Team

We may be small, but we’re definitely punching above our weight class.  Here’s an introduction to the team that makes things happen at hotelicopter:

• Adam Healey – Co-Founder & CEO

  Adam is the co-founder and CEO of hotelicopter. Prior to co-founding hotelicopter in 2006, Adam was the founder and CEO of Samba Digital Media, a 40 employee e-services consulting firm based in Prague. At Samba he oversaw the company’s international expansion, raised $2.4 million of venture capital, and helped secure an extensive multinational blue-chip clientele.

  Adam has also worked in management consulting at Monitor Group, corporate venture capital at Landmark Communications, and fixed income trading at Salomon Smith Barney. He’s a proud DoubleHoo, receiving both his BS (McIntire ‘97) and MBA (Darden ‘05) from the University of Virginia.

  When he’s not glued to his MacBook Pro, Adam enjoys basketball, CrossFit, scuba diving, cooking and wine, Mario Kart, skiing, flying, live music, spending time with S2, and taking his lab Ginny for long walks on the Downtown Mall.

• Charles Seilheimer – Co-Founder, President & CFO

  Charles is no stranger to the wonderful world of technology.  Before founding hotelicopter with Adam in 2006, Charles worked closely with many leading technology firms as an investment banker at JPMorgan in San Francisco. 

  Charles has also worked in investment banking at Banc of America Securities, private equity for The Clipper Group and several entrepreneurial ventures.  He received his bachelor’s degree in economics at Middlebury College and his MBA at the University of Virginia.

  Charles is a travel enthusiast and has visited over 50 countries.  In his free time he enjoys sailing and hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains with his wife Nora.

• Carl Schwartz – Chief Marketing Officer

  For more than 15 years, Carl has helped companies acquire customers quickly and efficiently. He most recently served as Director of Marketing for Cheapflights US where he played a key role in helping grow the company 300% in 2 years. He previously served as Monster Worldwide’s Vice President of Analytics, where he was instrumental in dramatically increasing the volume of job seekers and employers transacting through Monster. Prior to Monster, he held a variety of Internet marketing and technology roles at Fidelity, Hasbro and Lycos, as well as at several small Internet start-ups.

• Colin Steele – Chief Technology Officer

  For almost two decades, Colin has worked in IT, management and entrepreneurial environments, with particular focus on IP networking software development, distributed systems and the Internet. As one of America Online’s early employees, he wrote AOL’s first Internet gateway. Later he helped architect and develop AOL Instant Messenger. During his tenure as Director of AIM Host Development, Colin designed and implemented key components of the system and co-authored patented technology for AIM. Much of his work remains in use as AOL’s core infrastructure.

  After leaving AOL, Colin launched WebG2, Inc., offering innovative online business intelligence services. Since then, he has worked with numerous startups and early-stage ventures, in industries ranging from food service to construction to music, in roles ranging from CTO to investor and member of the Board of Directors to programmer.

• John DeMarchi – Director of User Experience

  John brings over ten years of web design and development experience to hotelicopter, most of which is tied directly to the online travel industry. Recently, he was Director of New Product Development at Orbitz, where he helped deliver innovative product strategies. Prior to that, he helped launch InterActiveCorp’s Pronto.com (a social shopping site), and spent over 5 years at Priceline.com, building the user experience, as well as assuming the lead creative position for two site redesigns.

  John received his BFA in graphic design from the University of Connecticut. When he’s not trying to make the internet a better place for you to book a hotel, he’s keeping an eye on the technology and design communities, tagging his (legal) music collection, or watching The Venture Bros. He is also the current Unified Mario Kart Office Champion.

• Bill Hunt – Lead Developer & Quality Assurance Manager

  Bill has been doing web development as long as there’s been a web. Prior to joining the hotelicopter team, Bill served as Senior Programmer at Category 4 Design, and Head of PHP Development for Munk & Phyber.

  In Bill’s copious free time (when not working on hotelicopter’s codebase and QA process), he can be found writing open source frameworks and creating websites for local nonprofit organizations. He is also an accomplished DJ, photographer, and salsa dancer.

• Jim Nist – Web Developer

  Jim is a second generation software engineer who spent his formative years doodling on punch cards and chewing on “THINK” pencils. His professional experience ranges from developing software for one of the first commercial applications of RF Tag technology at Matson Navigation to building the initial version of the Real Rhapsody digital media jukebox. He has also spent time managing teams and providing technology solutions for Litigation Support, B2B Exchange, Venture Capital Research, and Software Audit/Tracking companies.

  Jim holds BFA and MFA degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He likes Piña Coladas, building things, travelling, and getting caught in the rain. He is into Yoga.

• Thomas Steffes – Web Developer

  Thomas hails from the great state of Wisconsin, and recently moved to Charlottesville in search of warmer climes. Prior to joining the hotelicopter team, he has served as a software developer in several industries, most recently in the field of remote chemical detection at Avir Sensors. Thomas brings a diverse software skill set to the team – chances are, if it has something to do with a computer, he’s at least tinkered with it.

  Thomas is a graduate of the Milwaukee School of Engineering with a degree in Computer Engineering. When not tirelessly working on newer, cooler features for the hotelicopter user, Thomas enjoys hiking, camping, the occasional pickup game of walleyball, and searching for the next opportunity to travel and learn a little more about our planet.

  Tom is also way too sexy for your love. He’s too sexy for your shirt. He’s so sexy in fact, it hurts.

• Dr. Matthias Hild – Analytics

  Matthias is one of the guiding forces behind hotelicopter’s proprietary search algorithms. He’s also a professor of decision analysis at the University of Virginia’s graduate business school.  His research covers both the theoretical and behavioral aspects of decision-making and spans across risk management, decision analysis, social choice theory, and statistics.

  Matthias has also been a Senior Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology and at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a Research Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge. He has a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University. Bottom line here: Matthias is a smartypants.