Meet the PICnetters
Ryan Belisle
Lead Designer
Ryan (or "RB" as he's called around here) is PICnet's man-of-many-talents: lead creative web designer & front end developer. You'll find him listening to Trance or Progressive House music while jamming on the creative look and feel of your websites as well as cutting up and coding your site using the latest CSS and HTML techniques. When Ryan is out of the office, you can find him DJ'n a party, at the movies, or practicing Martial Arts.
Michael Chisari
Web Developer
Michael first started writing code in 1993, and has been working with the web since 1998. After his start at PICnet in 2007, he has lead a variety of Web development projects at PICnet. He is also very active in the open source world, and initiated an open source project that grew to over 60,000 lines of code.
Outside of work, his interests include music, martial arts, and advocating tech tools for solving environmental and social issues, such as vertical farming, solar power, and nano-materials.
Julie Dennis
Office Manager, Intake Specialist
Julie is our Office Manager and Intake Specialist, acting as a liaison between potential clients and the CEO, and organizer and facilitator of pretty much everything that happens at PICnet.
She graduated with a degree in English and History from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. After graduation, she moved to the D.C. area to pursue a career in arts administration where she was employed at Arena Stage and Round House Theatre while also working toward her MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University.
Even though she has a fondness for arts organizations, she loves helping all non-profits achieve their communication and fundraising goals. When Julie’s not at her desk, she loves seeing theatre in the D.C. area (it gives her inspiration for her own playwriting), volunteering with Community Bridges (an organization to promote healthy living for 8th grade girls), and attending her salsa step dance class.
Kevin Devine
Senior Web Developer
While following a winding career path which took him from working rides at an amusement park, to teaching English in Thailand, to owning a used bookstore, Kevin somehow parlayed his English Degree into a web development career when he began studying the nonprofit sector and working with nonprofit technology at Johns Hopkins University.
Kevin has since blossomed, after five years of training, into the true Web nerd he is today, joining PICnet as a Web Developer where he performs daily magic.
Kevin lives in Baltimore with his lovely daughter and wife. He masquerades as a photographer taking full advantage of Photoshop and dreams of one day becoming a novelist so he can put that English Degree to proper use.
Tim Forbes
Director of Client Services
Twitter: @timothyforbes
Tim works with clients to identify their needs and construct elegant web solutions to meet those needs, oversees the development of our products, and supervises the Support Department to ensure that those solutions continue to perform well for them once their sites are launched. These duties are informed and inspired by more than a decade of work at non-profits in the U.S. and overseas where his experience has included project management, strategic planning, marketing, and fundraising as well as website development.
Tim can describe the taste of kumys for you, a mildly alcoholic drink made from fermented mare's milk, having sampled it during his time as an NGO Development Peace Corps Volunteer in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. A Seattle native, he often daydreams of Mt. Rainier, the Puget Sound, and the smell of freshly-roasted coffee. He is fantasizing about the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and growing a photography obsession.
Tim has a B.A. in Communication and Masters in Public Administration with an emphasis on NGO Management from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.
Lauren Grau
Business Development Associate
Lauren is yet another "non-profit accidental techie," coming to PICnet from a nonprofit background where she experienced firsthand the power of technology to advance social missions. She is excited to introduce PICnet to more non-profits and socially responsible businesses that can wield our solutions to scale their world-changing impact.
After graduating with a degree in English from Amherst College, Lauren lived in France for a year and walked the Camino de Santiago across Spain. She returned to the States a little wiser, and made the nation's capitol her home, before wanderlust set in again and she relocated to the Bay Area. In her spare time, Lauren enjoys cooking yummy food, exploring the great outdoors, playing the accordion, and, recently, sailing in the blustery San Francisco Bay.
Brad Grochowski
Support Developer
Brad spends his days hunting bugs, shooting trouble, and solving those nagging little problems that inevitably creep into even the most thoughtfully designed web sites. He would like you to think of him as the PICnet version of the greasy mechanic - always excited to pop the hood of another car to see what's making that odd knocking sound.
As the great poet said, "If you have a problem, yo, I'll solve it..."
Brad is also an actor, writer, web entrepreneur, husband and daddy. He has somehow parlayed a degree in theater, and many years working with Baltimore inner-city youth into a career as a web geek. He is not sure how this happened.Tony Larson
Project Manager
Tony entered the non-profit tech world the same way many people do...accidentally. Having found himself in charge of most things tech related at a national children's advocacy non-profit, he quickly embraced his role as Web guy and hasn't looked back since. While growing from an accidental techie to an intentional techie, he developed a passion for technology, specifically open-source technology, which led him to his project manager position at PICnet.
When not helping his clients find elegant, affordable solutions to their website needs, you can find Tony playing bocce, cooking at his neighborhood watering hole, or cheering on one of the DC professional sports teams.
Amber Manning
Project Manager
Amber is the newest member of the PICnet team. She has been managing web projects for clients primarily in the non-profit sector for over three years now. She had been working with various other platforms since November 2010 including Drupal, WordPress and Expression Engine but is happy to be getting her hands dirty working with Joomla! again.
Still relatively new to the DC area, Amber loves going to the Smithsonian and seeing shows with co-PICnetter, Julie. Before coming to DC, she lived in the City of Brotherly love where she got her BBA from Temple University. In her free time, Amber enjoys doing craft projects including sewing, making jewelry, scrapbooking and mosaicing.
Ryan W. Ozimek
Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder
Ryan has managed PICnet's growth since the beginning, either on the ground in PICnet's DC or SF office, or sitting on a plane criss-crossing the country. In the eight years since starting PICnet, Ryan has taken on strong roles in PICnet's community, including an officer position on the board of directors for Open Source Matters (the non-profit behind Joomla!), a steering committee member on the Non-Profit Open Source Initiative, and co-organizer of many a Penguin Day.
In his former life in sunny Southern California, Ryan spent much of his spare time catching waves on Sunset Beach. However, now residing half-time in Washington, DC, surfing has reluctantly been replaced by such pastimes as avoiding frostbite and complaining about poor East Coast surfing conditions. Ryan has a B.A. in Communications and a Masters of Public Policy from University of California at Los Angeles.
Melanie Soules
Project Manager
Melanie brings her association management skills and passion for eco and culinary tourism to the table in her efforts to guide organizations to understanding the real world uses for Web technology. Always finding new bridges to be built, Melanie has a uncanny ability to help our team stay true to our focus of leveraging open source and affordable Web services for our organizations.
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