Our team. Talented.
Web enthusiasts. RIA experts. Idea scientists. Whiteboard Labs (a team of web and software developers, designers, visionaries, and leaders) collaborate with each other and clients to turn ideas into effective websites, applications, and products that are user-friendly and accessible. Most of us have been working together for 10+ years, but it certainly feels like everyone has been here together for a while. We’ll count that as a testament to our environment, culture, and character judgment skills.
Anatoly Kuzin
Senior Developer
Anatoly was born and raised deep in the heart of Russia in the city of Kazan. His fascination with computers began in 1985 when he got his first computer - the Russian built Electronica BK-0010. Life has never been the same since. Anatoly began his career working for a large non-profit organization, Global SourceNet (GSN), where he played a major role in helping to establish the company's presence in Russia. In 1995 he built his first web site to publish weekly news articles for GSN. Upon graduation from Kazan's State Power Engineering University with a BS in Electrical Engineering, he relocated to the United States and joined the IT team at ChevronTexaco, where he led a team of web professionals in ASP development. His primary focus was to work closely with the petroleum techonology department to create new intranet applications and improve existing ones. Anatoly joined the WhiteboardLabs team in May of 2004 as a senior developer. When he is not programming ColdFusion applications he can be found on various biking trails across Texas or cheering wildly for the Houston Aeros.
Angelo Directo
Vice President of Design
Angelo began his career at Webvertising in 1996, assisting in managing partnerships and projects with various agencies and clients. Angelo's role evolved into overseeing projects as the Creative Director, where he gained a more in-depth understanding of website and web application design and development. After iHotelier was purchased by TravelCLICK, Angelo became TravelCLICK's Creative Director for the next 2 years. It was here that Angelo gained significant experience in integrating and managing website design and Internet marketing products within a larger organization, with a pool of thousands of clients. In 2005, Angelo returned to Whiteboard Labs, as the Vice President of Operations. Angelo capitalizes on his 10-years of web experience to continue this legacy through innovative efforts to help the team reach even higher levels of excellence in client service. Angelo has a B.A. and a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University in Houston, Texas. In addition, Angelo practiced briefly as an architect in New York and Houston before moving onto web design and development.
Darren Ansley
Senior Designer
Darren Ansley works as the Senior Designer for Whiteboard Labs where his main duties include designing web sites, user interfaces, and custom web applications. Over the years, Darren has worked in various areas of design, starting out with good old fashioned amberlith, x-acto knives and a stat camera. It wasn't long before he moved onto more sophisticated environments in print, web and multimedia. His design philosophy reflects a simple, clean and well thought-out approach, regardless of the medium, client, or application.
He hails originally from southern Louisiana and is a proud graduate of The University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Outside of the lab, Darren enjoys cycling and hiking, as well as mountain biking and backpacking.
Dayang Dai
Chief Software Architect
Dayang has a very solid academic background and has developed a very unique set of skills, thanks to his experience on both the hardware and software sides of the business. Dayang joined Webvertising in 2001. Prior to that, he worked at Metacom, Inc. where he developed a web based surveillance system and a virtual store. From April 1994 to June 1996 Dayang worked at Compaq Computer Corporation in Houston as a systems engineer and was a member of the Advanced Server design team. Two design patents were awarded for some of his work. Dayang has ample experience in overall system design, hardware design and systems integration. While working at Proportional Technologies, Inc. he oversaw the overall development and manufacturing of the PT2400, a medical gamma ray camera for imaging of the human heart. Dayang started his career at Invocon, Inc. where he was a member of the Wireless Data Acquisition System development team. There, he was responsible for the architecture design of the communication network and the design of the entire digital subsystem. After the sale of iHotelier to TravelCLICK, Dayang worked as the CTO for the iHotelier product for two years. Dayang holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Shanghai Jiaotong University in Shanghai, China.
Drew Rosser
Vice President of Business Development
Drew joined Whiteboard Labs (then known as Webvertising) in March of 2000 to focus primarily on iHotelier sales. After the sale of iHotelier to TravelCLICK in 2004, Drew became the Director of Operations for the iHotelier division of TravelCLICK. Drew started his hotel career in Orlando, Florida in 1990, during which he took a position working for a large resort property in Disney's Lake Buena Vista resort area. Drew then moved to Atlanta after accepting a position at Holiday Inn's Corporate Flagship Hotel, the Crowne Plaza Ravinia, as the Assistant Guest Relations Manager. He was then promoted to Guest Relations Manager at another Holiday Inn property. After many years in the hotel industry, Drew began his own retail business, which he operated for almost three years. Now living in Houston and back with Whiteboard as the VP of Business Development, Drew is focused on the cultivation of new business. Drew holds a B.A. in Economics from Florida State University.
