OUR TEAM

Justin Porter
Founder & Chief Solutions Architect

Justin is the Founder of Text Connects and is certified as a Shopify Development Expert. His interest in computers began in high school when he founded the company to serve a hungry market of small businesses with less than ten employees and a list of computer issues.

Today, 22 years later, Justin has been involved in the building, deployment or replatforming of more than 100 e-commerce sites for startups and recognized brands, as well as custom application development and systems integration for more than 60 organizations, from “mom and pop” to enterprise-level. 

He graduated from Daniel Webster College with a degree in Aviation Flight Operations. His studies led him to appreciate the importance of safety and risk mitigation that carryover in his work today. It also earned him what amounts to a second major in computer science, courtesy of his computer-science-major roommates.

As a Pilot-in-Command, Second-in-Command, and flight instructor, Justin has nearly 10,000 hours in the cockpits of single-engine, multi-engine, and turbojet aircraft. 

 

Operations Team

Madison (Maddie) Trott
Project Manager

Maddie “raced” into Text Connects in August 2020 to support our team in managing the dozens of individual projects we are working on at any one time. 

As a committed chef and baker, Maddie knows how to follow the proper steps in managing any project, as well as when to confidently modify a “recipe.” 

Certified as an Administrative Assistant, she knows how to manage her time and priorities well. She is also skilled, as many well-trained Admins are, in “managing up.” A prized skill on our very busy team.

She truly did earn her spot at the company by racing. When not in the office or snuggling her eccentric Shih Tzu and Siamese you’ll find Maddie at the track fabricating and welding Street Stock racing car frames with her NASCAR-driver boyfriend. 

On any project with Maddie our motto is “do not mess with a woman holding a hot welding torch!”

 

 

Kristen Bennett
Administrative & Human Resources Assistant

Kristen joined Text Connects in 2017 after a career managing medical offices. She is “client-facing” with a smile and helps our clients with data entry and production for their e-commerce stores.

An organizational wizard, it’s Kristen that polishes our reputation for keeping projects (and our people!) buttoned-down. An accomplished master-multitasker, she also runs point on billing and invoicing.

Kristen will tell you she loves her “small town country life” in Eastern Connecticut where she was born and raised, graduating from Woodstock Academy. Married and a mother of two “boys” (grown men, really), Kristen is devoted to one particular aspect of life in her small town, NASCAR short track racing.

Weekend nights will find her at local races with her eyes on a certain Chevy Monte Carlo. Behind the wheel is her championship-winning son Zack with her other son, Cameron, a crew member specializing in a race car’s soul, tires. Both are part of the family’s ZR Motorsports team.

Maybe it’s watching the “bump ‘n banging” of short track racing (imagine three-dozen-plus cars trying to pass each other on a half-mile oval!) that enables her to keep her eyes on so many spinning plates at Text Connects. Whatever it is, she loves the work and the team, as well as traveling to client offices, all while managing those spinning plates.

 

 

Sales Team

Tim Kipka
Sales Specialist

Timothy “Timo” Kipka is a Sales Specialist at Text Connects known for bridging the gap between big ideas and practical results. Raised in Cottage Grove, MN, he’s called metro Atlanta home for the past 15 years.

Timo’s professional journey is a distinctive blend of business strategy and high-altitude problem-solving. His years as a flight attendant at a major airline taught him to stay calm in stressful situations, make quick yet thoughtful decisions, and always keep people at the center of every solution.

At Text Connects, Timo excels at connecting with clients across diverse industries, understanding their unique challenges, and delivering tailored technology solutions that help businesses thrive. His background in project management, client relations, and contract negotiation makes him a vital link between sales and development teams.

Outside the office, creativity drives Timo’s pursuits. He’s a published author of “How to Pee in Turbulence Without Getting Your Shoes Wet,” (seriously!) has released an AI-generated music album, and has recently ventured into stand-up comedy.

Married with two children—a talented artist daughter and a Pokémon-obsessed son—Timo brings both dedication and playfulness to every aspect of his life.

