Our Team
Steven de Blois
Global Managing Director
Steve is accountable for leading all aspects of the business at StudentUniverse. His background includes 20 years in ecommerce. More than half of that time has been spent in the travel industry including Expedia as Global Product Director in the Growth business and at Air Canada within Corporate Strategy, and most recently as Managing Director at Umapped, a B2B subscription itinerary platform for travel companies. Steve graduated from Western University with a degree in Economics. Steve is based in Toronto, splitting his time with Boston. He is fortunate to have embarked on 2 round the world trips. Once as a student backpacker and another with his wife and kids. He believes travel better prepares us all including students and youth to influence our world for the better.
Chad Mooney
Senior Vice President, Operations
Chad is responsible for making sure our website and service works the way we want it to. He grew up in central Indiana (Frankfort- home of the Hot Dogs), and got his B.S. from Indiana University-Bloomington in 2000. After receiving his degree, Chad lived in Cork, Ireland for a while before moving to Boston in 2001. He had no job, but wanted to be close to his lifelong favorite baseball team – the Boston Red Sox. Chad joined the StudentUniverse team in 2002, and has held positions in many departments over the years. He loves sports, Las Vegas, relaxing vacations where there is possibility for some culture (hates Cancun, but loves Costa Rica) and spending time with his 2 young daughters.
Anton
Software Development Manager
Anton received a Bachelor's in Computer Science and Business from Northeastern University. He's worked in the financial industry in Boston and NY as well as a tech start-up in San Francisco and London. Anton is an entrepreneurship enthusiast and in 2012 started a company to help college students exchange textbooks. Originally from the Ukraine, travel is in his DNA and he's joined a company that specializes in just that. When he's not slinging code he enjoys being outdoors and playing a variety of sports.
Antonio
Vice President, Customer Care Center
Antonio joined StudentUniverse in 2007 with more than 20 years in both airlines and student travel experience in Customer Service. Antonio loves traveling and exploring archaeological and historical wonders listed in the Unesco World Heritage sites like Bagan, Myanmar, Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Hoi An in Vietnam to name a few. While at complete awe with his explorations, he feasts his palate with the gastronomical richness of country's culinary and savors each bite with delight. Antonio is a strong believer of the fundamentals of UNESCO to protect history against human destruction and preserve for future generations.
Carlo
Business Development Manager
Born and raised in the Philippines, Carlo’s adventurous spirit has led him to living the American Dream. In the past 8 years, he has lived in 6 States enjoying America’s landscape, diversity and professional opportunities. His interests include travel which has brought him to five continents where Carlo found valuable friendships in his international community. Prior to StudentUniverse, he worked in the Hospitality Industry, Travel Insurance and International Education. His ten years of customer relations expertise and two years in sales environment equips him to be successful in his role of developing business partnerships at StudentUniverse.
Carlos
Director of Systems
Carlos is the Director of Systems at StudentUniverse and has been part of the team for eight years. Carlos enjoys working and playing with computers and technology (software and hardware). Prior to joining StudentUniverse, Carlos served in the Army as a medic, and Air Force as IT support'. Born in the Dominican Republic, Carlos came to the US at age 15. In his free time, Carlos enjoys drawing, nature, music of all kinds, spending time with his German Shepherd and traveling - Carlos has visited 25 countries to date!
Christine
Business Development Manager
Christine was born and raised in Canada and lived abroad in the UK and Australia before landing in California 10 years ago and deciding to make it her home. Christine has worked in International Education and Travel since graduating from University. She loves the spirit and the people of the study- and live-abroad community.
Corey
Graphic Design Manager
Corey is a Web Designer and Developer who joined StudentUniverse to implement the latest in Web design, technologies and standards. With a degree in Graphic Design and two years of hands-on experience, Corey brings HTML5, CSS3, Wordpress, Drupal, Adobe Creative Suite and CMS knowledge to his role as Graphic Designer. New Zealand and Japan are at the top of Corey's bucket list. In his free time, he loves extreme sports and playing tabletop and video games with friends. Corey hopes to create his own games someday.
Crista
Travel Services Team Lead
Crista has been a part of the Travel Services team for six years, and has been with StudentUniverse for a decade. She worked as part of our customer care team before transitioning over to travel services. Crista graduated from Lasell College, located in Newton, MA, with a B.S. in Hospitality Management. Crista has been traveling internationally since she was 2, a few of her favorite places are London, Italy and San Diego.
