The Team

Panos is the founder of Sonicbids – a convenient excuse for why his bio is longer than everyone else's on this page. His childhood dream of being alternatively the next Diego Maradona or Eddie Van Halen came to an end when each canceled the other out. The idea for Sonicbids came to him while reading the book "Blur" and decided to go for it in September of 2000. Before that, he worked in the “dark side” of the music business as an international talent agent. Panos hails from Cyprus and is a self-described "voracious" reader, usually traveling with more magazines than clothes (that’s a lot). He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1994 with a degree in Music Business. In 2005 Panos was named one of Fast Company Magazine's "Fast 50" entrepreneurs and he is currently serving on a number of non-profit boards including Boston Young Entrepreneurs (which he co-founded); Berklee College of Music's Presidential Advisory Council; and Boston World Partnerships, chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. He is a diehard supporter of English football club Arsenal and by last count he owns over 35 jerseys of The Gunners dating back to 1983 (when he saw Charlie Nicholas score at Highbury vs. Southampton). He loves his coffee extra strong and blames Elvis for his lifelong fascination with America.

Focused on front-end web development for Sonicbids, Jason spends most of his time mucking around with PHP, HTML, Javascript and CSS trying to make the web suck less. Although he loves all aspects of his job, the one thing he couldn't live without is Javascript - a really sad but true statement. Prior to joining the Sonicbids engineering team, Jason spent time at RueLaLa and Texterity doing whatever he could to stay out of trouble while writing solid code that makes the web a better place. When he's not in front of a computer you will find him enjoying an intense game of freeze-tag with his two children. 

Lincoln Bryant graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in Computer Science and Multimedia in 2011.  Originally from Nashville, TN; he relocated to Boston to pursue electronic music and enter the web and mobile scene.   Currently, he helps maintain music blog UnheardUv.com (http://unhearduv.com/) , plan and promote local events, plays bass guitar and produces electronic music.  When he’s not doing something music or computer related, you can find him cycling, snowboarding, and visiting new places.

Stephen grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia with good friends, great family, and even better crab cakes. As an outlet for the pain of being a Baltimore Orioles fan, he picked up a guitar at age ten and began writing about the despair the franchise brought to his near-perfect existence. Years later he’d buy a thick jacket and head up north to study Boston Bruins hockey and Music Business at Berklee College of Music. Obsessions include, but are not limited to: Carolina basketball, everything Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, or The Band ever touched, and his own quest to write that perfect song. He hates: high scores on the golf course, watching the Tar Heels lose in the NCAA tournament (didn’t have to in 2009!), New England’s lack of Waffle Houses, and most everything that’s “fergalicious.”

Rocking out as a five year old in his dad's rec room playing air guitar with a pool cue, Andy's passion for music was never in question. Though he never pursued a career as an air guitarist, he did learn to play (and still does) the drums at a young age. He later attended Berklee College of Music where he received a dual major degree in Music Business and Music Production and Engineering in 2011. As a result, Andy has become fascinated with music technology and the art of recording so when he's not working at Sonicbids, he can be found playing drums and creating sounds for his own band or engineering record productions for other artists. 

Emerging from the exotic lands of Waukesha, WI (home of the legendary Les Paul!), Tess moved to Boston to pursue her education at Emerson College in Audio/Radio with Marketing and Management on the side. She loves music so much, that she recently started Tesszechuan (yes, like Szechuan sauce) - a music discovery site providing you with "A Daily Dash of Musical Sauciness." Other than loving music, Tess probably has more in common with your grandmother than she has with you: painting flowers, scrap-booking, reading classic literature, and writing fan mail to the designers on HGTV. In other matters, her idea of heaven is a concert featuring Queen, Prince, Bowie and Michael Jackson. You agree with her… yes, deep down you truly do.

Darlene’s first concert was Milli Vanilli (evidence of her refined musical taste at a young age). Her life has been evenly divided between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. She studied journalism and dance at UNH, and has spent the past 10+ years working in marketing communications. While her dream of becoming a fly girl on In Living Color didn’t pan out, Darlene does perform with a modern dance company based in Newburyport, MA. She loves cheese, wine, sunshine, building on her collection of jeans and buying more magazines than she can possibly read.

