Our Team

Paul J Gardner - Founder, Conductor of Magical Publishing

Paul is an acknowledged book freak.  His whole life has been spent working and living  in the world of the graphic arts and the printed page.  

As a lifelong student and reader, he has devoured over 9,000 books.  As a book collector, he has amassed a collection of 50,000 wonderful, odd and rare books. And he's given more than 5,000 books to friends, relatives, libraries and charities. 

Paul has spent the last 25 years in the printing industry; first in sales and then operations management. From 2004 to 2007 Paul served as VP Operations at Rastar, another slightly disruptive company.  During that time Rastar's revenues nearly doubled,to about $50 million. Most recently, Paul lead the planning and creation of a multi-million dollar photo book factory in Toronto, Canada.

Paul is a veteran of the US Coast Guard and an Eagle Scout. 

 

Duane Michaelis - Co-founder, Architect of Disruption

Duane is an accomplished software developer and systems architect, deeply immersed in creating the framework and and base architecture that powers the magic of TimeStarvd.  

Previously Duane was the lead software developer and workflow engineer on Rastar's Photo Products project.  Working alone over the first two years, Duane developed the fledgling Photo Book manufacturing industry's first dedicated and comprehensive, production & workflow software suite.  This early system laid the groundwork architecture and design that today enables Rastar to produce nearly half a million books in a peak six week period, generating tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue. 

Since 2008 Duane has been the leader of software development team which has grown from just one developer (Duane!) to a team of twelve, supporting more than a dozen different projects.

Prior to Rastar, Duane worked for Authorize.Net, L-3 Communications and Dentrix, where he worked on projects ranging from integrated billing solutions to communications modules for military observation platforms.  

Duane graduated from Utah State University in 1997 with a Computer Science degree.

 

Terry A. Kirkpatrick - Editorial Director

Terry is a former national feature and business writer for The Associated Press and managing editor of The Reader’s Digest.  He is the author and editor of several books on management.

Terry created a thought leadership journal for Peppers and Rogers group and launched an award-winning website for CEOs for IBM. He was deputy editor of CIO Insight magazine and a contributing editor for strategy+business, the Booz Allen journal. He has also written for McKinsey, Marakon and Gartner.

 

Kelly Taylor - Marketing Director, Creative Strategist

Kelly was born a “creative” individual over 40 years ago and has spent his life pursuing the dream that creativity is a valuable asset. After schooling in fine art, Kelly launched a successful brand agency, spent time building various companies, and offers his consulting services to those seeking to jump start or reinvent themselves.

Kelly is an experienced risk taker who understands that you can't please everyone - and shouldn't even try if your aim is to stand out from the crowd.  His personal mission statement: Marry creativity with sound business strategy, then work hard and enjoy the ride.