Estella Hale
Manager of Account Services
Estella Hale joined Whiteboard Labs in 2006 as Client Services Manager. Prior to joining the company, she worked in the hospitality industry for several years, managing an Implementation and Support department for a hotel representation company. Aside from managing a Client Services department, Estella has worked in several roles in guest and internal services at major hotel chains. Estella holds a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design from Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara and an Associate's degree in Computer Animation from the Art Institute of Houston.
Her awareness of the importance of online marketing and consistency in branding on- and off-line, coupled with her ability to speak both English and Spanish, allow her to effectively steer clients reaching multilingual audiences in their web communications strategies. Additionally, her knowledge of the latest trends in technology allows her to communicate the advantages of Whiteboard's products to clients in an efficient manner.
Jim Whitney
Founder, CTO
Jim is well-known expert of the Internet. In the past, Jim always used computers as a part of research and analysis, working in the oil, gas and aerospace industries. At Lockheed Martin, he was a research engineer working at the NASA Johnson Space Center in the Hypervelocity Impact Test Facility, where he was in charge of designing ballistics tests to investigate impact and phenomena at very high velocities, then analyzing the resulting data. In 1993, Mosaic, the first public Web browser was introduced, and within weeks, Jim built a Web site for his research laboratory at NASA, which was one of the first web sites ever! Immediately, Jim recognized the potential to bring the Internet into the mainstream, and in six months, he left NASA to start Webvertising. Jim's long history with the Internet gives him unique insight into business trends and technologies. Jim holds a B.S. in Engineering from Trinity University and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University.
Kiet Nguyen
Senior Developer
Kiet was a key member of the iHotelier development team and played a significant role in the development of the system's user interface, OneScreen. Kiet is a very good database designer and has developed exceptional skills in the development of Rich Internet Applications using Flash and actionscript. He also has extensive experience in ASP, Cold Fusion, HTML and DHTML, and JavaScript, among other development tools. Prior to joining Webvertising in 2002, Kiet worked at a Houston based company in the air travel web reservation business. After the sale of iHotelier, Kiet stayed with the TravelCLICK IT group for over two years. He re-joined Whiteboard Labs in May 2006. He holds a B.B.A. in Accounting and Taxation and a B.B.A. in Management Information Systems from the University of Houston.
Narinder Singh
Senior Software Developer
Narinder came on board in May 2008 as a senior software developer. Narinder handles programming needs for clients, as well as liaises with the Shanghai office and manages projects under development in Houston and Shanghai. Narinder is a Java expert and before joining The Lab, he worked for several Fortune 500 companies, most recently IBM, developing apps and managing outsourced development. Narinder brings working knowledge of project management on the technical side of things, as well as new uses of technologies that accomplish the goals of client and internal projects. Outside of the Lab, Narinder enjoys playing tennis and cricket, as well as relaxing with his wife.
Rodrigo Jimenez
Chief Executive Officer
Rodrigo has been the CEO of Whiteboard Labs since 1999. He joined and invested in Whiteboard Labs after 10 years in the banking industry, where he advised a large number of companies in a wide-range of industries and countries. Previous to his tenure at Whiteboardlabs, Rodrigo was Vice President and Client Advisor in the international department of the Chase Manhattan Bank in Houston. In that capacity, he advised subsidiaries of multinational companies in corporate finance and investment banking matters. Prior to joining Chase, Rodrigo worked for Bank of America's Latin America division. He was involved in the opening of the bank's representative office in Monterrey, Mexico and spent the last two years of his career with Bank of America managing the bank's Monterrey and Northeast Mexico corporate banking operation, where he was responsible for a portfolio of assets worth over $600 million. Rodrigo is a graduate of the Financial Management Program at Stanford University and was a participant in the 1999 Focused Financial Management Series at Harvard Business School. He holds a B.B.A. in Marketing and an M.B.A. in Intl. Business & Finance from the University of Houston.
Ryan Qiu
Developer at Whiteboard Labs Shanghai
Ryan Qiu is a developer at Whiteboard Labs Shanghai. Before joining the team, Ryan worked extensively in online software development, which includes such projects as online gaming and payment processing. Ryan has been developing software on several platforms for the past eight years and will be a great asset to the Whiteboard Labs team. Ryan will be assisting in the development of internal projects and applications for WBL, as well as developing solutions for clients of Whiteboard. Ryan received his college education from the Jiangxi Dayu Vocational & Technical Institute.
Sally Ramos
Manager of Account Services
Sally Ramos joined Whiteboard Labs in May of 2007 as a Client Services Manager. Along with providing excellent client service, Sally oversees the daily operations of client accounts, as well as internal application development. She makes sure that each client project and the products of Whiteboard Labs receive the attention they deserve. Prior to joining Whiteboard Labs, Sally spent 14 years working with Global Distribution Systems & Electronic Distribution Systems across several companies in the hospitality industry. Sally brings great energy and fresh, problem-solving ideas to Whiteboard and our clients.
Away from "The Lab," Sally enjoys spending time with her nine-year-old son and can be found on various cycling trails across Texas.