Ford joined the Sonicbids team in late 2004 after serving as Chief Operating Officer at Musictoday, a leading provider of online merchandise, ticketing and fanclub services for the music industry. After spending 8 years at Musictoday he moved to Boston as a player to be named later in the Nomar Garciaparra trade. Ford is a 1997 graduate of the University of Virginia and a lifelong devotee to the Hoos. In between seasons, he operates a very small and very independent record label called Transaction Records to record and release homemade music with several co-conspirators. Originally from Texas, he hearts great Mexican food, weird music and space travel.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area where it's never below 40 degrees and rarely above 80. Jeff moved to Boston because of his love for shoveling snow and humidity. Jeff has acquired some new knowledge since starting at Sonicbids in April of '06. First, a goalie is not a goalie it's a keeper. Also, a cappuccino machine can increase your productivity by at least three times. These Bands are great: http://www.sonicbids.com/thedents (the Dents) http://www.sonicbids.com/JetsOverhead (Jets Overhead) http://www.sonicbids.com/franksmith (Frank Smith)

Jeff has joined the Sonicbids team as a Content Manager after a stint In the world of journalism.  Hailing from Randolph, MA, Jeff was subjected to a wide array of music, from jambands at summer camp to hip hop in the halls of his high school.  It wasn’t until his Freshman year, when he was nearly run over by the band Nickelback as they rode their ATVs through the campus of Hofstra University, that he decided to focus solely on good music.  Invariably a fan of all things Canadian, you can usually find Jeff in the balcony of the TD Garden, cheering on his beloved Bruins. 

Eric was originally born in the Philadelphia area, which makes him a Flyers fan, so chances are you already dislike him. He spent the back half of grade school calling Worcester, MA home, birthplace of the yellow smiley face and home to the world's most suspect statue. He graduated from Northeastern University's Music Industry program in 2011, spending much of his time at Matthews Arena watching hockey. Taking the 2010-2011 school year away from frigid Boston, Eric visited London to study abroad (but mainly just to see football matches) and then lived in San Francisco to work for Noise Pop and Zeitgeist Management (but mainly to just eat burritos). He is pro-biking, pro-guitar, and pro-everything bagels. 

Heidi joined Sonicbids in August of 2003 and has had a smile on her face ever since. A fan of anything argyle, Heidi is best known by promoters and colleagues for her particularly loud voice, which an experienced heavy-metal sound technician once called "the most powerful voice I have ever freakin' heard." Heidi has embraced this trait by providing "soulful backup vocals "(Boston Globe, 9/5/04) in the greatest band on earth, EJ Labb & the Free Association (she is also the DJ aka DJ PJ). Before joining Sonicbids, Heidi worked for a bunch of companies and moonlit as a Bar and Bat Mitzvah DJ, often spending her Saturday evenings with 13-year-old kids. Since joining the music industry, she has started spending more time with people her age and now has a much better social life. Heidi graduated from the University of Maryland and enjoys talking sh*t to Ford about how the Terps are better than the UVA Wahoos.

Colin’s earliest musical memories consist of listening to LPs by The Band, Billy Joel, and The Allman Brothers, courtesy of his dad’s record collection. Originally from Madison, NJ, his continually-developing love for music brought him to Boston in 2007 to study piano at Berklee College of Music. After graduating, Colin interned at the Echo Nest before joining the Sonicbids team in October 2011. When he’s not frequenting record stores or watching episodes of The X-Files, Colin enjoys writing songs, jamming with his band mates, and hanging with his pet hedgehog, Spike.

Jim was born in a historic fishing community on the North Shore of Boston Massachusetts. After spending a brief time studying in coastal Maine he returned to Boston to finish his BFA at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in the Graphic Design department. There he focused on print and web design while broadening his interest in interactive installation and printmaking. His studies culminated in his degree project in which he built a computer program that generated music from people simply moving through a gallery space. Jim has played in numerous bands since high school, starting in punk and noise groups and later moving to improvisational jazz and sludgy pop. In his free time Jim enjoys home recording, skateboarding and collecting records.

Sam's passion for music extends to his early years growing up in rural Vermont playing the drums and expanding to guitar, ukulele, piano, harmonica, and the donkey jawbone. He made his first sound recording at age 7 with a microphone and boom box and hasn't stopped producing music since then. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 2001, Sam entered the world of technology and has spent the past 10+ years working for software and consulting firms, helping some of the world's leading brands and corporations grow and market their businesses through the internet and technology solutions.  

Sam loves the thrill of working with new people in creative ways to help produce solutions that break new ground and serve meaningful purpose.  He's inspired by nature, athletics, artists, friends, family, animals and exotic food.  When not working at Sonicbids you may find Sam producing in the music studio, playing with his band Comanchero (http://www.sonicbids.com/comanchero) or jumping out of helicopters in far off places with skis attached to his feet.

