About Us | BoatTEST.com

OUR TEAM
The BoatTEST.com team is a group of highly trained professionals, all of whom have years of experience in their respective fields. These include writers, editors, on-camera boating experts, field technicians, cameramen, video editors, producers, and musicians...all coming together to make the final content you see here on BoatTEST.com. We hope you enjoy their work as much as we enjoy working with them.
	Jeff Hammond, Co-Founder and President Jeff is a well-known figure in marine publishing with more than 30 years in the field. He founded Power & Motoryacht magazine after serving as publisher of Boating, chief editor of Motorboating and Sailing, offshore racing editor of Yachting, and managing editor of The Skipper magazines. He founded Motorboat magazine in 1989, and in 1990 started Motoryacht International, which was published simultaneously in seven languages. He has authored two books on yacht racing. Over the years he has owned a number of powerboats, from a 19’ outboard to a 90’ motoryacht. Jeff@boattestHQ.com
	Chris Hughes, Chief Operating Officer As the Chief Operating Officer, Chris is responsible for all things non-editorial within BoatTEST, and is focused on the development of new tools and advancements that will serve our clients. His background includes corporate sales, marketing consultation, export development and management training. After serving five years in the United States Marine Corps, the first half of Chris’ career was focused in the aviation industry working with most of the top airlines, as well as with several large corporate aviation firms. Chris has helped more than 68 UK based companies expand their export capabilities by helping to set up and manage the execution of their sales and marketing efforts here in the United States. Chris comes to BoatTEST from a global consulting firm in Northern Ireland where he was the Director for Global Business Development. Chris is also an experienced consultant and executive coach and has worked with large global brands in the areas of sales, marketing, and middle/senior management development. In addition to reviewing most new boat models first hand, Chris has taken a very close and in-depth look at more than 75 boat manufacturing facilities world-wide over the past nine years. chrishughes@boattest.com
	Capt. Robert Smith, Director of Testing Capt. Rob's past career in the corporate world had him working for Mallinckrodt as a corporate trainer. Once he decided to pursue his true passion for boating, he joined the BoatTEST team as on-camera talent and boat test captain. In 2007 Captain Rob took on a much larger role as the Director of Testing for BoatTEST. Capt. Rob lives in California and holds a USCG 100 Ton license. captrob@boattest.com
	Justine Hammond, Director of Video Productions Justine has been boating all of her life, starting out at six-months old nestled in a box on the cabin sole of her parent’s 30’ sailboat crossing Block Island Sound. She began sailing on her own at age 7 in an Optimist pram and single-handed across Long Island Sound a year later. At 10 she discovered the joys of power boating and delighted in docking her father’s twin-engine 30-foot flybridge fisherman at the local marina. At 12 she had her own 19’ Grady-White with 150-hp engine and began a life of water sports and fishing. She has cruised the east coast from Nova Scotia to the Grenadines in the Caribbean, and has fished in the Caribbean, off the west coast of Mexico and Baja, Alaska and northern Canada. She now owns a 22’ sportboat that she keeps in Norwalk, CT. Justine was BoatTEST.com’s first employee in 2000 has the distinction of being here longer than anyone else. jhammond@boattest.com
	Lis Soltes, Managing Editor Lis is in charge of managing all editorial content on the site. She works with freelance writers, produces and distributes the weekly newsletters and coordinates logistics for all BoatTEST events. Prior to joining BoatTEST.com she worked for an educational database assisting in the production of online and print content. lis@boattest.com
	Charity Hughes, Project Manager Charity serves as our Project Manager and Finance Coordinator. She brings to the team over ten years of corporate business experience in a variety of fields including real estate, office management, public relations, environmental monitoring, project management, and accounting. Currently at BoatTEST, Charity fills a number of roles, including AP/AR, marketing research, proofreading the weekly newsletters, and other content update projects. charity@boattest.com
