<img height="1" width="1" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1276476679054620&amp;ev=PageView &amp;noscript=1">

Our Team

Your success is our passion

Zip Code Team

We're a team of dedicated and passionate educators, coaches, and movers and shakers. A team whose sole purpose is to teach you the skills you need to land your first job as a software developer. Our goal is to help you start a career as a software developer so you can make an everlasting mark on the world in an incredibly impactful way. It’s passion meets profession.

Desa Burton_Headshot_2022_website

Desa Burton

Executive Director

A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Desa spent 10 years as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve. She later earned an M.B.A. from Florida International University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Economic Law. Prior to coming to Zip Code, she was the Assistant General Counsel of Intellectual Property at InterDigital, Inc., where she served as the senior transactions counsel for research and development, technology innovation and government contracts.

Kris

Kristofer Younger

Director of Education

For 30 years, Kris worked at numerous successful startups, including Sun Microsystems, NeXT, and Netscape, centering his technical expertise around networked computing of all kinds. Kris' coding interest, dormant for many years of management focus, was re-kindled about 10 years ago when he returned to his roots as a computer scientist (Purdue, '84), writing web apps and mobile apps. He has been working on the idea of digital assets since about 1996.

Lossie2

Lossie Freeman

Director of Corporate Partnerships

Lossie began her career on Wall Street at JPMorgan Investment Bank where she worked for 8 years as an Internal Global Consultant assisting in the launch of their Foreign Exchange business in Korea and helping to initialize an Asset Management joint venture in Tokyo. Before joining the Zip Code team, she was a Special Assistant to the Mayor for the City of Wilmington, focusing on Employment Initiatives through coordination and development of a robust employment infrastructure in partnership with the business community to promote job placement, job creation, and employment skills training opportunities for residents.

Updated Headshot_Dolio Durant

L. Dolio Durant

Lead Technical Instructor

With over 15 years in web and software development, Dolio first gained interest in programming while building a physical therapy device with web connectivity at MIT, where he received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Since then, Dolio has developed software for telecommunications, online learning applications, and e-commerce for various industries and institutions, as well as serving as an instructor and mentor to students of all ages.

Mikaila

Mikaila Akeredolu

Technical Instructor

Mikaila is a Full-Stack Developer and alumnus of Zip Code Wilmington. After completing coding boot camp, Mikaila was a Software Developer at Comcast. While volunteering at Delaware State University's App Academy, he discovered his passion for teaching. He later decided to combine his love for computer science and his passion for education.

Tyrell-1

Tyrell Hoxter

Technical Instructor

Tyrell's expertise lies in front-end development and creating course curriculum. He previously worked for Comcast as a Software Developer before deciding to come back and teach for Zip Code Wilmington.

Nancy

Nancy Byrne

Office Manager

Nancy received her B.S. in Business Education and a Master’s Degree in Management. Prior to Zip Code, she worked in various administrative roles at a community college for the past 13 years, and before that she worked as Admissions Office Manager at a private school in New Jersey.

Dan

Dan Stabb

Director of Admissions & Professional Development

Dan comes to Zip Code after working in higher education for over 15 years. Along with his extensive background in working with students, he has performed & taught improvisation for over a decade. He is incredibly excited to work with applicants throughout their admissions process, while also managing and co-facilitating Zip Code's professional development program.

Headshots and Stock Pics  (4)-1

Danielle Greene

Coordinator, Social Media and Events

Danielle earned her B.A in Mass Communications from Delaware State University. After graduating, she spent time as a Marketing Director with a Chick-fil-A Franchise and worked in Guest Relations with the Atlanta Braves. Before joining the Zip Code Wilmington Team, she was recruited to be the Manager of Client/Partner Success at a technology start-up, where she focused on content creation, onboarding clients, and various administrative tasks.

Our Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board members help connect us to our corporate partners. They help drive employer engagement in our program and continue to connect our graduates to purposeful career opportunities within our corporate partners’ organizations.

Jim Kelly

Former Delaware Market President, Capital One

Bob Ridout

Former CIO of DuPont

Rod Ward

CSC

Mike Zbranak

JPMorgan Chase

Our Founders & Board of Directors

Zip Code Wilmington’s Board of Directors are the giants of our organization. They lead us with careful and meaningful oversight, connect us to thought leaders in our field, and curate our resources. They’re what drives our success!

zcw-team-ben-dupont

Ben duPont

Co-Founder and President

Ben duPont, is a venture capitalist, co-founder and Managing Partner at Chartline Capital Partners. Chartline Capital Partners has 26 portfolio companies. 

Porter head shot at desk-1

Porter Schutt

Co-Founder

Porter is a partner at Brown Advisory, a leading independent investment management firm with approximately $100 billion in assets.

Teri Quinn Gray

Teri Quinn Gray

Board Member

Teri is the Chief Operating Officer at Provivi, Inc., a groundbreaking science-based company creating scalable, safer insect control technology that will improve the quality of life for all humans and our world. She is also a Director with the American Chemical Society, former President of the Delaware State Board of Education, and has been inducted into the Delaware Women's Hall of Fame. 

Gary Moyer_Photo for Website

Gary Moyer

Board Member

Gary is a Technology Executive at TD Bank currently leading the Canadian Consumer Investments technology organization. He previously served as SVP, Card Issuer Services for Fiserv; and, former Managing Director, CTO at Chase Consumer Lending.

Diego Calderin_Photo for Website

Diego F. Calderin

Board Member

Calderin is a principal at PreCode Labs LLC, a Silicon Valley technology incubator that helps identify and create companies in the cyber security space.

Dax Hill_Photo for Website-1

Ayanna (“Dax”) Hill

Board Member

Hill is Senior Innovation Manager at Vanguard, providing budgetary, compliance and reporting oversight for Vanguard Fintech Ventures, which invests in startups.

zcw-team-james-stewart

Jim Stewart

Co-Founder, Emeritus

Jim is CEO of Epic Research and Co-Founder and former President of Juniper Bank, now Barclaycard.

Our Steering Committee

These are the technology leaders within our partner companies. Our Steering Committee meaningfully contributes to our curriculum, provides guidance for our assessments, and offers valuable feedback on the quality of graduates.

Sethu Iyer

Bank of America

Aaron Kipnis

BlackRock

Maureen Padgett

CSC

Tim Savery

Chatham Financial

Shelton Shugar

Barclaycard

Srini Uppalapati

Capital One

Sreeram Srinivasaragavan

Marlette Funding

Neelesh Prabhu

TD Bank

Tony Tancredi

Diamond Technologies

Matt Egyhazy

M&T Bank/Wilmington Trust