Marya grew up in the small town of Maynard, MA where she spent most of her time making mixtapes with her father. By 15, she was completely emerged in the Boston hardcore and punk scene and decided that she wanted to pursue music as a career. In 2004 she moved to The Big Apple and started college at New York University in the Music Business program. Marya returned to Boston after college and soon ended up at Sonicbids. When she isn't working, you can usually find Marya playing in her indie rock band Slow Century, hanging out at tattoo shops, and filling her closet with impractical shoes and "jeggings."

Nick Mendez has never joined the circus but understands why someone might. As a journalist and photographer he’s met Syrian spice thieves in Damascus, treaded water in the Persian Gulf and climbed empty skyscrapers in Boston. Sometimes, Nick likes to sit on the floor and eat Mike & Ikes in a feeble, childish attempt at achieving serenity. As the son of a Bronx-born Puerto Rican and having grown up in New York, Nick demands championships from the Yankees, Knicks and Jets…every single year. He’s now overjoyed to be a part of the Sonicbids team, because even Jethro Tull was an emerging artist once. twitter.com/nickmendez

Mike's life can be traced back through a long series of obsessions strung together by the occasional outrageous act. After raising hell in the sleepy suburban neighborhoods surrounding Rochester, NY, he left for Boston for an education, and to seek out those who were "down for anything." Forever in need of capital for checking items off his ever growing bucket list, this tinkerer-at-heart has thrown himself into roles at such companies as Raytheon and Rue La La. Now, he's onto his next obsession - to help make Sonicbids a technical powerhouse and the center of live music discovery.

Dave grew up in East Tennessee but lacks any semblance of a Southern accent because he was born in the Midwest (this confuses Bostonians because they are generally unaware of any place called the “South” or the “Midwest”). Looking to escape the heat, humidity & strip malls of Knoxville, Dave ventured north to the University of Vermont to study business. After graduation, he spent 8 years performing with his band The Break Mission before leaving to work at a booking agency. Dave still plays music occasionally, bartends at local beer mecca The Publick House, and organizes the annual food & music extravaganza Eat Your Heart Out Boston. His spare time is spent enjoying the city’s culinary delights with his food-writer wife, and singing to his baby son Charlie (off-key).

After a brief stint as a Mariah Carey impersonator in grade school, Kate soon realized her talents were better suited behind the scenes.  As a fresh GWU grad, Kate landed back in Boston and set her sights on living the New England dream of wearing boat shoes, finding sales at J Crew and working in the music industry. When not sharing stories about her love of hard cider and frozen yogurt, Kate is sneaking Top 40 on the office stereo – because honestly sometimes you just need a little GaGa in your life.

Young is a transplant from Baltimore and before you even have to ask, yes, he has seen The Wire and yes, it is pretty darn realistic to the real streets of Baltimore.  At least that's what he thinks since he technically grew up in Baltimore County, not Baltimore City.  As a proud graduate of the University of Maryland with officemate and fellow Terp, Heidi, we now double our efforts in trash talking to any other ACC alums here in the office.  Young realized he wasn't going to make it as a pro wrestler after a brief tryout with the WWF (can't make this stuff up), so he decided that the next best thing would be to become a computer geek extraordinaire.

Doron was born and raised in Israel, has a B.S. in Computer Science and an engineering Masters degree. He has 14 years of experience in software engineering where he was leading teams in various successful and exciting projects and demonstrated ability to design and deliver creation of quality software on time using Agile methodologies. Doron brings to the table a larger perspective on software development architecture with proven ability to solve challenging problems. He moved to Sonicbids headquarters from Toronto, Canada thinking that he would no longer need to face bad winters. It didn't work quite well.

Rudy most recently spent a few years as lead architect at RueLaLa.com since the day it was launched.  Before that, he worked with Zefer, Akamai, Celarix and GXS.  He came to Sonicbids because it sounded much more appealing to work in the music space rather than selling shoes and handbags.  Obsessed with software engineering and coding since sometime before he was born, Rudy is knee deep in making Sonicbids a highly efficient, scalable and screamingly fast website.  When his head comes out of the code, he spends random weekend nights playing lead guitar for the heavy metal cover band "One Track Mind" making all those hours as a kid spent learning solos from Jake E. Lee, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater and Pantera pay off.  He's a die-hard New York Islanders fan who loves to play ice hockey - especially during the summer to take the edge off that scorching New England sun.

