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Meet the Founders
Prior to co-founding Suntoria, Avo Shavarshyan spent
over five years as a technical lead and systems analyst at Genex, where he
worked exclusively on designing and building extensive data-driven websites, including
HondaFinancialServices.com,
LifeMasters.com,
Terminator3.com,
among others. Before joining Genex, he was a systems analyst at Citibank's Internet
banking and ATM division, designing online applications that are still in use today.
And before the Internet made the headline news on the cover of Time, Avo had a stint
developing claims software for Farmers Insurance.
Avo has experience working as a technical project manager and key liaison between
engineering teams and business clients. His experience also includes serving as
technical lead on development teams, assisting clients in defining the overall
scope of a new project, architecting commercial databases, and designing and
implementing systems to support online banking applications. Avo received a Bachelor's
degree in Computer Science from CSU Northridge and is an MS Certified Professional.
When he's not staring at his computer screen, Avo enjoys black diamond ski runs at
Mammoth Mountain in the California Sierras, and playing volleyball and scuba diving
in the summer. His multi-cultural background (Avo is fluent in French, Russian,
Armenian, and English) and extensive travel experience (Armenia, Ukraine, France, Italy,
Russia, Australia, Mexico and Brazil) give him an uncommon perspective on the needs
of those less fortunate in this world. He's convinced of the crucial role that
charities, NGOs and nonprofits play in the United States and indeed through-out the world.
And through his unique expertise and knowledge, he's determined to assist these
indispensable organizations in meeting their goals.
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Co-founder of Suntoria, Andre Violentyev has worked in various organizations,
ranging from aggressive startups to large corporations. In his last position
at Mercury Interactive, he was part of a "technical swat team", where he was
being sent to solve customer's most crucial problems, given extremely short
time frames. This type of work involved a very broad spectrum of computer
technology, including everything from network protocols, to database optimization,
to software integration. But perhaps more importantly, he gained the skill of
knowing how to handle high stress situations while maintaining positive client relations.
Although this job provided ample amounts of excitement and challenges,
Andre felt the need to see what else life had to offer. Thus, in 2004 he
left Mercury Interactive and shifted into a life of a traveling photographer.
For over a year and a half he backpacked through Central and South America,
engaging people with drastically different lifestyles (for photographs and
travel logs, visit
planethiker.com).
Most Americans take having electricity and running hot water for granted, but this
was not the case for many of the families that he met on the road.
While living with people who struggled daily to have enough food on the table,
Andre developed a keen sense of appreciation for nonprofit organizations that
make it their mission to help people in need. In turn, he began looking for ways
to have a positive impact while utilizing his extensive technical skill set. It was around
that time, in Brazil, when he met up with his long-time friend Avo, who had traveled
south to join Andre in his South American adventures. Together, they recognized the
importance of online fundraising for nonprofit organizations and decided to
return to the Unites States and develop a service that would help nonprofits
draw new funding, while spending less time dealing with technical
complexities and pitfalls. As a result, Suntoria was born.
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