About Us

Wildsparq is a powerful, online leadership development tool built for companies that care about their people, their legacy, and the impact they will make in the world.

Meet our Team

Cord Sachs

President & CEO

Josh Etress

VP of Sales & Client Success

Matt Heard

Director of Finance

Matt Romano

Director of Technology

Josh Swing

Account Executive

Billy Ivey

Director of Content & Story

Lacy Caughel

Sales Development Leader

Emmy Hobbs

Client Success Leader

Peyton Welch

Sales Development Leader

Hampton Dortch

Sales Development Leader

Maggie Malone

Client Success Leader

Cord Sachs

President & CEO

As president, CEO and chief inspiration officer of Wildsparq and FireSeeds, Cord’s number one goal each and every day is to guard the cultures he has worked hard to help create, hire and inspire the best of the best to help grow the companies, and drive bottom-line profit of the two organizations. Cord is a graduate of Samford University where he majored in Business and learned very early that he wanted to create an organization to serve and grow leaders. “I have always had a passion for great leadership and I’ve had so many great mentors and leaders in my own life,” Cord says. “I knew that I wanted to try and help replicate that passion and those leadership lessons in others.” Leading two thriving businesses is not Cord’s greatest accomplishment, however. He and his beautiful wife, Heather, have six incredible children: Jeremiah, Ellie, Saddler, Judson, Josiah, and Gideon. Cord spends his spare time — yeah, right — snow skiing, horseback riding, boating, and doing just about anything else you can do on the water at Lake Guntersville. He also enjoys serving as an Elder at his church, and coaching his kids in baseball, soccer, and flag football among other things.

Favorite Team War Eagle!

Favorite Book Good to Great - Jim Collins

Guilty Pleasure Bacon

Favorite Movie Braveheart

Favorite Food My momma's french toast

Josh Etress

VP of Sales & Client Success

Josh Etress is the Wildsparq sales guru. If you’ve got a question, he’s your guy. Need a quick business tip? He’s got a million of ‘em. His greatest joy is connecting with the right people at the right companies through the right channels at the right times and helping them to succeed in business and in life. His answer was a little less long-winded than that, but we liked the alliteration (or whatever you call it). “There are few things I enjoy more than providing our partners with a simple, easy to use system, to help them develop the next generation of leaders,” he says. Josh is a graduate of Berry College in Rome, Georgia, where he studied Business Management, and he has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of West Georgia. An accomplished sales and business leader, Josh says his greatest accomplishment in life was getting his wife, Shelby, to say “I do,” and I'd have to say that's probably true. She's super-cool and an extremely gifted visual artist. Anyway, they have two boys, Chamberlain and Ace, and when he’s not following up on phone calls or dishing out words of wisdom, you can usually catch him at Birmingham’s Railroad park, BIGSPOON creamery, or his local Chick-fil-A. Josh loves to read, write, and play pick-up basketball, and he is a proud member of Leadership Hoover, Aspire Movement, and the Urban Hope Leadership Initiative.

Favorite Food Nachos

Favorite Book Unshakeable Faith

Favorite Vacation Spot New York City

Superpower Teleportation

Favorite Movie Inception

Matt Heard

Director of Finance

Around these parts, Matt Heard is known as the go-to-guy. "For what," you might ask? And the answer is “everything.” He started at FireSeeds, when the company was just a a couple of guys and an idea in Cord Sachs' basement, and he now manages the whole team. He also splits time managing the finances for FireSeeds and Wildsparq, as well as serving our FireSeeds partners on new recruitment searches. Matt graduated from the University of West Georgia with a degree in Accounting and Finance, and then moved to Birmingham where he met and married his lovely wife, Anna. The couple now have a son, Carter, and that little guy keeps the happy couple on their toes day in and day out. In his spare time, Matt likes to play golf, go to Georgia football and basketball games, and spend time serving as a deacon at his church.

