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company : team
Laura Machanic Laura Machanic is President and CEO of New Target, Inc. A native of Alexandria, VA, Laura has been instrumental in New Target’s strong growth and success. An entrepreneur with a marketing background, she also brings international perspective to the company. She was the founder of Travel Russia, Inc. and co-founder of Service Adventures, Inc., both operating in the former Soviet Union during the early 1990s. Much of New Target's success can be attributed not only to its technical expertise, but also to Laura’s ability to build long term relationships with the company’s diverse clients. Laura co-founded New Target in 1998 and has grown the company into one of the Washington area’s largest Interactive Web Design Firms, as ranked by the Washington Business Journal. Laura has worked closely with clients such as American University, New York-based Spin and Vibe magazines, CTIA, the Inter-American Development Bank, Marriott, and multiple Washington-area associations. Collaborating on their Web strategies and initiatives, she brings marketing perspective and an integrated team approach to New Target projects. Laura is responsible for the overall execution of client projects, ensuring that the web solutions New Target delivers play an integral role in a client’s core marketing program and business processes. Laura ensures full accountability for every New Target project, including the availability of seasoned staff, the management of project budgets, and making certain the New Target team has all resources required to deliver award-winning web sites. Laura’s commitment to excellent customer service and the delivery of the highest-quality products and services are the fundamental drivers of New Target’s approach. Laura is a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, and attended the University of Virginia for two years. She graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University in New York City with a degree in political science. She represents the fourth generation of entrepreneurs in her family. When not at the office, Laura might be skydiving in Australia, catching a show in New York with her mom, pursuing her newfound interest in swing or salsa dancing, or talking shop with her dad.
What our clients say about Laura:
“Laura, here’s a first: I just received your invoice and I can’t thank you enough! Your staff are terrific!” CTO / Director of Hosting Services A life long resident of the Washington D.C. area, Irve has spent most of his career in the computer industry. Joining IBM in 1973, Irve was instrumental in the rollout of the area’s first ATMs and grocery checkout scanner systems. The latter half of his tenure with IBM was spent in support of large mainframe installations. Irve was a three-time winner of the coveted IBM Means Service award. In 1994, Irve left IBM to jointly found Hub Internet Services in Arlington, Virginia. A regional, full service ISP, Hub Internet grew quickly with the new Internet until 2000 when the company was purchased by CAIS Internet of McLean, Virginia. Irve went on to manage the web hosting unit of CAIS and subsequently performed the same functions for Beyond the Network (BTN) when they purchased CAIS in mid 2001. Irve left BTN in 2002 to form his own web hosting and consulting business, TIC LLC. He joined New Target through the merger of TIC with New Target in March 2004. Throughout his three decades in the information technology arena, Irve has always kept one thing paramount, customer service and support. At New Target, Irve is responsible for further developing and managing the company’s hosting division and related assets, as well as the technical vision and direction for the company. His duties include the evaluation of client technical requirements, the provisioning of hardware and software for hosting environments, and directing New Target’s own internal technical processes. Irve enjoys the world of the Internet, computers, music, and movies. In addition, he is an avid gardener. He enjoys spending time with his wife of 33 years, his two children, and two grandchildren.
What our clients say about Irve
Komal Ahluwalia Originally from India, Komal began her career in London as a multimedia designer before moving to Washington D.C. to join Votenet Solutions as a Senior Designer. After 7 years at Votenet, Komal joined New Target in December 2005. At New Target, Komal serves the role of Director of Operations as well as Senior User Interface Designer. Her expertise focuses on interface design for software applications as well as web sites. At New Target, Komal serves as the project lead on many of the company’s largest and most strategic accounts. Her role includes leading the New Target teams on all web site usability and user testing work, and she serves as the company’s lead subject matter expert on information architecture of web sites and web-based applications. Komal participates in many of New Target’s requirements gathering initiatives when beginning software development projects for clients. She also guides clients in Phase Two development efforts of their software or web-based applications. Another area of concentration among New Target’s non-profit client base includes user interface design especially for high-traffic tradeshow and conference web sites.
At Votenet, Komal started as a Senior Web Designer and worked her way up to be the Creative Director and Chief Technology Officer, with full responsibility for the company’s Information Technology department. She was the primary force behind Votenet’s product development as well as marketing initiatives. Komal has a degree in Fine Art, with a major in graphic design and advertising from Delhi College of Art in New Delhi, India. She received her post graduate degree in Communication Technology, specializing in Web/Multimedia from University of Groningen in Groningen, Netherlands. Her educational training provides an exceptional foundation that has enabled her to design web sites for a diverse set of clients that include trade and professional associations, non-profit organizations, unions, lobbying firms, corporate and commercial clients, and government affairs offices.
A Western Pennsylvania native, Justin Stayrook has more than 10 years of professional experience in web application development, computer programming, and web development project management and team management.
Justin came to Washington, DC in 1999 and has since gained experience working with and within the government, government contracting, association, and commercial market sectors. His diverse experience enables Justin to understand the unique challenges each type of organization faces when taking on application development projects, large and small.