	Sunny Keth, Programmer/Webmaster Suntharak Keth (“Sunny”) grew up in Cambodia, and came to the US in late 2001 to attend grad school at Southern Connecticut State University. Sunny comes to us with many years of extensive experience in Information Technology, most recently from CGI Group Inc. He is currently in charge of all IT operations for BoatTEST.com. You can contact him at sunny@boattest.com
	Ray Prokopowicz, Key Account Executive Ray received his bachelor's degree in May of 2000 from Ithaca College and then studied for nine months at The French Culinary Institute in New York City. He brings seven years of marketing experience with him to BoatTEST, and has worked in the telecommunications, education, and packaging industries. Ray has extensive experience developing and implementing sales and marketing strategies that boost revenue and visibility in both the consumer facing and business to business market place. He has the proven ability to help clients develop their sales potential in new market areas with his strong analytical and planning skills, combined with the ability to coordinate the efforts of many to meet organizational goals. rayp@boattest.com
	Capt. John Wenz, Test Captain John has a lifetime of boating experience, having grown up on Long Island Sound. He graduated from the New York Maritime College in 1980, and holds a USCG license as a deck officer on unlimited tonnage vessels, and holds a 200-Ton USCG Master’s License. He has been a professional captain since 1977, and has commanded sail and powerboats all over the world, including a stint as captain for a dinner cruise vessel in the busy harbor of New York City. He is particularly proud to have been tender captain for Dennis Conner’s successful Stars & Stripes America’s Cup team in 1987. John is an ABYC Standards-Accredited professional marine surveyor, and is a member of SAMS. He chairs a municipal government committee concerned with waterfront access, and sits on the board of state and regional marine trade organizations. John has been a member of the BoatTEST.com team of testing captains since 2002 and has tested over 100 boats during those years.
	Capt. Ron Svoboda, Test Captain In his "other life", Capt. Ron is actually an industrial engineer with experience in both the maritime and aerospace industries. He works with us as an on-camera captain and field tester. Capt. Ron holds a USCG 100 Ton License.
	Keith Burton, Associate Editor Keith Burton is a veteran journalist with over 30 years experience spanning radio, television, magazines and newspapers. An avid boater, Keith lives on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Keith’s work appears in a variety of nationally distributed boating and auto magazines.
	Dan Carney , Editor/Cameraman A Graduate from Savannah College of Art & Design, Dan received a B.F.A. in Computer Graphics in 2001. Dan got his start in the industry as a camera operator/media specialist for Vision Media, a broadcast television and video production company located in CT. In 2005, Dan took a position as a senior video editor at Hi-Top Productions, a busy recording studio and video production house. In 2006, he left to continue building his own growing base of patronage. Dan founded Evolved Studio, his own production company specializing in a multitude of creative services including print, web and video. www.carneymedia.com
	Bill "Mr. Boston" Giglio, Cameraman and Director Billy has been involved in all technical aspects of television production since graduation from Boston University film school in 1986. As a core member of ESPN's golf crew, he's worked on nearly every show to be produced at Nickelodeon Studios in Florida. He also has numerous MTV and VH-1 concerts to his credit. He has been hit with more than his fair share of seawater blasts from jetboats, and his motto? "I will let nothing stand in my way of getting a shot."
	Dave Kimelman, Cameraman and Director Dave's been onboard with us since our first video production "GPS Navigation" in 1995. Dave's been a camera operator, director and cinematographer for 15 years. Along with his years of work in the marine industry shooting for BoatTEST.com, he is also highly regarded in the commercial, music video and feature film arenas. His music video credits include Rod Stewart and U2, his commercial credits include Snickers, Mercedes Benz, Coca-Cola, Ivory Soap, Frito -Lay, Bacardi, Coors Light and Carnival Cruise Lines. His feature film credits include **The Crew, TakeDown, The Last Home Run** and Curdled.
	Zack Koczanski, DP Cameraman and Editor An award winning cameraman and editor, Zack brings over 25 years of experience in the broadcast and corporate marketplace. His national and international credits reflect his creative abilities and talents.