Favorite Team University of Georgia

Favorite Vacation Spot Destin, FL

Favorite Food Blue Cheese Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? Professional Golfer

Favorite Movie Remember the Titans

Matt Romano

Director of Technology

Anyone who claims Director of Technology as a job title already knows they are the smartest guy in the room, but let us be the first to say that Matt Romano is the smartest guy in the room. Any room. Pick a room, put Matt in there, and convince us we’re wrong.   Not only does Matt handle all of the internal IT needs for us at FireSeeds and Wildsparq, he’s also the mastermind behind making sure the software we build provides its ultimate value to our end users — That’d be you.  As a graduate in Journalism and American Studies from the University of Alabama, you might think Matt should have chosen a career as an investigative journalist, author, podcaster, or (insert something other than “Director of Technology” here), but as we’ve already established… He’s wicked smart, and he happens to be really good at noodling on technical stuff, so we’re keeping him.   Matt and his lovely bride, Caroline, are the tired, but joyful parents of five kids: Emma, 9; Rosalie, 6; Lorelei, 6; Jake, 22 Months; and Cecilia, 22 Months. Yeah, you read that right. They have two sets of twins. Two. Sets. Of. Twins. When he’s not chasing a toddler or coaching his girls’ softball teams, you can usually find Matt volunteering at his church, playing the drums, listening to podcasts, or miraculously catching various food items in his mouth at a Hibatchi restaurant — he claims to be the very best at this, but we confirmed it yet.   Matt says his single greatest accomplishment in life was convincing Caroline to stay in Alabama (she’s from the Longhorn state) and saying “yes” to becoming a Romano. When he grows up, he wants to become a recording engineer, which is super-cool, but we’re hoping he doesn’t grow up any time soon!

Favorite Movie Inception

Favorite Book Lean Enterprise by Barry O’Reilly

Guilty Pleasure Steak. All the steak.

Favorite Team Alabama Crimson Tide & Atlanta Braves

Superpower The ability to read minds

Josh Swing

Account Executive

Josh Swing is tall. Like, really tall. That’s neither here nor there, but it’s worth mentioning, because it’s true. It is also a fact that Josh is a remarkable Account Executive at Wildsparq. Each and every day, Josh helps fulfill the mission of Wildsparq by empowering organizations to create multiplying movements of multiplying leaders within their culture and for the good of their business. Always smiling, always willing to learn and then share his newfound wisdom with others, Josh helps to round out a powerhouse team of caring, compassionate, impassioned, and, frankly, very impressive individuals who want nothing more than to serve our clients well. Josh graduated from Bethel University with a Business Management degree, and uses very bit of that great education to help lead our team at Wildsparq. Josh and his wife, Erin, have what they call their “fur-baby,” Piper, but there’s another actual human-baby on the way! He enjoys playing basketball (duh!), and getting outside to hike, run, swim, or “just be.” He is also passionate about coaching, and helps serve different youth leagues as a basketball coach in his free time.

Favorite Food Pizza

Favorite Book Hunger Games

Favorite Vacation Spot The beach

Superpower The ability to control time

Favorite Movie Hoosiers, The Dark Knight, Anchorman

Billy Ivey

Director of Content & Story

Billy Ivey is a longtime copywriter and brand strategist with more than 20 years experience working with brands like Chick-fil-A, Home Depot, Valvoline, and Major League Baseball. At Wildsparq, Billy serves as writer, creative director, and chief content producer for the platform, and serves many of our clients through brand strategy and story development. Billy earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from Samford University, and is about a semester away from holding a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Don’t hold your breath on that one, though. He stopped going to class in 1997. Billy prides himself as “probably the only true Vanderbilt fan you’ll ever really meet,” and can often be found screaming obscenities at his television if the Commodores happen to be on. Billy and his child bride, Bethany (not really, but she looks really great), have five better-than-average-looking children, the oldest of which is already in college, which means Billy is a lot older than he looks.

Favorite Team Atlanta Braves

Favorite Book He’s writing it now.

Guilty Pleasure Rap music

Favorite Food Burgers (plural)

Favorite Movie A Few Good Men or Dead Poet’s Society or Good Will Hunting or, nah, it’s Good Will Hunting. But sometimes the other two.

Lacy Caughel

Sales Development Leader

Two of the following statements are true. Lacy Caughhel hardly ever smiles. She’s from Orlando. She’s not very personable. She doesn’t really like talking to people. And she recently graduated from Samford University with a degree in Business Marketing, concentrating on professional sales. Take a wild guess. Better yet, spend about three-and-a-half seconds in the same zip code as Lacy, and you’ll know for a fact that she’s the peoplest of people persons. As a sales development leader at Wildsparq, she puts those remarkable people skills to work every day, sourcing and prospecting new clients, crafting specific and personalized outreach, making what seems like hundreds of phone calls, setting up meetings, and pretty much just shining that bright, bubbly light of hers on potential clients all over the country. When she’s not at Wildsparq, you’ll usually find her outdoors, more than likely on or in the water, working out, or hosting dinner parties where she serves as the hostess and chef. Yeah… she cooks, too, guys!

Favorite Movie The Great Gatsby

Favorite Book The Bible

Guilty Pleasure Chocolate, my goodness!

