Nicole MacLean and Ian Brown first crossed paths 12 years ago at the Orr Fellowship’s interview day in Indianapolis. MacLean was a college student hoping to break into the city’s growing tech scene. Brown was already a year into the fellowship, working at Teradata.

Fast-forward to September 2026. MacLean is now CEO of Compose.ly, a national content marketing and SEO agency. And Brown? He’s the founder of Bohu Digital, the Indianapolis marketing firm that just became Compose.ly’s first-ever acquisition.

“I would’ve never thought 12 years later it would lead to something like this, but it just speaks to the power of it,” MacLean says of the Orr Fellowship and the connections she made through the program.

For MacLean, the acquisition marks the latest chapter in a career shaped by the Indianapolis tech community. The opportunities, mentors and relationships she found in Indiana carried her from her early days as an Orr Fellow to the helm of a national company. 

Finding Her Place in Indianapolis Tech

MacLean wasn’t always sold on Indianapolis. Originally from the Chicago suburbs, she moved to Indiana with her family when she was a kid. At the time, she wasn’t thrilled about leaving the Chicago area behind.

 “Truthfully, when we moved here and I was nine, I was like, ‘Why are we coming to cornfields and taking me away from Chicago?’” she recalls.

MacLean initially pictured herself working for a large consumer brand and knew little about B2B tech. That changed the summer before her senior year at Ball State, when she landed an internship at ExactTarget.

She joined the company’s final Slingshot Internship class, following Salesforce’s acquisition of the company.

It was an exciting time to enter Indianapolis’ tech scene, and MacLean soon realized she wanted to stay. For someone new to the industry, the Orr Fellowship offered an appealing mix of professional experience, mentorship and community.

MacLean joined the program and initially landed at marketing agency Digital Relevance. But just a few months into her fellowship, the company eliminated its Orr Fellow positions.

It was an unexpected setback early in her career. It also gave her a firsthand look at the strength of the community she’d just joined.

MacLean remembers getting a call from Indianapolis entrepreneur and former Orr Fellowship board member Mark Hill within hours of losing her position. He reached out, just to check in.

The fellowship helped MacLean find another opportunity at Bluebridge Digital, which later became Emplify.

A Crash Course in Leadership

What started as a difficult introduction to the working world sparked the beginning of a five-and-a-half-year run. At Emplify, MacLean quickly discovered the opportunities that come with working at a growing technology company. 

She helped build the company’s events function, managed budgets and worked closely with senior leaders. At a larger organization, she likely would’ve waited years for that level of responsibility.

“As an Orr Fellow, you weren’t just an intern,” she says. “I was responsible for a real budget. And I was running events. I had real expectations. So, you learn a lot really quickly.”

Working in events also meant traveling frequently with company leadership, exposing her to conversations and decisions that helped to form her understanding of business. 

“Just getting to be around that level of discussion, really shaped how you learn to manage, what you care about and how to manage up,” she says.

Emplify also influenced her leadership philosophy in another important way.

As an employee engagement company, Emplify focused on helping organizations build better workplaces and develop stronger managers. MacLean absorbed those lessons long before she became an executive herself.

“It was a great crash course into how to manage people,” she says. “So, when I had the opportunity to step into management, I’ve always taken it very seriously. I think it’s a huge responsibility.”

MacLean left Emplify during the pandemic to join 120Water, where she served as senior director of marketing.

The move expanded her professional network further. Through ExactTarget, Emplify, 120Water, the Orr Fellowship and local marketing events, MacLean built lasting relationships with the people shaping Indianapolis tech. Those relationships would continue to influence her career, even when her next opportunity took her outside the local tech ecosystem.

An Unexpected Path to the CEO’s Office

In 2022, MacLean was ready for another challenge. She found an opening for head of marketing at Compose.ly, a national content marketing agency, and cold-applied through LinkedIn.

There was no personal introduction or inside connection. Just a job application that led to an offer roughly two weeks after her first interview.

“I feel like this should be a LinkedIn job board success story,” she jokes.

But accepting the position came with some hesitation. Compose.ly operates remotely, with employees spread across the country. MacLean would be its only Indiana-based employee at the time. 

“One of the things I was most nervous about was that this would be the first company I’d work for that wasn’t in the Indy community,” she says.

But after talking with mentors, she came to see the move differently. Working for a national company would expose her to new perspectives and approaches.

MacLean accepted the role in August 2022, and the transition brought some culture shock. Compose.ly’s business model and fully remote culture took some getting used to

But MacLean found opportunities to apply what she’d learned through her Indiana tech experience while expanding her own understanding of the business. 

“I do think Indy is really good at running businesses,” she says. “The coasts get a lot of the attention. But I think I was able to bring some really good perspective that the leadership team hadn’t thought of before.”

Her responsibilities grew quickly. She moved into the chief revenue officer role in 2024, overseeing sales and marketing. By late 2025, the company’s leadership began discussing a potential transition to CEO.  

A Connection 12 Years in the Making

After joining Compose.ly, MacLean reconnected with Brown to explore a potential partnership with Bohu Digital. Initially, the timing didn’t feel right.

They continued to exchange referrals and keep in touch. Then, following MacLean’s promotion to CEO, Brown reached out again.

Compose.ly had evolved significantly from its origins as a content writing agency, expanding its strategic services as artificial intelligence reshaped how businesses approach search and content marketing.

Ian Brown and Nicole MacLean

Bohu’s expertise in SEO and AI search visibility complemented Compose.ly’s growing capabilities. This time, the fit was right.

Announced in September 2026, the acquisition increased Compose.ly’s client base by more than 20% and added several full-time employees, many based in Indianapolis. Brown will continue serving as a strategic advisor.

Indy’s Open-Door Culture 

Although MacLean now leads a national company, she still lives in Indiana and remains deeply invested in the Indianapolis tech community.

She credits the city’s collaborative culture with accelerating her development as a professional and leader. She says few cities can match the accessibility and generosity she’s experienced in Indianapolis. 

“I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time, because of people,” she says. “Just grabbing coffee, asking opinions, sharing what you’re doing, sharing what other people are doing.”

She also believes Indiana’s tech talent deserves more national recognition. Working for a remote company gives her the opportunity to collaborate with professionals across the country. The experience has only reinforced her confidence in the people and companies building businesses in Indiana.

“I don’t know if our talent pool gets the rep that it should,” she says.

For MacLean, the Orr Fellowship and programs like TechPoint’s Xtern represent much of what makes the community special: a commitment to developing young talent, creating meaningful connections and keeping promising professionals in Indiana. Her advice for students and early-career professionals is simple 

“Connect on LinkedIn, go to networking events, just be present in the city and build that network for yourself,” she says.

If there’s one lesson her career illustrates, it’s that some of the most valuable opportunities begin with a conversation, a cup of coffee or a connection whose significance might not become clear for another 12 years.