At New Target, Justin serves the role of Manager, Application Development, as well as Technical Lead. His expertise focuses on architecting software for mid- to large-scale web application projects. Justin plays a major role in all aspects of the Software Development Lifecycle including requirements anaylsis, system and database design, implementation, testing and deployment. In his role as Technical lead, he creates application architecture and database models for all projects and direct development team tasks for all coding, Defining and implementing best practices and coding standards for the company. Utilize standard coding techniques, frameworks, and languages. Justin participates in all of New Target’s requirements gathering initiatives when beginning software development projects for clients, and works closely with all New Target project managers to guide clients in ongoing phases of development of their software or web-based applications.
Before joining New Target, Justin was the Senior Manager for Web Development and Operations at CTIA – The Wireless Association in Washington, D.C., playing the lead role in the development of web applications, particularly in proof of concept and prototyping. His position included project management of the association’s web-based initiatives including both Intranet and Internet. He also provided technical direction and direct supervision to the association’s mid-level Web Application Developers. Finally, Justin gained deep experience gathering requirements from association personnel to transform their ideas into working products to meet their business needs, while investigating and evaluating commercial technologies for cost and time savings relating to association initiatives.
Justin is a University of Pittsburgh alumnus. He currently lives in Burke, Virginia, with his wife and daughter and is an avid music and soccer fan.
Carlo Ross
Elana Schaffer Originally from Massachusetts, Elana began her career in the marketing and communications field, which quickly evolved to focus on communications strategies for the web. Her experience since has included web marketing, web design, web development and other web-related forms of marketing and communications. Since joining New Target in 2006, Elana has combined her experience with “front end” communications strategies with the technical aspects of full lifecycle of web design and development. She now leads many of New Target’s projects that require both front-end strategic expertise as well as an understanding of the technical approach and implementation requirements of web application projects. At New Target, Elana serves the role of Project Manager as well as Search Engine Marketing Specialist. Her expertise focuses on managing the implementation of technology projects for web application development clients, as well as numerous “front-end” projects involving user interface design, information architecture, and user experience. Elana serves as Project Manager on many of the company’s custom as well as off-the-shelf application development projects. Elana, joined by New Target’s Technical lead, participates in client requirements gathering initiatives when beginning software development projects for clients. She also guides clients in Phase Two development efforts of their software or web-based applications. Her area of expertise includes working with many of New Target’s association and membership-driven clients. Before joining New Target, Elana worked at two Washington, DC-based non-profit organizations, accumulating more than six years of experience in marketing, communications, and public relations, working with a variety of customers internal and external to advance their strategic goals through communications vehicles. Elana holds an undergraduate degree in communications and political science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a Masters degree in public communication from American University. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia and enjoys hiking the various trails in the D.C. metro area.
Daniela Shuffler Daniela Shuffler is a Project Manager and Web Designer at New Target. She joined the New Target team in May 2007.
Daniela’s project management expertise is in front-end web development projects with a focus on the creative aspects of web design. As a project manager, Daniela steers projects from beginning to end providing strategic guidance and step-by-step communication while ensuring our clients’ 100% complete satisfaction. She also brings varied knowledge in association and non-profit work to our clients at New Target.
As a web designer, Daniela’s experience ranges from brochure-style web sites to user interface design for web-based applications. Daniela brings a unique skill set to her designs with her experience as a project manager. She understands the “big picture” of a project – from information architecture to usability to branding – as she crafts a client’s creative identity for the web.
Daniela graduated with a B.A. in both Psychology and Spanish Literature from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She moved to Washington D.C. post-college to pursue her Master’s degree in Media and Public Affairs from the George Washington University. Her graduate studies and thesis focused on the intersection of media and the Hispanic community. Before joining New Target, Daniela worked in communications for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, a professional association in Washington D.C. She was responsible for the association’s web site, public communications and press releases, as well as its media research project. Daniela moved to the U.S. from El Salvador as an infant and is fluent in Spanish. When she is not working on a New Target project she still lives life creatively with interior design projects at home or helping family and friends with their own creative projects and events. Daniela lives in Alexandria with her husband Carter.
Justin Wilt
Justin is a native of Washington, D.C., and brings years of experience in both the business world and web environments. Prior to working at New Target, Justin worked at Matrix Group International as a Project Manager where he led two teams working on web designs and backend development. His teams focused on non-profits, corporate clients, law firms, and association management organizations. Before that, Justin worked at Carfax.com, where he initially was brought in to create and run the company’s consumer contact center. After developing that functional group he transitioned the group from being a cost center to being a profit center for the company. Then, while still at Carfax, he moved into the role of Internet Marketing Manager, where he helped develop more than a hundred live tests designed to improve purchase rates on the Carfax.com site. The results added significant revenue to the company’s bottom line. He also conducted multiple focus groups to explore different marketing directions, initiated email marketing and repeat purchase campaigns, and developed partnerships with online marketing firms aiming to cross-promote services. Before his time at Carfax, Justin led a business that focused on FCC information subscriptions and general research. Justin earned a BA in Political Science and Spanish from Vanderbilt University, and more recently he completed the Technology Leadership Certificate program at the University of Virginia’s Falls Church campus. Justin lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife, two children and two dogs. In his spare time he runs a youth soccer club in Arlington. |