Meet
The Team

The brains behind the brand.

Search Republic brings together some of the best digital marketing minds and e-commerce practitioners in New Zealand. When you become a Search Republic partner, you’ll enjoy full access to this formidable resource.

Our Amazing Team

Brad Guthrie

Co-Founder • Managing Director

Karl Rooney

Owner • Head of Performance Media

Tessa Williams

Head of Client Strategy

Megan Hiew

Head of SEO

Jamie Dalzell

SEO Manager

Tori Picton

SEO & Content Specialist

Andrew Yang

Content Writer

Kirsty Wilson

Content Specialist

Natasha Ahmed

Senior Performance Marketer

Tony Laws

Senior Performance Marketer

Raewyn Willenbruch

Senior Performance Marketer

Owner • Head of Performance Media

Karl Rooney

Karl started his digital marketing career in London in 2005, eventually rising to Head of PPC Marketing. He worked closely with household UK brands such HMV, John Lewis, Argos, and Boots. Returning to NZ four years later, he took on the role of Head of PPC for Localist, one of NZ’s biggest AdWords management companies, before joining Search Republic in 2015. Karl has experience working with household retail brands, national banks, small start-ups, and experienced digital-lead companies. Partnering with such a broad variety of exciting businesses and fantastic people over the years has helped him to think outside of the box when creating strategies and navigating the minds of potential customers. He believes in treating every dollar of a marketing budget with the same care and attention he would give to his own.

When he isn’t at work, Karl loves playing and watching sports, particularly tennis and golf. He values spending time with family and friends, is an avid movie and music buff, and he plays the drums in a garage rock band.

Co-Founder • Managing Director

Brad Guthrie

Brad’s digital marketing background began in 2002 when he undertook an MBA at the University of Canterbury, focusing on Marketing and Business Strategy. He moved to Ireland after graduation as head of marketing for online Travel company MyGuide, then after 3 years moved to the UK to become marketing team head for social media start-up friendsabroad.com.

In 2008, freshly into fatherhood, he headed back to NZ with Google for a few years. In January 2013 Brad joined forces with Mike Ballantyne and Isreal to found Search Republic. He has worked with a broad range of clients, including banks, power companies, airlines, and clairvoyants. For 10 years he walked in his clients shoes. Now he strives to do the best he possibly can for his partners within their budgets through understanding their business models and helping them to achieve their marketing and company goals.

As life is short, Brad believes in enjoying every day and fostering positive relationships with everyone around him, especially the amazing team members and partners of Search Republic. When he isn’t at work, Brad enjoys being a dad and husband, mountain biking, and spending time in the great outdoors. He spent four years living in Japan, and almost one year on an island that could be bicycled around in under an hour. Brad has climbed most of NZ’s 3000m peaks, and was alpine climbing in Pakistan on September 11th 2001. He has also completed 10 marathons.

Head of Client Strategy

Tessa Williams

Tessa is an experienced and innovative performance marketer, having started her career with Search Republic in 2013. She moved to Edinburgh four years later, where she took an account director role, and then rejoined Search Republic upon moving back to NZ in 2021. Detail-orientated and the ‘weird’ kid who liked maths in school, Tessa sees PPC as a game you are constantly trying to win. She has worked with e-commerce and Lead Gen clients of all sizes, from education and automotive to both B2C and B2B, involving budgets of more than $200k per week in peak periods. She excels at working beyond tracked Google Analytics data, drilling down to the unique factors that drive profit for each business.

Being curious and questioning everything is something that Tessa values. She believes that the world offers us so much more than most people ever get to experience, so it is important to make the most of even the smallest things. When she isn’t at work, Tessa enjoys music, good food, being outdoors in the sun, keeping active, spending time with loved ones, looking after her health, and creating a life entirely on her own terms.

Content Specialist

Kirsty Wilson

Kirsty’s amazing depth of English grammar knowledge is rooted in her years as an ESL teacher in Southeast Asia and her qualification as a Jon Morrow certified blogger. Her keen eye for detail, fact-checking and deadlines and her instinct for analysing the bigger picture for any website she works on has seen Kirsty thrive as a wordsmith in Search Republic for over 4 years. As a Content Specialist, she researches sales topics, highlights vital facts, and imbues pages with structure and engaging information. Her affinity for travel resonates with storytelling for travel topics – think the best road trip itineraries of your life with the top places to eat, play, and explore.

Kirsty is a globetrotter and nature enthusiast with a deep love for inspiring stories and creating great quality pages for her clients. She loves the camaraderie of her team and the never-ending learning that comes with content research. As well as her native Australia, she has lived in Thailand, China, USA and Mexico and aims to visit 2 new countries every year. After spending 9 years in Thailand, she reads and speaks fluent Thai.

Head of SEO

Megan Hiew

Megan joined Search Republic in 2018, specialising in SEO and content editing. She loves the tight-knit team and the well-loved Kiwi companies she works with, ranging from major banks and national airlines to travel companies and family-owned e-commerce brands.

Respect for others and meaningful work are of high value to Megan. She believes in embracing fun wherever possible. Outside of work, she enjoys sailing, watching Youtube, and working on drawings for her art Instagram page.

