The Team

Mitchell Kimbrough

Founder

since 2000

Mitchell has been writing code for 30 years, with expertise in PHP, MySQL, Javascript and HTML. He’s happiest when creating solutions for his customers, and enjoys building and maintaining a strong team culture that rewards excellence of craft, honesty in relationships and humor in day-to-day practice. Educated at Stanford right before the dot com bubble burst, Mitchell graduated with degrees in philosophy and religious studies, then worked for a tech start-up and learned how NOT to run a company. He began to wonder if it was possible to create a sustainable tech company, built for long term prosperity and operating with integrity and a dedication to excellence. So he decided to try an experiment - Solspace. The experiment has exceeded his wildest expectations for more than two decades now. Mitchell lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two young children who keep him impossibly busy and perpetually in motion.

Janet Berkow

Director of Client Operations

since 2012

Originally from the arts world, Janet detoured into technology after many years of management and has been enjoying the wild ride ever since. Before joining Solspace in 2012, she was Director of Production for the Creative Services team at RealNetworks, then served as Director of Product Operations at Rhapsody. Prior to that, Janet worked in the field of Event Production as Director of Account Services at The Freeman Companies and Account Operations Manager at TPN, with Microsoft as a primary client. Having started out as a working artist and writer, Janet remains surprised at the direction her professional life has taken. She has a BFA and an MFA in painting, is a certified Scrum Master, and continues to make art and write when she’s not outside romping with her dogs and horse in the woodsy wilds of north Seattle.

Kelsey Martens

Director of Software Operations

since 2007

Kelsey oversees all activity related to Solspace software, including product development, documentation and customer support. His favorite part is collaborating with the team for the invention of new software and making major enhancements to existing software. He lives in cold Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with his wife, two daughters and two cats.

Missy Moyer

Content Steward

since 2008

Missy is a self-described “classical music-loving, animal-loving country bumpkin” who started out in Austin, Texas, and moved on to life in small-town Arkansas. She is the dependable and detail oriented administrative heartbeat of the Solspace team, juggling budget tracking, time logs, invoicing, maintenance of management resources, sales and project support, and ensuring clients are kept informed and happy. She also serves our clients as the team’s intrepid Content Steward, ensuring that new and migrated information on the site is complete, coherent and correct. Missy’s true passion is for animal rescue and adoption, and her own beloved tribe of rescue cats and dogs. She loves country life and is still very happily based in small-town Arkansas, where the glare of the city doesn’t block out the stars at night.

Eva Passalacqua

Designer & Developer

since 2005

Eva has been designing and developing web sites with Solspace since 2005, and has been working in web and application development since 1994. She brings an eclectic assortment of skills as an artist, designer, coder, writer and editor to her client projects. When she’s not in front of the screen making digital things, Eva can be found cooking Indian food for a crowd, playing music and games with friends, making and remaking clothing, doing something messy with clay, or playing with molten glass. Eva lives with her family in Western Massachusetts.

Nicolas Bottari

Developer

since 2011

Computers have been part of Nicolas’ life since he created mini-games and programs with Basic in elementary school. While pursuing a post-graduate degree in biochemistry at McGill University, his knowledge of genetic and biological “programming logic” led him into the world of HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL and related tools and frameworks. The transition between the biotech and computer tech worlds included eight years of living in Japan, where he learned the culture and language first while teaching English, then through his work as a manager of office networks, servers and websites. This experience in Japan, plus his native mastery of French and English (and a speck of Italian and Spanish) led to expertise in resolving encoding and language-specific issues. Nicolas cherishes good work relationships and friendly, quality customer service. He currently lives near Montréal, Canada with his wife, but tries to find excuses to return to Japan as often as possible.

John Henry Donovan

Developer

since 2017

John Henry has always had an interest in computers and began working with them centuries ago on his very first machine, a Sinclair Spectrum 48k. Based in Cork, Ireland, John Henry is known in the web community for his depth of experience with ExpressionEngine CMS, though he is also quite handy with Craft CMS these days. He was previously employed as a Technical Support Specialist for EllisLab (the creators of ExpressionEngine), and ran the ExpressionEngine resource site EE-HUB for many years. John Henry, originally a graduate in Industrial Design, is a self-taught full stack developer and designer. He lives in the Irish countryside with his continuously upbeat wife and fights for office space with 4 children in his busy kitchen.