Josh hails from the Home of Champions...Natick, Massachusetts. His love for music began at an early age when counselors at his overnight camp would trade Phish tapes and discuss setlists ad nauseam. After graduating from Boston University, Josh put his Journalism degree to good use by working for FOX and creating a live music segment on the FOX25 Morning News. Josh, also co-founded a social media advertising startup, and brings a passion for entrepreneurship and technology to the Sonicbids team. When Josh isn't at the office he's taking advantage of his Celtics season tickets, traveling the world with his wife, or watching The Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network.

Eric grew up on Massachusetts' North Shore with the dream of starting a band and going on tour with Pearl Jam. When he discovered that his guitar chops were more on Lil' Wayne's level than Mike McCready's he decided to move to the business side of music, but not without holding out hope that he could someday make a guest appearance with Pearl Jam a la Theo Epstein. As a veteran of college radio and current Boston music blogger (http://maimedandtamed.com), Eric fills all of his time with tunes even when he's not in the office helping out Sonicbids' network of artists and promoters. 

Kimberly's musical roots can be traced back to her early childhood when she named all her Barbies "Olivia" for, you guessed it, the great Olivia Newton-John. Those early influences can still be heard while browsing through her iPod - oh the guilty pleasure of an over-produced pop song! Prior to joining Sonicbids in 2002 (we were just three people then!), Kimberly was the Director of Marketing for Oasis CD Manufacturing where she was responsible for developing, planning and executing company marketing programs and business development initiatives as well as overseeing online operations. Kimberly spent the better part of five years running online operations then marketing for Sonicbids prior to moving into her current role. When Kimberly is not helping out here at Sonicbids, she is running marathons and triathlons - one Ironman, two half Ironman’s and two marathons in the last two years alone!

A native of Tucson, Arizona and resident old-dude at Sonicbids (it has it's rewards!). Son of a military sergeant, trained to be efficient and organized from day one, Emitt had managed various companies operations for over 20 years including real estate and retail chains before partnering with Panos at an international booking agency for 7 years. They both moved on to Sonicbids with Emitt serving as Chief Operating Officer from 2001 to 2006. Happy to be a Yin or a Yang (depending on the need), but mostly happy to be at Sonicbids. Ruler and Master of R.A.S.U.S.

Josh comes to Sonicbids after spending three years at Rue La La leading software projects for their website and award winning mobile apps. His love of music began with listening to his parents’ records and grew into an obsession with 30 mile bicycle rides to Newbury Comics, all-ages hardcore matinees, and a mixtape for every occasion. He is thrilled to be able to channel this obsession into building great products to help emerging artists.  When Josh isn’t working or spending quality time with his wife and sheepdog, he can usually be found catching a show at Great Scott, O’Brien’s, or some apartment in Allston. 

Joe started playing guitar professionally at age of 18 in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area of PA. At age 19, he moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music. By day, Joe worked in high tech books at O'Reilly Media. By night, Joe played gigs, mostly in rockabilly bands, until 2003 when he cofounded his garage rock baby, The Charms. Between 2003 and 2007, Joe released 5 albums and a DVD and toured the US and Canada full time with The Charms. Coming off the road in late 2007, Joe immersed himself in his other obsession, software development. A few jobs and many new languages later, Joe came to Sonicbids in 2010, where he merges his love of software and music. Joe is also working on a new EP with The Charms.

Hakki (pronounced Haka) pledged his allegiance with Sonicbids as the head creative honcho in April 2011. He was born in Turkey, lived in Germany, studied in Switzerland, and now lives and works in USA. From scribbling on napkins in perspective at the young age of 4 to working with some of the world's most significant brands later in his career, his creative journey has been a genuine obsession with design. Also known as "The Turkinator" among friends and colleges, he is an affluent agency creative with a proven track record for translating complex ideas into cohesive and innovative solutions for the web, mobile platforms and print. His work has received coveted awards and recognition from authorities like MITX Interactive Awards, W3, WebAwards, American Business Awards, Forrester Groundswell, American Design Awards, and many more. A fearless simplicity advocate and a firm believer in creating solutions that work as good as they look, he is passionate about understanding people and uses the power of design to blend audience needs with the "big idea" behind a brand. He is Acknowledged by people who know him closely for his sartorial savviness, appreciation of gourmet food, unconditional love for motor-sports, and deep affection for photography. When Hakki is not in front of a computer for ten hours, he is very likely hanging ten on a surfboard at a break near you.