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Generation Tech

Meet thirty Texas multimedia whizzes under thirty. One of them could be the next Michael Dell.
by Patricia Busa and Katy Vine

Christina Jones, 29 Founder, President

pcOrder, Austin

How she started Jones co-founded the Austin software company Trilogy in 1989. Seven years later, at age 26, she traded in her stock to launch pcOrder, an online platform for sellers of computers and software.
Order up Jones made a deal last September with wholesale distributor Ingram Micro to get access to a network of brand-name PC makers, including Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM. That same month, pcOrder filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares to the public. (No date is set for the offering.) According to the filing, the company's revenues were $9.6 million during the first half of 1998. Maybe that's why she made the cover of Forbes last November.

Sverre Kvernmo, 27 Lead Level Designer
Jonathan Wright, 27 Lead Programmer

Bloodshot Entertainment, Dallas

Let the games begin These guys know how to play; Kvernmo, a native Norwegian, was the United Kingdom's Doom deathmatch champion in 1995, and Wright fancies himself the ultimate Ultima fanatic. But they also know how to work--and they've had to: When they were at Dallas' ION Storm, they were principals on the team that worked on the year's most hotly anticipated game, Daikatana.
Blow a fiery kiss good-bye In November they packed up their toys, took nine other ION Stormers with them, and started their own game development company. Their first project is based on the exploits of the seventies megagroup Kiss. Rock on!

Janie Martinez-Gonzalez, 26 President, Project Manager

Web-Hed Technologies, San Antonio

.community A creator and host of Web sites, Martinez-Gonzalez deserves more than her share of good karma: In addition to working with an organization called Project Bridge that teaches underprivileged kids from San Antonio's West Side about computers, she configured the server that houses the site for public television station KLRN; she also maintains the server for Salsa.Net, a nonprofit consortium promoting awareness of the Internet and working to bring improved telecommunications to the San Antonio area.
May the force be with him Martinez-Gonzalez's infant son is named Anakin, as in Anakin Skywalker--Darth Vader's birth name.

Yehudi Mercado, 25 Concept Designer, Character Animator

Human Code, Austin

Drawing raves The self-described animation junkie has five major game titles under his belt, including the Schoolhouse Rock series, Knowledge Adventure's JumpStart Adventures 6th Grade, and Hasbro Interactive's Girl Talk. Now he has his first original concept in the works, a problem-solving game for young girls called First Daughter. "I love pencils and sketchpads," he says. "There's nothing more rewarding than filling up a blank sketchbook and looking back through it."
Dress code He wears shorts every day (even on his wedding day last May, when he wore them with a tuxedo jacket). A month after he returned from his honeymoon, Human Code officially recognized shorts as suitable attire for work.

Rachel Muir, 27 Founder, Executive Director

SmartGrrls, Austin

You go, girl She has made a career of educating girls about technology. Her nonprofit SmartGrrls--founded in 1997 in the living room of her apartment--finds college-age women to teach semester-long courses in Web-page building to girls in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Muir develops the curriculum in collaboration with graduate students in math and sciences at the University of Texas, recruits the volunteers, and applies for grant money (she's raised $140,000 so far). And, yes, she's moved into a real office.
What, no Bit-o-Honey? Students who do well receive Smarties. "It's the SmartGrrls candy of choice," Muir says.

Brad Peebler, 29 Vice President, Marketing

NewTek, San Antonio

It's the software, stupid Peebler hit the big time when he oversaw the creation of LightWave 3D, the best-selling animation program in the film, video, and broadcast business. You can see it at work in the movies (Titanic, Men in Black), on TV shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena: Warrior Princess), and in commercials for companies like Carnival Cruise Lines and M&Ms. "You know those little M&M guys?" he asks. "They aren't real." Is that so?
His brilliant career "We'll be watching a show that uses LightWave extensively," Peebler says, "and they'll often cut to a commercial break consisting of three or four LightWave-generated commercials back to back. We always high-five when that happens."

Heath Stallings, 28 President

AllGood Media, Dallas

Team player Although three Web sites he designed have been nominated for Cool Site of the Year awards, Stallings is refreshingly ego-free, insisting that Net work means teamwork. Okay: He and his team have worked with a roster of clients that includes Disney, Capitol Records, VH1, and Sony.
Home sweet homepage Recently, Stallings has begun sharing his talents with anyone who has Internet access and some cash. How does it work? Log on to allgoodmedia.com, pay $60 to $150, and you can create your own customized Web site by following simple instructions.
Clothes make the man To win a bet, Stallings once showed up for an interview at the MTV Beach House wearing a pink sundress.

Brian Wancho, 24 El Paso Online Editor

Road Runner, El Paso

Beep, beep Wancho created the first El Paso­specific Web search engine and a local news archive for Road Runner, a high-speed online service providing community information; it's quickly becoming one of the region's most visited Web sites. On his own he has written Web programming for the ABC-TV affiliate, run a Web design company, and created several Web sites, including one for the El Paso Mission Trail Association. For his next project, he's working with the local 911 office to provide up-to-the-minute online traffic and police information.
He wants candy "Above all else," Wancho says, "I have a weakness for sour Gummy Worms."

Mike Wilson, 28 Co-founder, CEO

Gathering of Developers, Dallas

GOD squad Gathering of Developers is a computer and video game publishing company that is an umbrella group for some of the industry's hottest game developers, such as 3D Realms, Edge of Reality, and Epic MegaGames. Wilson is happy to let them be the marquee talent: "I run a 'record label' where the big rock stars don't drink, do drugs, or even date much." Revenge of the nerd! Previously, Wilson had been CEO of ION Storm, development director at Dwango, and marketing director at id Software. Not bad for a guy who spent his teen years hunched over a Dungeons & Dragons board.

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