Independent developer for agency teams

Brian Thies

Enterprise Email Developer & Interactive Microsoft Office Architect

Serving advertising, marketing and communications agencies by providing deep email-development expertise and custom Microsoft Office functionality.

Email Development Interactive Documents
23+Years in email marketing
19+Years in email development
16,000+Production emails developed
4,000+Pharma & medical-device emails

Two specialties

Expert-level development in two very different environments.

Email development is a discipline of its own. Interactive Office development is another. I bring both directly to agency teams as a seasoned independent resource.

MICROSOFT OFFICE

Interactive MS Office Development

Application-like functionality built directly into PowerPoint, Excel and Word using VBA and macros—inside the Office environment teams already use every day.

  • Interactive PowerPoint, Word, and Excel experiences
  • Presentation configurators with custom exports
  • Custom interfaces using data-driven controls
  • Conditional content & business rules
  • Automated generation of PDFs and other Office documents
  • External data/API connections where needed
Office as the application. No website, hosting platform or organization-wide add-in deployment required for the core use cases I target.

Agency partner

Flexible contract development for agency teams.

In most engagements I work as a contractor. I can support an account for years, join for one specialized project, add capacity during a deadline spike or step into a technical role that does not make sense to keep on permanent payroll.

WHAT AGENCIES SAY

“Brian is our go-to for all email template builds. He’s fast and efficient but mostly we appreciate his expertise and the way he solves our problems with the minimum of fuss. Please don’t tell everyone how good he is; he’s our secret weapon for email coding.”

— Michael S., Founding Director

Email is not web development

Enterprise email needs someone who owns the entire discipline.

HTML is only the starting point. Production email has its own rendering engines, client-specific limitations, fallback techniques, accessibility requirements, ESP constraints, and testing methods. My role covers the full development function.

Continuous compatibility work

Email clients keep changing. The code has to keep up.

I continuously track rendering and platform changes that can affect production templates, then test and update code when those changes matter. That includes major email clients across Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.

MicrosoftClassic Outlook (PC), Outlook for Mac, New Outlook for Windows, Outlook.com, Outlook Android, Outlook iOS

Exchange, Microsoft 365 roadmaps and rendering changes
GoogleGmail Desktop, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Gmail GANGA

Gmail updates, developer changes and message-handling behavior
AppleApple Mail, iOS Mail

iOS/macOS and WebKit rendering changes
Yahoo / AOLYahoo Desktop & Mobile, AOL Desktop & Mobile

Sender guidance and client-impacting platform changes

I also stay active in specialist resources including Email Geeks, Can I Email, GitHub email projects, developer forums and other industry sources where client bugs and support changes surface quickly.

CUSTOM EMAIL DEVELOPMENT ACROSS
VeevaAdobe MarketoHubSpotAlpacoFeedOtterMailchimpCampaign MonitorSalesforceTaxi for EmailIterableDotdigitalConstant Contact+ many more

What can PowerPoint actually do?

A 90-slide deck becomes a configurable presentation system.

Imagine a 90-slide master presentation that different users need to customize for specific audiences. Some selections automatically require additional slides, while other choices change text or content dynamically throughout the deck.

I turn that into a single configuration screen with toggle controls and embedded business rules. The user makes selections, clicks Generate Presentation, and PowerPoint creates and saves the correct deck. It can also export the finished presentation as a PDF.

If your creative or account team has ever said, “It would be great if PowerPoint could…”—that's exactly the conversation I want to have.
PPresentation Configurator90-SLIDE MASTER
CONTENT CONFIGURATORBuild your presentation

Select the content needed for this audience.

Selected content10 slides
POWERPOINT + VBABusiness logic stays inside the file
No websiteNo hostingNo internet dependencyNo separate appZero IT-managed add-ins required

Healthcare & pharma agency experience

You don't have to teach me the environment first.

I've spent more than 16 years working in healthcare, pharmaceutical, medical-device and dental communications. That matters when an agency needs a contractor who can step into a highly specialized account without starting at square one.

4,000+emails developed for pharmaceutical and medical-device manufacturers

Healthcare-specific platform and publication experience includes Veeva, DMD/IQVIA, Medscape, Cardinal Health, McKesson/Ontada and BioPharm, along with dental communications distributed through ADA, AAWD, RDH and Inside Dentistry.

I also develop Outlook OFT (PC) and EMLTPL (Mac) templates for field teams, including controlled, pre-approved content for brand launches, FDA approvals/PDUFA milestones, label updates and other time-sensitive pharmaceutical communications.

Experience that's difficult to replicate

The scale matters because it came with direct responsibility.

My background includes one-off campaigns, major brand programs, long-running agency relationships and enterprise template systems maintained across years of email-client and platform changes.

7,200+technology emails developedfor 600+ hardware & software companies
2009early Outlook VML solutionfor background-image rendering limitations
100+templates maintained for one clientacross a long-running enterprise ecosystem
15+ yrslong-running client relationshipsincluding sustained agency and account support

2003

Thies Publishing begins

Started with general marketing services before email became the center of the business.

2007

Professional email development

Microsoft's move to the Word rendering engine changed email development and helped define the technical specialty I built my career around.

2009

VML background-image work

Developed an early VML-based solution for Outlook background images and later consulted with major ESPs and testing organizations.

TODAY

Email + Interactive Office

Enterprise email remains the core specialty, now joined by custom application-like Office development for agency and client workflows.

About the portfolio

Much of the work is confidential.

A large portion of my work is performed under agency and client confidentiality agreements, so I don't maintain a public wall of client creative. A curated portfolio and relevant examples can be shared privately during a meeting when appropriate.

Request a Portfolio Review

Need specialized development support?

Tell me what your agency needs to get done.

Ongoing account support, enterprise template maintenance, custom email development, an interactive Office concept, overflow capacity or a project that needs dedicated technical ownership are all good reasons to reach out.

Available Monday–Friday, 8am–6pm ET, with deeper evening/weekend work when an engagement or deadline requires it.

Brian ThiesOwner, Chief Consultant & Lead Developer
bthies@thiespublishing.com → Show phone number Connect on LinkedIn

Valley City, Ohio · Available for contractor engagements.
Client references available on request.