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Meet Our Team
About AWeber Communications:
Located in Newtown, PA we develop and manage opt-in
email marketing tools. A growing 49,000+ international customer base access our website 24/7 to manage and send their newsletters to recipients who have specifically opted in on their website to receive that information.
Since Tom founded AWeber in 1998, many bright, creative problem-solvers have joined us.
Currently 36 people make up our team, and
that number continues to grow as we help more businesses expand and add more powerful
email marketing features. We are a profitable, privately held company in business over 10 years with no debt.
Tom Kulzer
CEO and Founder
While a sales leader for a computer hardware firm in the mid-1990s, Tom realized prospects were falling through the cracks with other sales associates due to the lack of proper follow up.
By automating the delivery of personalized follow up emails to prospects, company wide sales skyrocketed and other sales associates had much more time to spend drumming up new prospects.
Soon after he left that organization Tom started getting calls from ex-coworkers, asking him where they could buy the
email marketing software he had created.
So... he sat down and created it, launching in 1998 without public or venture funding. And the rest is history.
As one might expect from an entrepreneur, Tom loves to challenge himself, and does so through activities like competitive road cycling, snowboarding and sailing.
However, AWeber remains his favorite pursuit:
"Of all the adventure sports I participate in, building AWeber has absolutely been the most thrilling and demanding. It's tested me in ways I never thought possible."
Sean Cohen
Director of Operations
Sean started out answering phones at AWeber in 2001.
His pragmatic solutions to issues repeatedly endeared him to our customers and propelled him to his current position.
Today, he advises all of our Teams on how we can better serve customers, heads up our
Private Label program and represents AWeber in industry organizations such as the
Email Experience Council,
Anti-Phishing Working Group and
CAUCE.
Sean unwinds by traveling, following football and putting other XBox Live players to shame.
Etrik Patricella
Director of Technology
Etrik joined our team after spending the better part of a decade as an independent consultant, working on just about any type of web development project, from Network Engineering to design to highly scalable web applications like AWeber.
He's responsible for leading our technology vision, scalability, and agile development processes.
His interests include sustainable living (in 2007 he spent a summer building a Greenhouse Dome and is a lifelong vegetarian), creative challenges such as music and programming.
Education Marketing Team
Want to learn how to build a list? Send an email newsletter? Maximize your response rates?
Our Education Team is here to help.
Justin Premick
Education Marketing Manager
Justin came to AWeber in 2004, leaving behind his would-be career as a Spanish professor.
He now directs his passion for teaching toward helping small businesses grow and prosper via permission-based email marketing campaigns.
He regularly writes for our
blog and various newsletters, produces our
webinars, and coordinates our other educational materials.
Justin still dabbles in foreign languages and loves to travel. He also skis, mountain bikes, rock climbs and has been known to skydive.
Marc Kline
Education Marketing Team
Marc produces a lot of the educational material on our
knowledge base and
blog, and regularly speaks on our
webinars.
Able to get right to the heart of seemingly complex issues, he infuses any email marketing discussion with a dose of common sense.
He's also an enthusiastic cook who has adhered to a strictly vegetarian diet for over a decade.
Development Team
To run a great web service, you need great people to build and maintain it.
We've got some of the smartest guys you'll ever meet keeping AWeber reliable and adding the features you need to run your email marketing campaigns.
Andy Ruse
Open Source Evangelist
Previously a Systems Administrator at a web hosting company, Andy has overseen our Development Team since 2000 and in 2008 moved to an Open Source Evangelist role.
He loves open source software - he contributes to several projects outside of AWeber and regularly attends events such as
OSCON.
Andy places a lot of value on broad, continued education, saying "no matter how good a person is in his chosen field, without a wide base of knowledge and experience, he won't be experiencing all that life has to offer."
A former competitive powerlifter, Andy now
CrossFits. He also reads voraciously, and plays guitar and drums.
Ben Krein
Systems Administrator
Ben's first experiences with online technology predate the modern Internet - for example, he ran a
BBS node for his high school in the early 1990s. He also loves open-source software and has been an active participant in the community for years.
