Ben Forta is Macromedia Inc.'s Product Evangelist for the ColdFusion product line and is one of the best known and most trusted names within the ColdFusion community. He has almost 20 years of experience in the computer industry in product development, support, training, and product marketing. Ben is the author of the best-selling ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit (now in its fourth edition), its sequel (this book), and Certified ColdFusion Developer Study Guide (all published by Que), as well as JavaServer Pages Application Development, WAP Development with WML and WMLScript, and Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (all published by Sams). Ben coauthored the official Allaire ColdFusion training courses, writes regular columns on ColdFusion and Internet development, and is a much sought-after lecturer and speaker on ColdFusion and Internet technologies. Born in London, England, and educated in London, New York, and Los Angeles, Ben now lives in Oak Park, Michigan with his wife Marcy and their six children. Ben welcomes your e-mail at [email protected] and invites you to visit his Web site at http://www.forta.com/.
Dain Anderson has been developing with ColdFusion for more than three years and is the creator of the CF Comet site (http://www.cfcomet.com). He currently works as an independent developer, specializing in multiple client and server technologies. When he's not coding, Dain enjoys the company of good friends and good conversation and has a hobby of learning foreign languages. At present, Dain is not married and hasn't any children, but he hopes one day to start a family.
As the Macromedia Spectra Product Evangelist, Benjamin Elmore is called on to address complex application issues, provide clients with guidance regarding both methodology and architecture, and generally promote the effective, worldwide use of both the Macromedia Spectra and ColdFusion platforms. Ben is one of the founders and the Chief Technology Officer for RemoteSite Technologies, Inc., an Allaire Alliance Premier Partner for Technology, Consulting, and Training, with locations in New York, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Texas, and Paris, France.
An internationally recognized expert in advanced Web technologies, Ben is internationally published and serves as a high-profile speaker at international development conferences. Committed to the advancement of technology within the local community, he has provided product education and insight as the featured speaker for various user group meetings across the nation. He is a Board Advisor for the Albany, New York ColdFusion Users' Group.
Shawn Evans is currently a principal engineer with Macromedia. With more than 10 years in the computer industry, Shawn began his career with a stint in the military. Upon leaving the Army at Ft. Belvior, Virginia, he worked as a government contractor, eventually finding himself employed as the Webmaster for the FAA's main Web site and developing Internet applications in ColdFusion. Shawn continued to focus on ColdFusion, consulting for the Better Business Bureau and Zales, finally ending up as the Application Project Manager for the U. S. Mint's main site and e-commerce site. Shawn now resides in Canton, Massachusetts with his wife and son, and when not glued to his computer, enjoys riding his motorcycle. Shawn can be contacted at [email protected].
Paul Hastings is Director of the Environmental Information Center at the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI), a non-governmental organization (NGO) dealing with environmental issues in Thailand. He specializes in geographic information systems (GIS) technology and its application to solving environmental problems and has developed Internet and intranet information systems using ColdFusion/GIS for a number of Royal Thai government agencies, including the Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Science, Environment, and Technology; and the Ministry of Industry. In a past life he was a geologist specializing in fossil pollen, but he has since forsaken that for the exciting high-tech life. He can be reached at [email protected] and http://www.tei.or.th/eic.
Jason Heaslet is a senior product support engineer at Macromedia. He has supported Macromedia's enterprise-level customers through its Gold/Platinum agreements for almost two years. Jason spent six years in development, designing ColdFusion-based applications. He currently resides in Houston, Texas, and can be reached at [email protected].
Emily B. Kim is co-president and director of training for the Macromedia premiere partner, GT Alliance, and co-founder of Trilemetry, Inc., a Web design and programming firm. She has coauthored a college-level workbook about the Internet, was contributing author to a popular ColdFusion book, and has recently coauthored the Certified Allaire ColdFusion Developer Study Guide. She is also a Certified Allaire Instructor and teaches many of the Macromedia courses. You can reach Emily at [email protected].
David Krasnove is a senior network engineer at Computer Horizons G.Triad Solutions Division in East Hanover, New Jersey. He is a member of the G.Triad "High Availability" swat team, focusing on helping clients increase the availability, scalability, and continuity of their mission-critical ColdFusion- and Spectra-based production environments. David is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and has been working with network security (in one fashion or another) since he was 11 years old. David holds a B.A. degree in creative writing from Florida State University. G.Triad can be reached at http://www.gtriad.com, and David can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
Robert Panico is a senior Web developer with more than six years of Web development experience. He is currently working as a senior ColdFusion technical support engineer for Macromedia. Prior to joining Macromedia, Robert was a development project leader for Lightning Internet Solutions, where he oversaw the development lifecycle of the company's product lines. Robert greatly enjoys programming and has spent the last year devoted to the Java programming language. His other interests include teaching, lecturing, writing, acting, and the study of history.
Jeff Tapper is the Manager of Application Development for G.Triad, a subsidiary of Computer Horizon Corporation, where he has worked on projects for American Express, Toys R Us, Cordiem, and Allaire, amongst many others. He has been developing Web applications with technologies, including ColdFusion, since 1995. He is thrilled to be working with Ben Forta and the Que editorial team again. Jeff is also known as a theatrical lighting designer and published poet.
Nate Weiss is currently the Tech Director and Chief Architect at OneCARE (http://www.onecare.com), a company committed to online product support and customer relations. Previously, he was the principal developer at ICES, Inc. (http://www.icesventures.com). He has been fortunate enough to speak at several ColdFusion developer conferences and user group meetings and was the original owner of the WDDX SDK (available from http://www.Wddx.org). Visit his Web site at http://www.nateweiss.com, which includes a number of ColdFusion custom tags and other goodies.