Dana
Website Operations Analyst
Dana came to StudentUniverse in 2012 with 17 years experience in Information Technology. He joined our QA team where he now gets to break things instead of fixing them. Unlike many of his coworkers, Dana lived his entire life in the Boston area where he graduated from UMass in 1996. When he's not working, he enjoys a sedentary lifestyle filled with TV, movies, music and unhealthy food.
Deborah
Account Manager
Deborah has been working in Student Travel for more than 30 years. She loves traveling and has been to 40 countries and 6 continents and counting! Deborah grew up in California but has called Arizona home for the last 25 years. Other than travel, Deborah's biggest (and I do mean BIGGEST!) loves are her 2 Mastiffs Bindi and Winslow.
Eric
Director of Travel Services
Eric grew up and graduated college in the state of Kentucky and has been in the travel industry for a number of years. He first started as a travel agent with FlightCentre 16 years ago before transitioning into corporate travel business development with FCm Travel Solutions and then moving into student travel with STA Travel in 2009. Going into his 11th year of business development in the higher education space, Eric values the partnerships and relationships that have come with helping faculty and students go abroad.
Eric
Software Development Manager
Eric grew up in upstate New York and went to school at University of Buffalo for BS in Computer Science. Before joining our Development team, Eric previously worked in Industrial Process Automation, Health Care industry, and development of CASE tools. He loves building things. He helped build his parents' underground house. Eric traveled to most of the US and reached the summit of the highest mountains in New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. He also did some traveling to Canada, England, Netherlands, and India. Besides his passion for building things, Eric likes corvettes, golf, hiking, and spending time with his wife and daughters, one of which is currently in college and the other is in her senior year of high school.
Eric
Senior Account Manager
Eric has worked in the student travel business for a decade (makes him sound older than he really is). Back in those ye olde days, plane tickets could be handwritten on paper, and the internet was still ‘new’. Since then, he’s been hopping from one continent to the next, while helping others do the same.
Erin
Website Operations Analyst
Erin graduated from from Mount Holyoke College in 1997 with a B.S. in Anthropology. After college, she pulled pints in London and traveled around Ireland before returning home to Boston to get a "real" job. In 2001, she moved to Scotland for a year with her husband and came back to Boston in 2002, which was when she started working for StudentUniverse. As part of the Website Operations team, Erin tests the website functionality to ensure customers have a positive experience. Outside of the office, Erin is an avid hiker and runner.
Hannah
Vice President, Business and Operational Intelligence
Hannah is part of the operations team managing our website. She grew up attending Petersfield School in the beautiful rolling countryside of Hampshire, England. Later, she studied business and fashion design at Chichester Arts and Technology College. Her first proper job was working in HR for a charity, which she really enjoyed, but as the Brit puts it: “I hankered for sunnier climates!”. So after college, she travelled India and Europe, and worked in Portugal for 4 years. Travel alongside food is a huge passion, with a life goal to see the world.
Jayson
Database Administrator
Jayson joined StudentUniverse as a database administrator in 2016. Prior to joining the team, he acquired over 15 years experience working as a database engineer for Monster.com and National Public Radio. Jayson attended Northeastern University, earning a degree in political science with a concentration in law. When not in the office, Jayson is pounding the pavement trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Jeff
Software Engineer
Jeff has been a Software Engineer at StudentUniverse since 2000. He is an avid golfer and lover of all things beef and bacon (washed down with a nice glass of box wine). He is also the reigning SU hamburger eating champ, devouring 7 half pound burgers. His favorite travel destination is the beautiful island of Aruba, where the weather, beaches, and golf are always perfect. (Jeff also wonders why his head barely fits in this picture)
Jenny
Account Manager
Jenny joined the Travel Services team in 2017, bringing years of experience in language learning and student travel with her. The daughter of a British Army officer, she started her globetrotting early, living in England, Germany, Gibraltar and Hong Kong, all before the age of 16. While she has visited every continent but Antarctica, Jenny would like to skip the 7th continent and instead visit the 16th US state, Tennessee, to see DollyWood as well as the Graceland home of the Elvis Presley.
Jill
Product Manager
Jill joined the marketing team at StudentUniverse in 2016. She comes with both digital marketing and travel experience from her various roles at a Rhode Island based tour operator, Collette. She supports our partner campaigns as a Marketing Associate. In her free time, she enjoys country music and live concerts. In the summer, you will always find her at a show. She has traveled to various countries across North America, South America and Europe. Next on her bucket list is Iceland, Greece and South Africa.
