The Team That Created and Operates WizardsSpell

Who we are

Our Vision, Our Team

At WizardsSpell we believe:

Parents, children, and teachers deserve quality software that makes a difference in their lives and is easy to use. We never stop asking: Can we make WizardsSpell even more effective, while keeping it simple for all users?
Using consistent design principles throughout the site means that learning how one page works helps you know how other pages work.
Human factors and ease of use are of primary concern, not an afterthought.
Help should never be more than 1 click away from any page on the site.
Asking our users for their ideas and listening carefully to what they have to say is critical to the WizardsSpell evolution.

The team at WizardsSpell puts these principles into practice in every new feature we develop. In our 3 years of existence we have delivered 5 major feature releases. We listen to what our clients ask for, and whenever we think requests are doable and valuable to the user population as a whole, we implement. You can count on WizardsSpell to continually grow to meet more educational needs.

Our organization is based on strong family values of respect, love, and honesty. These values are at the core of our product. Use WizardsSpell and the soul of the new machine is revealed to you. Care, attention, and pride are evident on every page. The experience at WizardsSpell runs deep with over 100 years of combined software development and design experience. For our users, this maturity translates into sleek software with a minimum of surprises. We are proud of our Best Practices approach in design, implementation, and service, and have the agility to act quickly to bring change and resolve issues. We are able to fix problems and churn out new features at an amazing rate.

Melanie Gann
Designer & Programmer

My daughter Lucy, was the inspiration for this site. My experiences with my 3 adopted children help me bring value and insight to WizardsSpell. My sister Kathy and I do most of the programming at WizardsSpell. It is a unique pairing as I tend to look at things from the outside in, while she looks at things from the insideout. A good balance, and the necessary ying-yang of good programming techniques.

I am an artist by nature and enjoy bringing together the art world - color, contrast, movement, pattern, texture, repetition, harmony, symmetry, the use of space - and the tools of technology.

I spent most of my professional career in the field of telecommunications. In the beginning, I was involved with the technical aspects of getting a network to connect and work. As time progressed, I moved into customer support and the business systems that were needed to provide that support. As this shift occurred, the web was evolving and thus customer interfaces shifted nearly entirely towards the web. Almost overnight, everything I did involved the web. Contact: mgann@wizardsspell.com, 703.742.8404

Kathy Chisefsky
Database Designer & Programmer

My sister and I have always been close. When the first prototype of WizardsSpell began to help my niece Lucy, we saw the potential it might have with other children. We also knew it would be a fun and satisfying piece of work - and it has been! Using technology to bring needed help to people is a joyful occupation.

Most of my career has been spent building business-to-business applications. After having the privilege of building the first B2B internet application for a large corporation, I was hooked on web technology. I continued to enhance my web development skills by pioneering web applications for the banking and food industry. Later I pursued a job working in a smaller environment developing online educational accredited courses for the medical community. In addition to my programming know-how, I really understand how to build databases and make them perform. How does all of this help our user community? "Databasing" is key to assuring our design principles are intact and enables us to add new features quickly! Contact: kathyc@wizardsspell.com, 301.473.8599

Perry Gann
Business Manager, Sound Man

At WizardsSpell, I am the almost-everything-else-guy. I answer lots of emails. I make sure the site is working flawlessly in every way each-and-every day. I ensure enhancements to the technical environment are properly planned and implemented. I manage all the sound production that enables WizardsSpell to speak. I've become an absolute pro with dictionaries!

Prior to WizardsSpell, my career spanned 30 years in telecommunications, encompassing a broad range of responsibilities and technologies. I programmed, managed global support groups, and directed organizations critical to keeping all the computers up and running and interconnected. Working with the internet was just a logical next step from all my previous networking experience. Contact: perrygann@wizardsspell.com, 703.742.8404

Bob Palloni
Database Design & Technical Infrastructure

I am the family "IT Consultant." My expertise in server applications and databases helps assure the smooth operation of WizardsSpell. I work with the very creative family forces to insure WizardsSpell functions optimally for all of our users!

Most of my career has been spent planning strategic use of technology, evaluating requirements, and programming unique applications to meet the needs of special businesses. WizardsSpell is indeed a special business!