under demanding time and budget constraints.

Kevin’s experience helps UpturnHR differentiate ourselves as an HR partner who will deeply understand your business from a perspective outside of traditional Human Resources.