SEO Manager

Jamie Dalzell

Jamie joined Search Republic in 2024, having spent ten years in digital marketing. Originally starting out in content and copywriting, he enjoyed helping businesses communicate their own unique stories and selling points to their customers. He has since worked across all aspects and areas of SEO and digital marketing, including Sales, Account Management, Project Management, and as a team lead. He is most passionate about delivering results to clients, particularly when he has overseen a campaign from the very start – finding the journey from ‘dream’ to ‘reality’ incredibly motivating.

Jamie enjoys Search Republic’s team and approach to SEO, finding the hands-on service the company provides increasingly rare these days. Outside of work, he enjoys going to the gym, writing, painting miniature figures, live music and playing video games – and was once nominated for Australia’s IT Journalism Awards for Best Videogame Journalist.

Senior Performance Marketer

Tony Laws

Tony has managed marketing campaigns across a variety of industries. His Performance Marketing career has involved working on both the client-side and agency-side in various marketing roles, such as sales, account management, and campaign management. Tony works with a range of clients, from car dismantlers to global travel suppliers. He enjoys understanding their industry and applying his expertise in Paid Media, Google, and Microsoft Search to help them reach their marketing and business goals. Tony loves all things marketing and is constantly looking to upskill. He recently completed a Level 7 Diploma in Digital Marketing.

Outside of Search Republic, Tony enjoys social time with family and friends over a BBQ. He believes trust is the foundation for every great relationship and values positivity, motivation, and challenging yourself. Tony has lived in many cities throughout NZ, mainly the South Island. He loves Auckland, and you can find him exploring the Northland Region in his free time.

Senior Performance Marketer

Natasha Ahmed

Natasha’s digital marketing interest was sparked when she worked in digital ad operations for a publisher. Adaptable and dependable, she strives to use her experience to build Google Ad campaigns that have client goals at the forefront. Natasha loves being involved throughout the entire process and seeing real results first-hand, from strategy, implementation, optimisation, and on-going changes.

When she’s not at work, Natasha enjoys ‘just very normal, standard things’ like watching Netflix, reading a good book, catching up with friends, or going on walks. She values positivity and kindness in every aspect of life. Natasha is also partial to wearing a graphic tee to work on Fridays.

Content Writer

Andrew Yang

As a cornerstone Search Republic writer for over two years, Andrew’s experience in coding, responsive web design, and promoting online art events crosses seamlessly into his role of optimising content and site structure to bring his clients to the forefront of Google search results.

Andrew lives out his values of factual reporting and accuracy to create clear, informative content to help small and large businesses gain visibility for people who care. Although he writes outstanding SEO landing pages and blogs across multiple industries from travel and insurance to broadband, he has a soft spot for art and creative topics. In the office, he enjoys working at his own pace across a great variety of websites, surrounded by his encouraging team and an enviable amount of cake.

Outside of work, you’ll find Andrew drawing illustrations and comics and cheering on local Kiwi pro wrestling. He once flew to Japan on a concert tour with his best friends from America – and managed to fall asleep during all four concerts.

Senior Performance Marketer

Raewyn Willenbruch

Having worked in the digital marketing industry since 2008, Raewyn brings years of successful SEM experience and approaches to Search Republic. Her marketing journey began at a start-up agency, where she handled online marketing. Rae soon found herself in the then-new fields of paid search and social. She loves making a true impact for businesses and seeing measurable results from expert ppc optimisation. Valuing loyalty, integrity, and adaptability, Rae appreciates Search Republic’s great ethic (and coffee).

When she isn’t at work, Rae will happily spend hours playing board games and card games with friends and family. She enjoys going on walks and is lucky enough to live right next to a lovely bushwalk. She also enjoyed jumping out of a plane once.

SEO & Content Specialist

Tori Picton

In 2025, Tori brought her eye for detail and passion for the written word to our team. Equipped with a communications and media degree, she worked as a marketing assistant coordinator and content writer at Whitecliffe College, a fashion and art school, then entered the business broking industry as a copywriter.

Tori’s appreciation for well-constructed, accessible web pages drew her to digital marketing. As someone who can look at a page and instantly know what needs changing, she specialises in writing, editing, and proofing – skills she’s keen to share with clients. Tori values the supportive environment at Search Republic, where everyone’s unique skills and experiences are celebrated. She’s excited to grow her technical marketing knowledge while working alongside mentors who foster trust and openness.

Outside work, Tori can be found cheering on women’s football teams, decorating her home, hitting the gym, or indulging in reality TV. A die-hard horror movie fan, she believes life shouldn’t be taken too seriously and values compassion, respect, equality, and humour in her professional and personal relationships. And if you’re looking for someone to give you dance lessons, you’re in luck – Tori was once a rock ‘n’ roll dancing national champion as a child. Just don’t expect her to demonstrate in the office… unless it’s at the annual Christmas party.

Let us help you today!

Get in touch with our digital marketing team today – we’d love to hear from you!

Get in touch with our team

MeetThe Team

The brains behind the brand.

Our Amazing Team

Brad Guthrie

Co-Founder • Managing Director

Karl Rooney

Owner • Head of Performance Media

Tessa Williams

Head of Client Strategy

Megan Hiew

Head of SEO

Jamie Dalzell

SEO Manager

Tori Picton

SEO & Content Specialist

Andrew Yang

Content Writer

Kirsty Wilson

Content Specialist

Natasha Ahmed

Senior Performance Marketer

Tony Laws

Senior Performance Marketer

Raewyn Willenbruch

Senior Performance Marketer

Let us help you today!

Meet
The Team