Our Team

While we now have a team of programmers, graphic designers, and customer service specialists, it all started in 2003 with the serendipitous meeting of our founders at the first overnight hut of the Milford Track in New Zealand. Taking Traveler's Joy from a muddy hike on the South Island to the world's premier honeymoon registry in a few short years required a lot of work. Here's a bit more about some of the people on the Traveler's Joy team.

Brandon (Co-Founder)

Brandon often found himself purchasing generic wedding gifts for friends and family who shared his passion for travel and likely preferred a once in a lifetime honeymoon experience. After some research and realizing the need for an affordable and easy to use honeymoon registry service, he enlisted help from contacts he had made at Boston College and Deloitte. In 2004, Tony joined Brandon on a Spring day in New York City's Central Park to write a mission statement and sketch the initial framework of the site. While still holding a full time position with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Brandon oversaw the beta launch of Traveler's Joy Honeymoon Registry. As the site became more popular, he resigned from the SEC to commit more time to the company.

In 2007, Brandon achieved a long-awaited dream — for his 30th birthday he bought a surfboard and spent his mornings and evenings learning to surf off the coast of Maryland. He graduated from Boston College in 1999 with a B.S. in Economics and Finance and from Duke University in 2008 with a graduate degree in Environmental Economics and Policy. When Brandon isn't traveling, working, cycling, gardening, or planning his next adventure, you'll likely find him on the back porch with friends and family cooking BBQ or enjoying a classic adventure novel. Brandon divides his time between Wilmington, Delaware & Durham, North Carolina.

Tony (Co-Founder)

Tony brings over ten years of business and technology experience and is responsible for overseeing the day to day operations of the company. He has experience delivering technology solutions for clients both large and small. His time with Andersen Consulting provided him with Fortune 500 level project management experience that he has been able to utilize as Traveler's Joy continues to enjoy rapid growth.

Tony hails from Cincinnati and survived as a Bengals fan throughout the '90s. This gave him the emotional fortitude to survive most anything. As the "tech guy" (geek) in the company, Tony likes some cliche things like giant home theater systems and cool computers (Macs only please). He also confounds the stereotype by traveling the world solo and knowing how to change his Jeep's oil.

Tony thinks his beard is totally better than Brandon's.

Missy (Customer Service)

Missy is likely your first point of contact as Traveler's Joy since she manages Customer Service. If she is not speaking with guests calling to give a gift or answering current or prospective Member questions, you'll find her working with the management team to make sure Member ideas and upcoming site enhancements are well communicated. Missy graduated from Miami University as an Elementary Education major. After graduation, she taught a first grade class and a third grade class for several years. As managing family and work life became more and more hectic, she started searching for ways to spend more time at home. She was lucky enough to find a job with Traveler's Joy that is fulfilling and fun, yet with a more flexible schedule during these exciting family years. She feels that her teaching experience really helps her communicate well with Members and guests.

Missy loves to travel and has two favorite travel destinations. The first is Rome, Italy due to its epic architecture, spiritual art, incredible energy, and of course the great food. The second is almost the opposite type of experience — the country of Wales. This small country is filled with a natural, quiet beauty that seems to be almost undiscovered by others. She loves the small towns, kind people, rocky shoreline, mountains, and small farms spotting deep green hillsides. Missy advises bringing a lot of rain gear if you visit!

Adam (Marketing)

Adam brings five years of journalism experience to the Traveler's Joy team and serves as writer and editor of the honeymoon planning section, which features domestic and international destination guides, staff picks, honeymoon tips and the destination of the year.

Adam grew up in "A Place to Be Somebody", AKA Wilmington, Delaware, which was a perfect early springboard for him to travel being close to the ocean, mountains and the Northeast Megalopolis. He has a passion for (Philadelphia) sports, music, photography, exploring new places and writing about his travels. Adam now lives outside of New York City and enjoys weekend road trips and coffee shop visiting.

Joanne (Gift Cards)

Joanne manages our gift card department to make sure guests that request a gift card to be sent to them or the couple is processed quickly and professionally. Joanne was born and raised in South Jersey, graduating from Woodstown High School in NJ and Goldey Beacom School of Business in Wilmington, DE. Her work experience includes a secretary for the DuPont Company, two law firms, and tax preparation for Warner & Company, CPA's until retirement in 1981. From there, Joanne and her husband John retired to Florida and Georgia, returning back to the Northeast in 2003.

Joanne plays golf, watches college football and basketball, and enjoys heirloom sewing and machine embroidery. Working with Traveler's Joy has been a whole new learning experience for her and a great introduction to an e-commerce company. She loves the freedom of the job and the new outlook on world traveling she has experienced through the eyes of tens of thousands of honeymooners each year.

Ben (Programmer)

Ben is currently an intern at Traveler's Joy. He is a computer science major at Miami University and has been working on the internet since he started walking. Before Traveler's Joy, Ben worked on several smaller web development projects for local organizations and brought home a web design award hosted by a well known IT association. Ben is an avid Risk player and a geek everyman when it comes to shows like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica and books similar to those written by Kurt Vonnegut. He listens to a lot of national public radio and considers Terry Gross and Ira Glass to be close family.

Chris (Programmer)

Chris developed the very first version of the website back in 2004 and has continued to help create and add new and exciting features over the years. When not bringing internal and Member-provided ideas to life, he enjoys relaxing with his wife and kids and watching Notre Dame and Pittsburgh Steeler football — much to Tony's chagrin!

Bobbie (Gift Redemptions)

Bobbie manages the gift redemption department at Traveler's Joy. This a very important job and she loves watching the checks go out to the tens of thousands of honeymoon couples each year taking their dream honeymoon. If you walk by her office, you will typically hear classic country music playing on the computer and if you are lucky, Bobbie singing along. In her free time, Bobbie enjoys reading trashy romance novels and crocheting blankets that she donates to the local community center. One of Bobbie's favorite travel experiences was watching the sun set from the Florida Keys.

Brenda (Customer Service)

In addition to keeping the office (and us) in tip-top form, Brenda spends time working on important daily, weekly, and monthly reconciliations to make sure all the numbers "check out." She works with our banks, credit card processor, and office and technical supply companies to help keep our costs low and monitor credit card and PayPal gift activity. Without Brenda, we would be drowning in colored photocopy paper and abnormal envelope sizes!

Brenda grew up in Wilmington, Delaware and attended university in upstate New York where she majored in accounting. On a recent vacation, she spent time in the Masai Mara of Kenya tracking lions. If you are in Wilmington, you will likely see her on the weekends mountain biking or cycling the country roads of the Brandywine Valley.

Leah (Customer Service)

Leah loves speaking with Members and guests to answer any and all questions. She especially enjoys learning where Members are planning to take their honeymoon. If you get a chance to speak or email with Leah, be sure to ask her about her latest trip or where she is answering your email or call from. Since her job can be done form anywhere she really takes advantage of this perk with what almost seems like a visit to a new place every month!

In addition to being a super active traveler, Leah loves surfing and soaking up the sun. She is currently based outside of San Francisco but who knows how often she is really there!