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

John Wenz, Editor

John has a lifetime of boating experience, having grown up on Long Island Sound, and graduated from the New York Maritime College in 1980. He holds a USCG license as a deck officer on unlimited tonnage vessels, and holds a 200-TonUSCG 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 inn 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.

Lis Soltes, Managing Editor

Lis is in charge of managing all editorial content on the site. She works with freelance writers, conducts the distribution of BoatTEST.com’s Dock Line newsletter, and handles the video production phase for the website and TV show. Prior to joining BoatTEST.com she worked for an educational database assisting in the production of online and print content. lis@boattest.com

Rob Everse, Sales Manager

Rob joined BoatTEST in January 2006. An avid boater, fisherman, and outdoorsman Rob spent the majority of his career as a marketer for a large Midwest-based yacht manufacturer. Because of Rob’s background, he has terrific insight into what customers expect to get in a well-built boat and the levels of customer service demanded by both boat buyers and boat builders. He has a thorough understanding of the hurdles that marine marketers face on a daily basis. Having walked in those shoes, Rob is poised to help our partners find creative ways to accomplish their marketing goals.

Capt. Bob Smith, Senior Boat Tester

Capt. Bob'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. Capt. Bob lives in Tampa, Florida and also specializes in boat repair and delivery work. He holds a USCG 100 Ton license.

Capt. Ron Svoboda, Boat Tester

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.

Capt. Vince Daniello, Boat Tester

Capt. Vince is a well-known tournament fishing captain in the South Florida area, and his company Bluewater Adventures specializes in taking care of the maintenance needs and delivery requirements for large-yacht owners. He works with BoatTEST as an on-camera captain and field tester. Capt. Vince holds a USCG 500-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.

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.

Derek Anderson, Cameraman and Editor

Derek comes to us from the U.K. where he was a senior manager and producer at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for more than 25 years. Other credits include camerawork and production for National Geographic, Sunshine Network, NBC, CBS, ABC New, Discovery Channel, and ESPN.

Steve Hansen, Dir. of Sound Design, Hi-Top Productions

On every video on BoatTEST.com there is one common production thread and that is the music of Steve Hansen. Steve is actively involved in commercial and private-label music production, as both a performing artist and creative director. Recent credits include a new series of dance videos by Denise Austin as well four full length CDs he's produced as solo artist. Other credits include music and V.O. for radio spots including AT&T, People's Bank, WWF & Slim Jims, and he wrote & produced musical score for off-Broadway hit Spooktacular 2000. Steve is a Member of the National Assoc. of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS). shansen@hi-top.com

Bonaya Mudda, Webmaster

Bonaya comes to us from GBE Consulting Group with over 6 years extensive experience in user interface design and server processing. He is in charge of all website design and database applications. Bonaya's expertise in database driven websites allows us to make editorial changes in real-time and add new content as soon as it becomes available. He also designs programs that allow BoatTEST to track and maintain data gathered from our site to send onto the appropriate parties. Thanks to Bonaya, publishing has never been faster or easier. bonaya@boattest.com