Lisa provides a unique combination of experience in business ownership and management, computer programming, and website and graphics design; she is also the President and Founder of Ballowax, an e-commerce and fulfilment company, and the CTO of Venture Out, a company that is developing apparel incorporating conductive ink technology.  She holds an Accounting degree from Virginia Tech and has over 20 years of experience in businesses of all sizes.  Having owned three previous businesses enables her to view projects from the business owner's perspective in addition to the customer's.  She started her first business when her kids were 4-months- and 24-months-old, and the business grew so quickly that both she and her husband worked in it full time after just five months.  In the 90's she published a sailboat guide that was sold online and in bookstores to customers on every continent in the world except Antarctica; in 1999 she developed an online searchable database of thousands of sailboat model specs as an adjunct to the guide and to begin moving the guide from a printed medium to digital.  This was, and still is, the only guide and database of its kind in the world, and she later sold it to a .com in order to concentrate on website and digital media development. In addition to her entrepreneurial and website development experience, other experience includes US Controller of an international software company, Assistant Controller for an exclusive furniture manufacturer, and Internal Auditor for a bank.  Lisa is on the Board of Directors of the Industrial Development Authority of Halifax County and is a member of the Southern Piedmont Technology Council, the Rural Broadband Technology Council, and the Last Mile Fiber Optic Initiative for Halifax.  She passed the CPA exam in 1983 but is currently not practicing. Raised by her working mom and her blind musician father, she learned very early on the value of tenacity.  She just doesn't know how to quit.  Motto:  Don't tell me I can't do something because I'll have to prove you wrong!

Kelly holds both a Master's and a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and has owned an ISP since 1995. You won't find many people who have the vast knowledge of the internet that Kelly has, and he is an invaluable asset to our project development and management.  Kelly is the owner and founder of Pure Internet, an ISP whose specialty is bringing wireless broadband internet access to rural Southern and Southside Virginia, and is one of Lisa's partners in Ballowax.  He is President of the Southern Piedmont Technology Council, is a member of the MidAtlantic Broadband Cooperative, is on the Halifax Economic Development Council, the Last Mile Fiber Optic Initiative for Halifax, and the Rural Broadband Technology Council; Kelly has been instrumental in bringing broadband to rural Virginia and in helping to promote technology in Southside Virginia.  Kelly, where are we gonna eat lunch today? I'm hungry!

Glenn has 7 years of experience designing graphics for the web and providing technical support, and is studying Interactive Media Design at Art Institute of California- Los Angeles.  He is an avid gamer and has created website designs for several online gaming communities and professional gamers in addition to his design work with Glerin; he's an accomplished guitarist and singer and plays all of his late grandfather's musical instruments - including a first year Les Paul.  Glenn recently produced his first music cd, comprised entirely of original tunes that he wrote the lyrics and music for, and played guitar and sang.  He's very eclectic and likes music ranging from folk to classical to jazz, and his design work reflects his varied tastes. He's definitely not going to be put into a mold and never ceases to surprise us!

 

Erin is bilingual in Japanese and studied in Narita, Japan (outside of Tokyo) in a Study Abroad program for the fall semester of 2006 (her host sister is pictured with her at Narita Temple). She has 7 years of experience designing websites but her creativity doesn't stop there: she is also an artist, cartoonist, and photographer, and she designs and makes clothing and costumes. Erin graduated from high school a year early and is studying Media Arts & Animation at Art Institute of California- Los Angeles. To illustrate her self-starting nature:  she taught herself to read, write, and speak Japanese without ever having a class in it before living in Japan.  Go Erin!  Keep an eye out for her comics website that's currently being developed - SupQT.com; in the meantime, check out several of her comics below.  Her sarcasm keeps us crazies in stitches.