Jon
Staff Accountant
Jon joined StudentUniverse as a Staff Accountant in 2016. Since creation, Jon was born to work with numbers and do math as seen by anyone who knew him growing up in Upstate New York. (Just ask his parents or any of his former elementary school teachers). Naturally, Jon went to one of the best business schools in the country, Bentley College (and University) to receive both a Bachelor’s in Management and a Master’s in Accountancy afterwards. Jon’s favorite vacation spot is Las Vegas, but is open to traveling anywhere there is nice weather, a casino and anywhere he can keep tabs on sports, especially when it involves his favorite teams from Pittsburgh, where his parents and relatives are from. In his free time, Jon enjoys watching sports, movies, shows and listening to oldies music. Prior to joining StudentUniverse, Jon worked as a Financial Analyst with SunLife Financial in the investment finance department in Wellesley, MA.
Justin
Junior Systems Engineer
Justin is a quantum computing AI that was built by the highly gifted dev and QA team at StudentUniverse. When he came online on October 2014, he started assisting in troubleshooting and maintaining StudentUniverse's computer systems. Hobbies include calculating prime numbers, determining the meaning of life and world domination.
Kang
Manager, Performance Marketing
Born and raised in China, Kang came to the US in 2011 empowered by his passion for going on adventures. After pursuing his Master’s Degree in Communications from Emerson College, Kang joined the StudentUniverse team and furthered his passion for empowering young(er) people to see the world. Nowadays, Kang enjoys being a data nerd in the digital marketing field and has the privilege of marketing the most fun product – travel.
Karoline
Director of Operations, Travel Services
Karoline grew up in western Massachusetts and is a first generation American with family roots in Ecuador. Her unique upbringing includes learning Spanish at home while attending a Polish Catholic School for grades K-8. She has 12 years of experience working for EF Education in Boston and in Switzerland and loves to travel whenever she can.
Katya
Financial Controller
Katya joined the finance team at StudentUniverse in 2015. With more than a decade of accounting experience, she brings a balanced financial skill set coupled with a knack for process improvement. Born and raised in Russia, Katya traveled to the US to pursue her undergraduate and graduate degrees. After living in Oklahoma for 12 years, her family relocated to Massachusetts in 2010. When she's not in the office, Katya enjoys traveling, antiquing, reading, and spending time with her family. Her favorite travel destination is the White Night's Festival in Saint Petersburg.
Kyle
Software Engineer
Since he was in high school, Kyle always enjoyed development and the ability to see creations come to life. Naturally, Kyle went on to major in Computer Information Systems (with a business management minor) at Westfield State University. Kyle recently moved from Western Massachusetts to the Boston area to join StudentUniverse's development team, where he is focused on testing. Kyle's favorite vacation spots are Florida and Las Vegas, and he hopes to make it to Australia someday. In his free time, Kyle enjoys watching football and playing soccer. Prior to joining StudentUniverse, Kyle worked at United Technologies Corporation in CT.
Laura
QA Manager, Website Operations
Laura grew up in Ithaca, NY and also attended Ithaca College where she met her husband and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History. After spending 21 years in Ithaca, she decided to move to Boston. Shortly after, Laura joined StudentUniverse in 2004 and started off in Customer Care. She then moved over to Website Operations in 2009, where she currently does QA. She’s one of the people who makes sure the products on the site show up correctly and helps make sure the site itself is running smoothly. Laura has lived abroad twice, both times in Germany. She lived in Munich when she was 10 and Dresden when she was 18. During this time she got to travel extensively throughout Europe and also got the chance to see her favorite rock bands, Pearl Jam and U2, for the first time. When not working, Laura enjoys playing violin, reading, playing with her 3 kids and traveling.
Li
Chinese Market Development Strategist
Li joined the marketing team at StudentUniverse as a Chinese Market Development Manager in 2016. Li came to the US to pursue a masters degree and graduated from UMass Boston with a degree in Applied Linguistics in 2015. Li grew up in China and speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and Teochew. He enjoys traveling - Li did a 40 day trip through Europe where he visited 15 cities across 8 countries. He loves outdoor sports like diving, rock climbing and skating and volunteers for TED.com translating TED talks from English to Chinese.
Matt
Front-End Engineer
Matt's the guy you can blame if something looks odd on our new website. He graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in Studio Art. Luckily, Al Gore invented the internet so Matt could get a web design job upon graduation (or else he'd be painting). Matt's done illustration work for publishers such as Pearson and comic book companies Marvel, DC and Disney. He can also write in third-person.