If you want a fun story, ask Timo about kicking a 30-yard field goal on an NFL field in dress shoes—an impressive feat that reflects his unique blend of determination and good humor.

Because our founder, Justin Porter, is a former commercial pilot, he no doubt sensed that Timo’s “How to Pee in Turbulence . . .” would be a template for solutions to challenging tasks.

 

 

Development Team

Ethan Tuttle
Front-End Engineer

Ethan joined Text Connects in March of 2022. On arrival, we were going to nickname him “Tuttle from Tulsa,” his birthplace, but withdrew that when we learned his nickname for many years has been “Turtle.” Done. We can’t beat that.

Tasked with the design, creation, and modification of Shopify stores, Ethan is a kind of puzzle master and loves the daily challenges of the pieces and parts he gets to work with as a front-end developer.

He learned to code in C++ in high school, took college courses in computer science and has since adopted C# as his favorite language. He says it’s less “strict.” than C++. [Editor’s note: What evs!]

Ethan migrated to Sacramento, the Gold Rush capital of the world, at an early age and works remotely for Text Connects from there.

There indeed might be a “turtlish” quality to Ethan. He freely shares that he is a hiker, a devoted gamer, and has been working on his own games steadily for more than five years (he says the games he has created map his own growth as a developer)..

Still, you might have to coax him out of his “shell” to find out that he once ran a small team at Google developing a tool for sales agents involved with Google Nest.

The pair of Google Glass he keeps in his home office? He earned those.

 

 

Tristan Frazier
Full Stack Developer

Tristan joined us as a Web Development Intern in March 2022. By June she was promoted to Entry Level Web Developer. What does that mean? Daily she gets to digitally “dirty” her hands with Shopify Theme updates and Shopify App development.

Shopify Themes are the head and heart of your Shopify website. As an Intern she tended to shadow more experienced developers on our team, now they shadow her to help her grow as a developer.

Self-taught in HTML and CSS, she became so keen to learn more she completed MIT’s Professional Certificate in Coding, a full-stack development course.

Married to her high school sweetheart, a “Coastie” or Coast Guardsman, he (really, “they”) are now on their eighth and final duty station.

With all that moving, you might be surprised at how she loves to spend her free time. Camping. With a 23-foot travel trailer named RV-D2 (editor’s note: nerd!), two 6'1" teenage boys (when they agree to go), and a Toy Poodle called Bean.

Bean is described by Tristan as “high maintenance” and “chill.” Hmm.

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” We’re thinking Tristan must have first-rate intelligence. “High maintenance” and “chill”???

She is a proud member of the “50 under 40” club. That is, she has visited all 50 states before she turned 40. [Note to HR: can we say she is still under 40?]

 

 

Marc Trojanowski
Mid-Level Developer

Marc joined Text Connects in May of 2025, bringing with him a rhythm all his own—fitting for someone who once spun tracks as a DJ and producer, touring venues across the country before discovering his true “groove” in code. Born in Hartford and raised in Rocky Hill, Marc’s journey has taken him from North Carolina to New Jersey and back to Connecticut, now calling Bristol home.

As a self-taught developer, Marc’s passion for learning is the driving force behind his work. He started teaching himself Python in 2020, quickly moving on to master HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—his favorite language for its flexibility and creative potential. (Fun fact: he was already building websites in high school, long before it became his career.)

Marc thrives on the ever-changing landscape of web development, relishing the challenge of picking up new skills and technologies. Before joining us, he spent years as an IT Support Technician, but making the leap to web development is the accomplishment he’s most proud of—a true testament to his drive and curiosity.

Off the clock (okay, we don’t really have clocks around), Marc is a dedicated dad to his six-year-old son (his biggest source of pride), a basketball enthusiast, gamer, and the caretaker of a small black cat who supervises his late-night coding sessions. In sum, it’s just coding, parenting, and living life, one line at a time, always ready for the next new adventure.