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Daniel Hintz, CXE

Founder & Chief Experience Strategist

Daniel Hintz is a catalytic community builder, developer, and strategist who helps communities transform assets into experiences that drive economic vitality, cultural relevance, and long-term prosperity. As Founder and Chief Experience Strategist of Velocity Group, he integrates placemaking, economic development, experiential design, and storytelling to create destinations people choose, remember, and return to. Over the past two decades, Daniel has worked with more than 75 communities across North America, helping public, private, and nonprofit partners align people, purpose, and place around a shared vision. His interdisciplinary approach is shaped by experience in entrepreneurship, arts and culture, education, public policy, tourism, and real estate development—bringing a systems-thinking perspective to complex community and organizational challenges.

Sandy Wright, M.A., PCC

Director of Momentum and Partnerships

Sandy helps transform vision into action by building the relationships, partnerships, and momentum that move communities and organizations forward. With more than 40 years of experience spanning placemaking, community engagement, business development, project management, and organizational change, she brings a unique ability to connect people, ideas, and resources around a shared purpose. Working across nonprofit, public, educational, and private-sector environments, Sandy guides complex initiatives from concept to implementation. She excels at aligning stakeholders, facilitating collaboration, and creating the conditions for meaningful and lasting impact. As a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Sandy brings a collaborative, strengths-based approach to leadership development and stakeholder engagement.

Kassie Misiewicz

Director of Alignment

As Director of Alignment, Kassie helps transform vision into execution by ensuring the people, processes, and systems that power Velocity remain connected and moving forward. She oversees the operational infrastructure that supports our work, coordinating priorities, streamlining workflows, and creating the conditions for teams and projects to succeed. Kassie helps keep initiatives on track while supporting seamless collaboration across clients, partners, and project teams. She manages key administrative and client-facing functions, including contracts, invoicing, scheduling, project logistics, and internal operations, ensuring every engagement is supported with clarity, consistency, and care. Kassie holds a Master’s degree from Arizona State University and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Amy Bell

Design Alchemist

Raised in Arkansas politics, studied in arts, and experienced in small business operations, Amy Kelley Bell is not a typical design consultant. Before moving to Missoula, Montana, Amy and her husband, Chef Matt Bell, owned and operated South on Main, an award-winning fine dining restaurant and live music venue in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Amy’s diverse experience in campaign and event management, PR and marketing, hospitality and design, and communications and operations allows her to take a holistic approach with her design work. She is able to balance her clients’ creative and pragmatic needs to provide both macro-level strategies and detailed plans for execution and success.

Aron Shelton

Story Engineer

At the heart of every successful place-based initiative lies a robust digital engagement strategy, and for over a decade, Aron has been at the forefront of crafting these strategies for initiatives across the nation. His multifaceted expertise is not just limited to conceptualizing digital strategies; it extends to the tangible realm of website development and graphic design.

In addition to his work as a consultant and independent contractor, Aron is the digital architect of Northwest Arkansas’ talent attraction and retention efforts at the Northwest Arkansas Council—equipping him with a deep understanding of stakeholder engagement across the broadest spectrum of community touchpoints.

Our Expert Network

No two communities, organizations, or projects are the same. That’s why we build teams around opportunities—not the other way around.

Drawing from a national network of trusted practitioners, strategists, designers, developers, storytellers, economists, artists, and subject-matter experts, we assemble multidisciplinary teams tailored to the unique goals, scale, and complexity of each engagement.

What They’re Saying

“Velocity Group brings big ideas to the table and challenges the status quo, but they also know how to produce value and generate action. Their unique approach to experience design and activation has helped us identify opportunities, strengthen investments, and create positive momentum across development projects and planning initiatives.”

Paul EstererManaging Partner, Newmark Moses Tucker Partners

“Velocity helped us take the THRIVE brand from vision to implementation. Their ability to uncover our purpose and align every element around it—from site selection and tenant recruitment to staff training and execution—made them an invaluable partner.”

Rob ColemanCEO, ERC Properties

“Daniel has been our mojo master and an exceptional experience architect. His insight, creativity, and contagious energy helped us navigate some of the most challenging moments of our project. No one understands the essence of our complex vision the way he does.”

Paola BarreraSenior Project Manager, Marea La Paz, Mexico

“Daniel was talking about the experience economy and its role in talent attraction long before anyone else. His work helped regional leaders understand the importance of investing in arts, culture, food, and place-based experiences—an investment that continues to pay dividends across Northwest Arkansas.”

Michael HarveyCOO, Northwest Arkansas Council

“I've had the pleasure of working with Daniel from Velocity Group on a large campus master plan for a global non-profit. Daniel’s passion for balancing realistic, sustainable economics with forward-thinking development strategies has helped define an equitable path for our project that aligns with and expands our client's mission. He takes the time to listen, and through informed ideas and placemaking leadership, he naturally weaves together project needs and design team expertise. Daniel's creative development strategies challenge norms and help us look at things from different perspectives, advancing the project and helping to establish a clear, sustainable path forward. Daniel has been easy to work with, and his insights and leadership have elevated the entire project.”

Matt Wild AIAPrincipal, Focal Architecture

“I continue to work with Daniel because he combines deep respect for local context with a long-term vision and real-world experience helping cities like ours grow with intention. He brings genuine passion for Austin, Minnesota’s future and a unique ability to help communities craft places, projects, and partnerships that attract talent, investment, and long-term momentum.”

Natosha WalshPresident of Retail Sales, Hormel Food Sales, LLC

“Having worked with multiple consultants over the course of my career, I can unequivocally say that Daniel Hintz and his team at Velocity Group are the best in the business. Daniel’s approach to complex issues is wholistic in nature and provides solutions that are anything but ordinary. In a world where “organizational silos” dominate, Velocity guides the organizations they work with passed the status quo and instead helps cultivate an ecosystem that is just as inclusive as it is innovative.”

Kyle CliftonDirector of Planning, City of Claremore, OK

“The City of Frisco, Texas hired Velocity for their experience in bringing downtowns back to life. Daniel Hintz and Sandy Wright conducted a deep dive on interviewing civic leaders, businesses, citizens, Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Advisory Board, to name a few. Council has really gotten on board with the direction you have provided.”

John Lettelleir, FAICP and Marla Roe, CDME,CTAFrisco, Texas

The future of your community, organization, or project won’t be shaped by intention alone. It will be shaped by the conversations, decisions, and actions you take today.

Let’s create something worth spending time on.

Daniel Hintz

Founder & Chief Experience Strategist

connect@dnaofplace.com

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