Matt
Vice President, Website Operations
Matt heads up Website Operations handling overall project planning, build execution and management, process control and pricing strategies. After college and some time abroad in Aix en Provence, France, Matt moved to Boston and started working in the airline industry, specifically in student travel. Prior to joining StudentUniverse in 2002, Matt worked for Council Travel at 3 different local university shops focusing on retail sales, e-commerce and international support. Matt received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and certification in Spanish and International Relations at Saint Anselm College. His love for language forces him to learn more - taking on studies of Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese.
Mirza
Vice President, Brand Partnerships and Product Strategy
Mirza has spent the last 18 years working in the airline industry throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. In his last position Mirza served as Director of Sales and Marketing at Flair Airlines, a Canadian first LCC. Prior to Flair Airlines, Mirza held positions in the commercial departments of major airlines such as: Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Arabia and Air Berlin.
Peter
Senior Software Engineer
Having made his first website at the age of 11, Peter has always been fascinated with technology. Born, raised, and currently residing in Rhode Island, he makes the 45 minute commute to work every day, helping make our website what it is today (and more importantly tomorrow). He is currently studying Computer Science and Information Processing at the Community College of Rhode Island. Outside of the StudentUniverse world, Peter enjoys sports, his favorite sport being American Football, doing freelance programming, and playing cards. If not a computer programmer, he would have liked to become a professional poker player. His dream vacation spots are Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Japan, but would love to travel the world. He is hoping that working at StudentUniverse may one day help him accomplish that.
Rick
Lead Software Architect
Rick has been coding for more than thirty years. When he’s not watching Star Trek, he is involved in everything architectural from the infrastructure to the application front and back end of the website. Before joining StudentUniverse, he worked at Netzero with linguistic content analysis (for ad targeting) and searching, content management authoring software at EBT and search engine technology way back at Silverplatter. Before that, it would look like stones and knives.
Rosina
Business Development Manager
Originally from Monterrey, Mexico, Rosina moved to South Texas as a little girl and has called Austin home since 2002 when she started attending St. Edward’s University. Her passion for travel started during a study abroad program in Seville, Spain, and she has not stopped traveling since! Seeing firsthand how traveling and studying abroad can positively impact a young person, she feels inspired working in the travel and international education industry. Rosina’s interests include live music (Austin is the live music capital of the world!), vintage everything, books, and of course, all things travel!
Ruskin
Junior Systems Engineer
Ruskin is the go-to-guy when StudentUniverse employees have technical issues. He is responsible for providing the support that keeps all of our systems up and running smoothly. He is of Dominican decent which was born in Jersey but raised in Roxbury, MA. He is a die hard Boston Red Sox fan who likes fast cars and traveling. In 2007, 2 years after graduating high school, Ruskin received his associates degree in applied science - computer networking systems. He worked with Siemens IT solutions as a contractor performing technical support at the Monster.com headquarters until summer of 2010 when he was offered a position at StudentUniverse by our Systems engineer.
Scott
Business Process Manager
Scott is new to the Travel business, but not to travel. He's been to 17 countries on four continents, and has set foot in just about every US state. He finds the most memorable travel adventures usually weren't part of the original plan: guiding a raft down Rios Tenorio in Costa Rica, finding a Boston Celtics themed sports-bar during his first hour in Frankfurt, or racing an Olympic medalist down from Machu Picchu in a heavy rainstorm. (He lost). After serving in the US Army and attending graduate school, Scott worked on eCommerce, Contact Center, and technology systems at some large corporations before arriving here at StudentUniverse, where he manages technology and business integration projects.
Suzi
Account Manager
Suzi has worked in the travel industry, sending groups of students to study abroad, since 2011. She grew up in Nebraska, but has lived in Phoenix, AZ since 2005. Outside of traveling, she enjoys many hobbies, including outdoor activities, cooking/baking and crocheting.
Taylor
Manager, Email & Mobile Marketing
Taylor joined StudentUniverse as a Marketing Coordinator in 2016. She graduated from Quinnipiac University in 2015 with a degree in print journalism, but soon discovered her passion lied in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing. Formerly a small-town girl from New Hampshire, she is now living in the city and loving it. In her spare time, you can find her exploring Boston, perfecting her guacamole recipe or petting the nearing dog. Her top travel destinations include Thailand, Greece and South Africa.
Tony
Graphic Designer
Tony joined StudentUniverse as a Graphic Designer in 2015. In this role, he creates marketing emails, ads and print collateral, and keeps site content updated. Prior to joining StudentUniverse, Tony did freelance web and print design for small, local businesses. Tony graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design from UMass Lowell in 2013. When he's not at work, most of Tony's free time is spent writing, recording, and producing his own music. He also enjoys playing video games, learning about video production and going to concerts.
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