Susan and I formed J&S Tech Designs in 2007 in response to the success that we had using DotNetNuke to build a website for a local political organization. www.WheatlandDemocrats.com
We took the expertise that we learned from that experience and helped some other local political organizations and then we stumbled into the small business market, our first client was The Guilty Party Catering in Naperville. From there it was a quick headfirst dive into owning our first business. Before finding DotNetNuke, I had built websites in HTML, however, once I began exploring the DotNetNuke community and discovering the vast modules, skins and support that was available I knew that this was something special.
Our mission was simple: build great websites using a content management tool that we love and then train the end-user to use it. We could focus on design, integration, and technology while letting the end-users concentrate on their business and their content.
It was a recipe for success and along our path we found some exceptional local business partners, Don and Kate Gingold, whom we met at the Naperville Chamber of Commerce. After working together on several projects we decided to spin off our separate Website Design businesses into Sprocket Websites, Inc. Sprocket Websites continues the tradition of exclusively building DotNetNuke websites for its customers and has developed some great partnerships in the DotNetNuke ecosystem. Our passion for DNN didn’t stop with just using the tool; we wanted to give back to the community so Don and I along with Phil Wegrzyn formed the Chicago Area DotNetNuke Users Group. We hosted the first Day of DotNetNuke Chicago and we have all attended #DNNWorld in 2011 and 2012.
Prior to forming J&S Tech Designs, I spent over 20 years in software development and 16 years in executive management within the pharmaceutical and automotive industries. J&S has evolved beyond just doing websites and now is a solid business consulting organization with a focus on pharmaceutical & automotive software development, software development lifecycle & methodology, and business & retail operations management.
The DotNetNuke ecosystem continues to expand and flourish everyday, for which I am grateful because without DNN, I’m not sure that the J&S organization would have been born. So I am thankful to be a small part of this exciting experience.
