The DOmedia Team

Kipp Abbott - operations

I’s dotted. Check. T’s crossed. Check. All thanks to our man, Kipp. If it needs to be planned, organized, managed or documented, we call on Kipp. With our constantly juggling projects and enhancements, he is cool as a cucumber, making sure everything syncs (not sinks) and making it all look so easy. Dang, he’s good.

Kipp began his professional career in television news as the Operations Assistant for WBNS 10TV. Building on his leadership abilities, he quickly assumed the position of Director for the 6pm newscast, the highest rated newscast in Central Ohio (woo-hoo). Kipp led a team of 15 staff members to prepare and execute the broadcast. He also produced various programs including telethons, a weekly political show and public service announcements. Following his tour in the entertainment industry, Kipp went the agency route as an Interactive Project Manager with Northlich. His organization skills coupled with his easy communication style made the transition a successful one. In addition to flawlessly managing his own projects, he gladly mentored other project managers…a sort of dojo to grasshoppers willing to learn his ways.

Kipp is an Ohio University graduate with a BS in Communications – an educational experience he readily admits taught him how to juggle schoolwork and social life. Happily married and the father of three boys, Kipp's interests include anything his busy family is doing.

favorite quote: Coffee's for closers only. (Glengarry Glen Ross)
best advice ever received: No matter what, you always do your best.
hidden talent: Prehistoric cave drawing
favorite vacation spot: Rock City, TN
dog or cat?: Dog

Bud Budrejko - application development

Apparently it takes more than a magic wand to make the DOmedia site do what it does, which is why we are lucky to have Bud on the DO team. Part mechanic, part exterminator and part engineer, Bud ensures the DOmedia site keeps humming and squashes any bugs that have the nerve to pop up. He maintains our current website while patiently taking in our what ifs, if onlys and why nots, then finding ways to make our DOmedia dreams a DOmedia reality.

A networking-administration-coding-security-user support wiz, Bud has run the IT gamut and can even claim spy satellite engineer on his resume (sorry, Jeff, you're not the only one). After graduating from the U. S. Air Force Academy with a degree in Computer Science, Bud was stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base where he worked with the National Air Intelligence Agency (that's government-speak for cool spy stuff).

Following his military service, Bud joined Jeff at Computer Wizards Consulting (which became part of Leader Technologies) as a Network/Systems/Security Chief, handling everything from new system integration to end user support, even system security (that's tech-speak for cool hacker stuff). From there, he moved on to Interactive Ink (which eventually became part of Northlich), where he developed and optimized client websites while ensuring the uptime for 30 separate sites.

favorite quote: This just in... Go to hell! (Kent Brockman)
best advice ever received: You can sleep when you're dead.
hidden talent: I dabble in speed-cubing.
favorite vacation spot: Any warm beach.
dog or cat?: More of a fish person.

Aaron Szabo - interactive design

Aaron is a talented illustrator, consummate jokester, basketball fanatic, and, oh yeah, an interactive design gen-i-us. Equally comfortable talking about white space, color palettes, HTML and CSS, he is the rare yin and yang of artistic skill and IT competency. With more than ten years of experience developing original imagery, layout and interactivity, Aaron's diverse technical knowledge allows him to implement any type of design solution. Plus, he really likes it when we ask him to make stuff "look pretty."

Working as a Web Designer while a student at Bowling Green State University, Aaron began designing custom interface and webpage layouts for departments all over campus. He also organized Web Design and Photoshop training seminars for faculty and students. After graduating in 1998, he hopped on the e-biz train, first as a Graphic & Technical Designer for Mirror Images, Inc. then as a Web Designer with AB Internet. Following these stints, Aaron went the agency route, joining Mueller & Wister, Inc. as an Interactive Designer and Illustrator. In 2005, he brought his talents to Interactive Ink/Northlich, developing strategic communication pieces for clients such as the US Department of Defense, the Ohio Department of Heath and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. He also designed the websites for Battelle, Chemical Abstracts Service, and Lifeline of Ohio.

When Aaron isn’t developing compelling creative and sweet user interfaces, he's planning his next practical joke or adding to his extensive sneaker collection. Ask him about his pair of coveted limited edition Jackie Chan Reebok’s…all the way from China.

favorite quote: Work cures everything. (Henri Matisse)
best advice ever received: Form follows function.
hidden talent: Insect taxidermy
favorite vacation spot: Away from all glowing squares and noise associated with
dog or cat?: Cat…specifically "Pinky the Cat" (check it out on YouTube)

Lawrence Gould - software development

Lawrence is a big part of DOmedia--and we're not just referring to his sheer size. Although he is nicknamed L-Train for a reason, he also takes care of the all-important stuff that keeps DOmedia functioning like Struts and Flex... which we think sounds more like gym lingo, but what do we know? And with over 15 years of experience in all software development life cycle phases, I guess we can take his word for it.

LT began the glamorous life of application development at a little company called AOL. For more than ten years, he served as the Principal Software Engineer for the company. As development lead, he created multi-lingual, SEO-optimized, high-performance portals for international AOL websites. Likewise, he built an integrated multi-media center for the next-generation AOL client as well as a multi-branded, SEO-optimized, high-performance portal for Netscape.com. LT is a proud graduate of Wright State University where he earned his BS in Computer Science (which we're hoping stands for Bachelor of Science...).

When LT isn't developing, fixing or holding DOmedia together with his magical Struts and Tiles, he can usually be found outside enjoying a nice little afternoon of basketball or softball... or football, golf, surfing, water skiing, snowboarding... you get the idea. But he's not all sports, all the time. LT also likes traveling, cooking and--surprise, surprise--computers.

favorite quote: It's not a bug; it's a feature!
best advice ever received: Do it right the first time.
hidden talent: Epic crowd-pleasing snowboarding wipeouts
favorite vacation spot: Tahoe
dog or cat?: R.I.P. Duke, my Boston Terrier

Elh Barry - java development

Barry is his name (in this neck of the woods, anyway) and Java development is definitely his game. When he’s not spending sleepless nights working on the DOmedia website, Barry can be found at his desk, hard at work on complex and multi-layered applications using J2EE/JEE technologies. Like LT, he also works with those Struts and Tiles thingies. We’ve been told they keep the site up and running… which makes Barry one of our favorite people.

Before arriving at Qstart, Barry worked his magic at Payex, a local business here in Columbus, where he was responsible for making anything and everything function easier and faster using his JavaScript wizardry. While participating in Franklin University’s Computer Science and Engineering Department, Barry also taught and mentored other young Computer Science enthusiasts the likes of Test-Driven Development, Object-Oriented Programming (we just smile and nod), HTML, CSS, and the all-important debug programs.

Not only is Barry fluent in the world of JavaScript and countless other programming software we can’t even pronounce, but he also speaks French! Talk about a double whammy.

favorite quote: If you run after two hares, you will catch neither. (Thomas Fuller)
best advice ever received: be patient
hidden talent: playing soccer
favorite vacation spot: any tourist attractions
dog or cat?: fish