About

Ben is a publishing technologist specializing in content and digital publishing technology. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in New Media Publishing from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has expertise in print, web, and mobile technologies. He previously was project manager and researcher for the Open Publishing Lab. As Field Engineer at DPCI, Ben is responsible for a range of services including technical system analysis, integration, and training.

Born and raised in Vienna, Austria, Ben attended the American International School in Vienna through High School. While there, he developed a strong understanding of many cultures and working in a variety of different cultural environments. These experiences and values define his world view today.

At a very young age, he started to become very interested in digital publishing and media. At the age of seven, with guidance from his father, he started using Apple Macintosh computers with a scanner to color in his coloring books using Adobe Photoshop. At the age of eight, he created my own small newsletter titled “Newsamania” to document things going on in his family’s life and events at his school. At age eleven, he became the layout designer for the Elementary school newsletter “What’s Happenin’?”. Upon moving up to Middle School, he became the designer for the short-lived Middle School newsletter, “The Middle School Monitor.”

Throughout his childhood, his family was always heavily involved in the production of the school’s annual yearbook. His father was the schools portrait photographer. Through this, he gained access to facilities not often available to a young teenager. At the age of thirteen, I designed the opening pages to the 2001 yearbook. Two years later, he became the lead designer of the yearbook, eventually winning three awards from the publisher, Taylor Publishing, for design, content, as well as honorable mention.

During this time, he also grew a strong interest in the field of digital video. In 2001, with the release of Apple iMovie on the Apple iMac DV computers, he began to do digital video edits for various projects. He quickly moved up to using Apple Final Cut Pro. In 2004, he attended a workshop in Vienna, earning his 101 certificate in Final Cut Pro. He also did videographer for three weddings and a variety events around his community.

At the age of thirteen, he began taking lessons in guitar. Some of Ben’s greatest guitar heroes include Richie Sambora, Tommy Emmanuel, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Eric Clapton.

After graduating from High School, he deferred his acceptance to Rochester Institute of Technology to attend the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, England to study Guitar Performance. While there, he was privileged to study with such amazing tutors such as Pete Friesen (former Alice Cooper guitarist), Giorgio Serci, and many others. He earned my diploma in Guitar Performance.

After realizing that his true passion was within publishing technology in an industry that was soon to be transformed by the mobile market, he attended the School of Print Media at the Rochester Institute of Technology, earning his Bachelors of Science in New Media Publishing. While there, he became involved in the Open Publishing Lab, reinforcing his belief support open source technologies, refining his skills in programming, application architecture, and project management. He specialized in cross-media publishing technologies, understanding the needs and limitations of a variety of different platforms and learn out to extend them.

Upon graduating from RIT, he joined DPCI in New York, NY as a field engineer where he continues to work today.