Our Team
Like most successful companies, we feel that we have the best talent around; working together this dynamic team repeatedly builds upon our combined strenghts and capabilities.
Meet our amazing core staff:
Dennis R
President
Softmedia has enjoyed a long list of successes over the course of its 16 years, and having Dennis at the company's helm has been a primary reason. From its humble beginning in 1994 developing applications for the health insurance industry, he has had the good sense to keep the company lean, agile and able to adapt to a business environment that is periodically turned on its head for a variety of reasons. The range of clients that Dennis has attracted are a testament to his business savvy, and to the fact that he truly values the relationships he's built with them over the years.
Having an active president and one that has been in the coding trenches has its benefits. That prior connection to projects on a ground level, on every level, in the early days at Softmedia ultimately made for an excellent transition to his current role, setting the vision for the company and keeping in contact with each project that passes through our doors to ensure it meets the expectations of our clients.
Dennis is an avid hockey player and loves to coach little league baseball and softball in the town of Westwood where he lives with his wife and two children.
Anna R
Account Manager
Since the early years, Anna has been responsible for all the account management at Softmedia. She has done a fantastic job and has all the AR functioning smoothly. She works directly with all of Softmedia's vendors and keeps management up to date on all aspects of the business. She also works with the staff to handle HR duties, including new employee initiation programs, and is the critical piece of our hiring process.
Anna is active in the community, and volunteers at the local elementary school teaching math. She also is a key figure in the Chowder Cup tournament. When she is not busy she loves to read and cook.
Chris R
Lead Application Engineer
Chris is the backbone of Softmedia, a master architect and developer who is in charge of the bigger picture. His view from 60,000 feet keeps our projects running efficiently and smoothly, and channels each one. His project management skills are exceptional. Our clients no doubt enjoy his easy going manner as much as his skill at meeting their business needs with a logical, elegant and timely solution.
Cutting his teeth at Boston-based Ektron, which produces one of the content management solutions on the market today, has no doubt played an integral role in his acquiring so many technical skills so early in his career. His expert level coding skills would allow us to put Chris on any development project, but he really shines in the role of our top level, master architect, from the intricacies of enterprise level database modeling to merging different technologies and platforms seamlessly.
In addition to being a co-founder of Thrash Magazine, he is an amateur photographer and Krav Maga practitioner.
Mark M
Application Engineer/ Project Manager
Mark's ability to narrow down the various challenges for each project and then arrive at the best possible solution makes him a key player here at Softmedia. He is an accomplished engineer that can move an application through the entire full life cycle. His solid grasp of the industries he's worked for, and his ability to harness this knowledge to guide a solution to a proper conclusion is pretty exceptional in our opinion.
He is skilled in C#, SQL and whatever else the typical .NET project requires, and we also greatly value his ability to fine tune the user interface via jQuery, AJAX and the like. Working for companies like LeadingSide, QCMetrix and Distributed Logic has allowed him to build a great skill set, but his relentless pursuit for the simplest answers, that sort of quality is not so easy teach. Add to that a knack for explaining complex technical challenges in layman's terms.
A skilled guitarist, equestrian and table tennis player, Mark resides in Wilmington with his wife and 2 children. We would be remiss if we did not mention that his favorite book is Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse.
Mike S
Application Engineer
Mike is an integral part of our development team. We appreciate Mike’s calm, rational and direct approach to problem solving, which is the earmark of a professional who has been battle tested and found success. Cingular Wireless, Sensitech and publishing powerhouse Ebsco have been some of the companies that have enjoyed the benefits of his skills, and one of the many reasons he is now a valued member of Softmedia.
Mike freely admits that he enjoys designing and developing databases, and all the better for us and our clients. C# and SQL 2000 are regular tools of the trade for him, and Mike knows his craft well, but we’re really just scratching surface. His understanding of the web UI allows him to avoid common back-end development pitfalls. And his transition through various technologies has honed his excellent talent for legacy application modernization. Whether it’s moving an app from VB6 to C#, taking FoxPro out of the equation, removing database redundancy – whatever the bottleneck, whatever the technological hurdle, he can provide a solid, efficient solution that runs like a champ. All that and a keen sense of humor that’s propelled by a sharp wit; we like our Mike and we’re sure you will too.
To demonstrate his wit, when asked to tell something about himself, his reply:
Mike lives in Vermont with his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl. He is an expert at nothing and someday would like to become a Celebrity Apprentice champion.
Steve S
Senior UX Designer/ Front End Developer/ SEO
The web is an opportunity to strengthen and extend the power of a brand, and the number of people who have a firm handle on how to accomplish this is rather small; smaller still if we look for someone who truly understands the technical challenges and benefits that each approach presents. Steve is one of those rare individuals with a track record that demonstrates his value as a web strategist, his skill as a user experience designer, and his excellent technical chops as a front end developer.
Clients really like working with Steve; his affable manner and ability to convey complex ideas keep our projects running smoothly and in the right direction. He has well over a decade of experience designing and building user interfaces that meet and exceed expectations, and his mastery of information architecture, front end scripting and seo analysis are regularly called upon. From Flash-based interactive websites to enterprise level web applications, each visual interface he builds and codes is geared with intuitiveness in mind, embedded with creative hooks that engage the customer, and seamlessly integrate with the client’s unique look, feel and positioning.
Thus far, one of the glory moments in Steve’s career was doing not one, but three personal websites for Paul McCartney (before he was Sir Paul). He was also part of a creative team that won three MITX awards in 2008 (89 Degrees). Steve was also a senior consultant at one of the world’s largest IT firms, Keane, as a visual designer/creative director.
Other stops include: Raytheon; Measured Progress, a leading education testing company; and NECX Direct, where the ecommerce engine he helped create was so successful, Gateway Computers acquired it to use as the blueprint for their own store. Among Steve’s many other credits: IKEA, Deutsche Bank, Thinking Investments (a Goldman Sachs spin off), Zappo’s, Iron Mountain, Gillette, Hewlett Packard, Red Plum, Friendly's, Textron, Biogen, Mariott Hotels, Genzyme, Aubuchon Hardware, Harcourt Brace, National City and Playhastings.
Steve is an accomplished fine artist, enjoys heirloom gardening and is an avid gamer.
Dan S
Legacy Systems Engineer
Many companies still have legacy systems running somewhere in their workflow. Maintaining a legacy system – keeping it up and running in a .NET environment that keeps changing – that takes talent. Which is why we have Dan. Dan has extensive experience working with a broad range of legacy systems, and his depth of knowledge has been invaluable to us and our clients. He is a great problem solver that will work with a client’s development team to get the job done.
Dan spends his days in Foxboro with his wife, from where they keep watch over his six children. In his spare time he sails, bikes, climbs in the White Mountains of NH and skis. He also enjoys playing classical and ragtime piano.