Ben manages our hardware - making sure what we have runs smoothly, and planning acquisitions as we grow - and often can be found at our
colocation facility adding or upgrading machines.
When he's away from computers, Ben spends his time woodworking and mountain biking.
Bryan Deeney
Web Developer
Bryan brings a wealth of education (a Master's in Computer Science from Temple University) and experience (over 7 years as a SysAdmin in higher education institutions) to our Development Team.
If you've ever used our
knowledge base, phoned us, or asked a question by livechat, you've benefited from his expertise and attention to detail.
Bryan loves animals and mountain biking, and plays a mean game of
Speed Uno.
Eric Centeno
Web Designer
We first met Eric when he earned a contract to redesign our website in 2005. He joined us full-time shortly afterward and has been our design wizard ever since.
He honed his web design skills during his years in the record industry, where he designed interactive websites using Flash.
In addition to the 2008 redesign of our site, Eric has worked on our
HTML email templates and made countless improvements to our user interface.
When he's not designing, Eric enjoys music, movies, gaming and driving his Prius.
Daniel Deming
Web Developer
Not only does Dan know web technologies like the back of his hand, he comes to AWeber well-rounded, with degrees from NYU and Penn State.
He's worked extensively on beloved features like our
broadcast tool, copying messages and web forms, and a couple of projects that we can't talk about just yet... ;)
Dan plays bocce, produces music and works on his new house - but never in blue jeans! He doesn't own a single pair, and never has.
Ethan McCreadie
Web Developer
Ethan is a self-described "jeenyus" with degrees in Liberal Arts and Electrical Engineering.
Of course, he knows a few things about developing for the web, too. Prior to joining us, he created sites for Philadelphia-area nonprofits and taught web design at a local college.
Much of his work is behind-the-scenes: he develops and enhances many of the internal applications that make us all more productive.
Ethan spends his free time fishing, reading, writing and playing bluegrass and folk music.
Jim Fitzpatrick
Web Developer
Jim brings both educational and work experience from Juniata, where he earned his Bachelor's in Computer Science while working on web development projects for the college.
His ability to tackle any project that comes his way - like simplifying common customer tasks, integrating AWeber with membership scripts and shopping carts, or improving our helpdesk software - has made him an invaluable member of our Development Team.
After hours, Jim dominates office games of Call of Duty, bowls competitively and engages in other programming projects and "miscellaneous geek stuff."
Edward Long
Web Developer
In addition to being our resident Windows expert (only occasionally heckled by our Mac fanboys), Ed has handled a variety of projects since coming on board.
Bloggers will especially appreciate his work - he developed the
advanced scheduling options for our Blog Broadcast tool and worked with FeedBurner to
aggregate your email and RSS subscribers..
If he weren't developing web apps, Ed would undoubtedly be working in music. He plays piano by ear, graduated college with a minor in music, and has designed and implemented custom home theater systems.
Will Weaver
Web Developer
Before joining AWeber, Will earned a Master's in Computer Science and was the main developer at a local web portal.
His experience enables him to handle a variety of projects, including many that help the rest of our Dev Team more efficiently manage our users' campaigns and databases.
A Philadelphia-area native, Will grew up around water and spends a lot of time boating. He also enjoys reading, playing Wii and bowling.
Bob Ricca
Web Designer
Bob's experience and sense of aesthetics have been invaluable as he works with Eric and the rest of our teams on a variety of projects.
A perfectionist who values "clean code," Bob has ample experience designing for the web and email - he's created sites and newsletters for companies in consumer industries like travel, as well as B2B ones like human resources.
On top of that, his experience designing offline content - everything from billboards and bus shelter ads to posters and book covers - give him valuable perspective as he works to create a great experience for our customers and their subscribers.
In his free time, Bob loves snowboarding (mostly frequenting terrain parks along the East Coast, with an annual slaying of the powdery bowls out West) and modifying his Audi S4.
Russ Posluszny
Web Developer
Russ comes to AWeber with a Computer Science degree from Rowan University and a love of all things creative.
His creativity and attention to detail help him improve many of our "behind the scenes" processes as well as customer-facing features.
Outside of work, Russ spends much of his time in music production - not only does he play and record his own music, he designs and builds stomp boxes for use with guitars.