Gustavs Gūtmanis

Lead Software Developer

since 2015

Based in Riga, Latvia, Gustavs has been with the Solspace team since 2016, and has been working professionally as a developer since 2009. In addition to speaking three languages (English, Russian and Latvian) Gustavs has expertise in many tools and technologies as well, including Ruby on Rails, Swift, React.js, Python, MySQL, CSS, JavaScript, ActionScript, Photoshop, Git, HTML 5, Node.js, Gulp.js and many more. Gustavs has developed everything ranging from tiny scripts, to web sites, to CMS engines and plugins, to mobile applications and games, and is an experienced full stack developer. When he’s not working on solving development challenges, Gustavs likes to work out, read books, have fun with his two sons, meet friends and have a good time in general.

Michiko Swiggs

Designer & Developer

since 2011

Based in Seattle, Michiko has been working in design and web development since 1999, providing user-focused interactive design and front-end development for web and mobile devices. With expertise in ExpressionEngine and WordPress development and implementation for all types of websites, and a broad and flexible set of skills, Michiko provides solutions that work, look great, and accomplish business needs. In all of her design and development work, her philosophy is to find patterns, solve problems, and always advocate for elegance. Michiko holds a degree in Electronic Music Production and Experimental Film, loves vintage synthesizers, crazy cats, and traveling the world to find magical places.

Jim Wyse

Developer

since 2010

For more than 20 years, Jim worked as a mechanical engineer designing custom automation equipment for the electronics industry. He was drawn into web design and development as the demand for real-time display of production data began to grow, and a web-based interface became the only true solution for production managers and technicians. Having established himself as a developer, Jim branched out and now runs the Web Team at UMass Boston. He spends a lot of time at fast-pitch softball games with his daughter, Kaera (now a collegiate pitcher). He also coaches a Jr. Olympic 18u softball team. Jim lives in Haverhill, MA with his wife and daughter. He doesn’t sleep much.

Ivars Bariss

Developer & Software Engineer

since 2016

Ivars has been working as a professional software engineer and web developer since 2013, and joined the Solspace team in 2016. He earned his degree in Computer Science from the University of Latvia in 2015, and is a co-founder of WodBattles.net. Ivars enjoys inventing, building and implementing creative online solutions to real world problems. As a software engineer at the technology startup Mintos, Ivars helped develop a successful peer-to-peer lending platform based on a Symfony 2 framework. Ivars has skills and experience with MySQL, SQL, JavaScript, C++, HTML, Wordpress, Bootstrap, CSS, Java, Android SDK, and has developed with Algolia, Yii /Yii2 PHP, Symfony2, FuelPHP, PHPUnit, OpenCV, and Craft CMS. Ivars loves living in Riga, Latvia, and on those rare occasions when he can take time away from work, he loves playing tennis and traveling.

Justin Holt

Developer & Software Engineer

since 2018

Justin is a native of Charlotte, NC and comes to Solspace with expertise building on Craft and ExpressionEngine CMS platforms, and strong skills with HTML5, CSS3, Javascript, SASS, Gulp, Node, VS Code, Photoshop and Sketch. In addition to his years of experience in web and application development, Justin has degrees in Information Systems and Computer Science, as well as Operations Management, and has a deep understanding of systems and interdependencies and how all of this impacts functionality and user experience. Justin has worked with brands such as Cirque du Soleil, Boar’s Head, Jaws of Life, and the NHL. Justin’s work has won numerous awards including several Addy Gold awards. When he’s not working on web projects, Justin can usually be found with family – at home with his lovely wife and young son, or at BBQ competitions throughout North Carolina with his brother and their Holt Brothers Barbeque.

Scott Hutcheson

Strategist

since 2018

Scott is one of Solspace's beloved outside partners. We bring his valuable process to bear on larger strategic explorations and discoveries with those of our clients who need it.

Scott began The Strategic Web in 2015 and was working in strategy advising for more than a decade prior to that. Much of that work was split between his employment as a strategist in leadership positions at a few agencies in the Nashville, TN area. His agency work began focusing on content and UX strategy deliverables. Eventually, his work with clients expanded to include a broader business and innovation strategy offering. He's also spent the past decade acting as an independent advisor on a contract basis prior to founding The Strategic Web.

Scott developed the Strategic Positioning Spectrum as a perspective on the nature of work and strategic progress. Its reasoning is founded in his personal experiences with clients and the wise counsel of colleagues he's worked with over the years. Academically, it relies strongly on the ideas of Daniel Kahneman, Barry Schwartz, Michael E. Porter, Howard Gardner, Kristina Halvorson, Joseph L. Bower and Clayton M. Christensen.

Scott and his wife live in the Nashville, TN area, but he has traveled often to work with clients throughout the country. He's worked with clients overseas too, but hasn't gotten the opportunity to travel to them…yet.

If you ever want him to stop talking about business or strategy, just ask him about his Staffordshire Terrier, Hazel. That’s sure to derail the conversation into an impromptu slideshow of his dog.