If you know the Emerge Apps team, there's a pretty good chance you know the Boss guys: Dustin, Josh, and Randy.
But there's another person whose fingerprints are all over the company, even if you've never met her.
From the messages you read to the resources you download to many of the improvements happening behind the scenes, Alicia Torres has helped shape the Emerge Apps experience in ways most people never see.
And if you've spent any time with Alicia, you'll quickly notice something about the way she thinks.
Whether she's refining a marketing message, improving a business process, or figuring out a better way to organize her five-year-old son's ever-growing collection of Paw Patrol vehicles, her mind naturally goes to the same question:
How could this work better?
"I've always been someone who notices opportunities to improve things," Alicia says. "Once I see a better way, it's hard for me to stop thinking about it until I've figured it out."
That mindset has made her a perfect fit at Emerge Apps.
When Alicia joined Emerge Apps as CMO in 2024, everyone knew she would do much more than lead marketing.
After working with the company in a freelance capacity, she brought experience in strategy, operations, project management, customer communications, and content development. More importantly, she brought a unique ability to take complex ideas and make them practical.
In many ways, Alicia has become Emerge Apps' translator—helping turn decades of industry expertise into resources agencies can actually use, helping shape the company's messaging, and connecting big ideas to real-world execution.
"I love taking something that's complicated or scattered and making it clear," Alicia says. "Whether that's helping tell our story, building a new process, or creating resources that make an agent's job easier, I get a lot of satisfaction from connecting the dots."
That mindset has influenced countless projects over the past few years—from customer communications and internal systems to one of Alicia's favorite additions: the Resource Library, which brings agent strategies, employer resources, and educational content together in one place.
It's just one example of the pattern that shows up throughout her work: identifying friction, finding opportunities, and building better solutions.
Around the office, that way of thinking has earned her a nickname: "The General."
Not because she's barking orders, but because she's constantly offering ideas, connecting people, organizing plans, and helping move conversations into action.
"I know I make a lot of suggestions," she laughs. "But that's just how I'm wired. If I think something could be clearer, easier, or more helpful, I want to figure out how to make it happen."
For Alicia, one of the best parts of Emerge Apps is the people.
"Dustin has an incredible ability to dream big," she says. "We collaborate really well because we can take those ideas and figure out how to communicate them and bring them to life."
She also credits Randy's decades of experience for shaping the way she thinks about leadership and relationships. "Every conversation with Randy teaches me something," she says.
And when it comes to Josh, she laughs that they're probably the most alike: "We're both implementers. We like organization, systems, and helping things run smoothly."
Together, those different perspectives have helped build a team where ideas are encouraged and everyone's strengths complement one another.
Although Alicia leads marketing, what she enjoys most isn't creating campaigns—it's listening.
She spends hours talking with customers, sitting in on demos, reviewing feedback, and looking for patterns that explain what agencies truly need.
Those insights become clearer messaging, better educational resources, product improvements, and ultimately, a better experience for both agents and employers.
"I love helping clarify why we exist and how we help," she says. "Our goal isn't just to build software. It's to help agents do their jobs better and help employers create safer, healthier, stronger businesses. If I can make that story clearer—or make it easier for agencies to succeed—that's incredibly rewarding."
Her Emerge Apps Superpower: Translating expertise and big ideas into practical action.
Favorite Part of the Job: Creating resources or communications that genuinely help agents do their job better.
Favorite Hobbies: Spending time with family, traveling, cheering on Wisconsin sports teams, and reading.
A Defining Characteristic: Turning complexity into clarity by connecting the dots others miss.