Favorite Food Tacos. Chips & Salsa. Gaaaaahhhh...

What do you want to be when you grow up? Food Network star or country music singer

Emmy Hobbs

Client Success Leader

Emmy Hobbs is what some people might call a polymath. I don’t know any of those people, but being so multi-talented and interested in so many different things, Emmy probably does. She’s a Samford University graduate with a degree in nutrition. She’s a make-up artist, fitness freak, baker, church volunteer, wife, sister, daughter, and Client Success Leader at Wildsparq. Talk about a Renaissance Woman! Basically, her responsibilities at Wildsparq are to engage with clients, answer their questions, guide their decisions, and serve as the ambassador of good vibes to all who come in contact with the Wildsparq platform. When she’s not at work, she’s usually doing one or several of those things I’ve already mentioned with the love of her life, Chris. Her life goals include being a Mom someday — not today, but someday — and teaching the world to chew with their mouths closed. A worthy and admirable goal if you ask me.

Favorite Movie The Proposal

Favorite Book Redeeming Love

Favorite Vacation Spot Mexico

Favorite Team War Eagle

Superpower Reading minds

Peyton Welch

Sales Development Leader

Peyton Welch hails from “Nawlins, Louisiana,” and serves as a Sales Development Leader at Wildsparq, which pretty much means he gets to reach out and connect with individuals at companies that could benefit from using the Wildsparq platform. “Which ones?” I asked. “The answer to that question is quite simply, all of ‘em,” Peyton says with a smile. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to use the Wildsparq platform, am I right?” He’s right, for the record, but let’s move on. Peyton spends most days identifying, researching, discussing, and then reaching out to kindred spirits all over the country — making introductions and answering a plethora of questions — and he’s pretty darn good at it, too. And that’s a good thing, because Peyton has a degree from Samford University in economics, and there’s not a whole lot he could have done with that, am I right? That was a joke. Peyton is wicked smart. So smart, in fact, that he was able to convince his beautiful bride, Tori, to say “yes” this past summer! When he’s not helping to lead our teams at Wildsparq, you’ll probably catch Peyton and Tori volunteering at local non-profits, hanging out at Christ fellowship Church in Birmingham, playing basketball, reading, or listening to music. When asked about his favorite hobby, Peyton responded, shyly, “I like making lists. Lots and lots of lists.” How cool! You landed a good one, there, Tori. Attagirl. 🙄

Favorite Movie Braveheart

Favorite Book Lord of the Rings

Favorite Vacation Spot New York City

Favorite Team New Orleans Pelicans

What do you want to be when you grow up? Astronaut

Hampton Dortch

Sales Development Leader

Bio coming soon.

Favorite Team

Favorite Book

Guilty Pleasure

Superpower

Favorite Movie

Maggie Malone

Client Success Leader

Margaret Malone. What a name! Sounds like a late 1930’s movie star, doesn’t it? “Now Playing at the Paramount Grand: Gone with the Wind, starring Vivian Leigh, Clark Gable, and Margaret Malone…”   Instead, her parents started calling her Maggie, and she became an Olympic athlete. Oh, what could have been, Margaret? Anyway, we’ll get back to the whole Olympian thing in a moment. At Wildsparq, Maggie serves as one of our amazing Client Success Leaders, where she prides herself on engaging with clients, teams, and leaders — helping each to reach their goals and grow as leaders. “I love talking to people,” she says, “so this is basically like getting paid to do what I would probably be doing even if I wasn’t being paid!”  AUTHOR’S NOTE: Remind me to have a discussion with accounting regarding Maggie’s compensation package. When she’s not “working” to help connect people and make dreams come true, Maggie loves hiking, public speaking, teaching kids, serving in the community, cheering on her Texas A&M Aggies (where she earned her degree in Human Resource Development, and post-grad in Marketing and Analytics), or watching The Real Housewives of (wherever they are being real this season).   Or throwing javelin. See? I told you I’d get back to the Olympic-thing.   Maggie throws the javelin. A lot. And really, really far. She won the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2016, and later represented the USA at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Maggie, as they say, is a Grade-A certified savage, and we couldn’t be more proud to have her working — she really does work hard — with us at Wildsparq.

Favorite Movie Remember the Titans OR Fried Green Tomatoes

Favorite Book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg and Becoming Michelle Obama

Favorite Food Ice Cream 😬

Favorite Vacation Spot I love Oregon and the Pacific Northwest

Favorite Team Aggies. Every. Day. Gig the World.