Jason Schandel
Quality Assurance Software Analyst
Jason's enthusiasm for computer science first manifested itself long before he came to AWeber.
For example, he developed an early implementation of podcasting as well as a next-generation media distribution system; he uses the
Dvorak Simplified Keyboard and
Emacs; and he enjoys working with Ruby on Rails and other open source software.
Jason describes himself as "a walking contradiction" who tries to live sustainably but also enjoys taking his Jeep off-roading. He tries to offset his Jeep habit by composting, recycling and building rain barrels.
Patrick Casady
Web Developer
Patrick's experience before joining us included both studying at, and working with, some of Philadelphia's major universities.
Within a short time of starting, Patrick dove into our user interface and created several enhancements, and he continues to help give you the best possible experience using AWeber.
After hopping on his motorcycle (even in the rain) and heading out from work, Patrick plays strategy games (
Civ4 is one of his favorites), travels and studies politics and philosophy.
Jordan Bernstein
Systems Administrator
Prior to joining us as a SysAdmin, Jordan worked for a web hosting company and as a freelance designer/developer.
You won't see most of what Jordan does - it's all "super secret" behind-the-scenes stuff that helps make AWeber fast and reliable for customers.
When he's not helping keep things running smoothly at AWeber, he enjoys music (including playing bass guitar and working with A/V equipment) and is an avid reader of "the entire internets." ;)
There's no place like home: Jordan grew up right around the corner from our office!
Ryan Steele
Systems Administrator
Ryan comes to us with a degree in computer science from the University of Delaware, and has worked in network security and systems administration roles for businesses of all sizes - from startups to Fortune 500 companies.
An avid musician, he's been playing guitar for over a decade and counts his Steve Vai signature JEM among his dearest possessions. He also loves cooking and claims to have "never met a piece of chocolate I didn't like."
Fun fact: Ryan is the only person at AWeber whose name also appears on an
action figure (from the 1990s TV show "VR Troopers").
Customer Solutions Team
It's often said that customer service is a lost art. But that's not the case at AWeber!
We pride ourselves on providing
real, live customer service right here in the USA.
Here's a closer look at the guys and gals who are standing by whenever you need help.
Tracey Churray
Director of Customer Solutions
Tracey oversees our Customer Solutions Team and works to make them even better at helping you with any questions you have.
Before joining AWeber, Tracey developed her communication and management skills while running several stores for major book and music retailers.
Tracey loves hockey - not only does she play regularly and follow the NHL, she even knows her way around a
Zamboni. Off-ice, you may run into her at a poker table.
Jeff Crandall
Customer Solutions Supervisor
Jeff may be the most happy-go-lucky person you'll ever meet. With his friendly service and knack for problem solving, he quickly earned our respect - and our customers' praise.
His current position is a natural fit, as he'd already been helping and advising fellow Customer Solutions Team members for some time before being promoted.
Jeff loves hockey and the Flyers - and has "never been ashamed to say it." In the offseason he's into working on his car, taking road trips and playing Ultimate Frisbee.
Valerie S.
Administrative Assistant
We're not quite sure how we got along without Val, but we're a lot happier now that she's here.
She contacts
affiliates to update their addresses and get them their checks. She helps our Education Team with our
webinars. She coordinates our catered lunches. She helps with too many other projects to list.
In addition to taking care of our family here at AWeber, Val raises two children of her own. She also loves the summer and going to the beach.
Ron Givens
Affiliate Manager
A true "people person," Ron's easygoing attitude and wide range of experiences make him especially well-suited to helping affiliates run more effective campaigns.
After studying at Philadelphia's
University of the Arts, Ron started playing music professionally. Working out of San Diego, he and his band toured across as Canada, Mexico and Japan (as well as the US).
While he still plays and writes music, Ron has found time to indulge a lot of other interests, including boxing (he fought as an amateur and still spars today) and real estate (he's been a licensed Realtor in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania).
Our Customer Solutions Team is constantly growing - here's our most recent picture of them!
Andy, Jay, Kelly, Rebecca, Mary, Nick, Paul, Erin, Ryan, Shauna and Steve
(not in that order on camera).
