Debbie Ridenour, Chief Executive Officer / Keeper of the Flame (Co-Founder)
Debbie is known for her creative use of divergent technologies, unique engineering insights and project management skills. She has worked directly within the information technology industry for more than 20 years. Debbie has a well-earned reputation for being able to understand complex systems or requirements and then producing user friendly products that target those needs. For The Portal Tree, Debbie is responsible for developing business and product strategies that allow the company to maximize shareholder value.

Major corporations (Transamerica, AEGON, and First America) have confidently entrusted critical business operations to Debbie knowing that she would manage them effectively. She particularly enjoys the changing nature of information technology and the abundant opportunities for process improvement. She was the driving force behind ensuring that The Portal Tree infrastructure was entirely virtual and green. To her credit, all of The Portal Tree's administrative and engineering functions are run paperlessly over the web. Besides the obvious benefit to our planet, this also enables The Portal Tree to recruit and use top talent anywhere in the world.
Brian Saastad, Director of Software Development (Co-Founder)
Brian Saastad is the Director of Software Development and a Portal Tree Co-Founder where he is responsible for the software architecture. He also works closely with the database development team. Brian specializes in data stream technology. This ensures that data entering the system is processed quickly, accurately and reliably. Prior to his position at The Portal Tree, Brian was responsible for the data stream architecture of major credit card, telecommunications and real estate data companies.

Brian has more than 20 years experience with software design and development. Java, C, Perl, Unix shell scripts, JSP, PHP, JavaScript, HTML, Oracle PL/SQL, Informix 4GL, and SQL are just a few of the tricks up his sleeve.
Steve Putman, Database Evangelist / Software Custodian
For The Portal Tree, Steve is responsible for database administration and design. He also works closely with the software development team. Steve has more than 20 years experience supporting client/server and Internet-based operations from small offices to major corporations. He is a thought leader in data quality, data governance, and master data management theory and practice, along with enterprise data warehouse architecture and semantic web technology. In his career, Steve has specialized in converting business needs to effective technology solutions.

Steve has experience in all phases of IT operations and strategy, and has specialized in the design and implementation of database systems for companies large and small. He is also a specialist in operational and analytic reporting systems, including data warehouses. He is a thought leader in the areas of data governance and data warehousing, with several published articles to his credit. He brings a great deal of practical and theoretical knowledge to The Portal Tree, and is responsible for efficient, scalable database designs and innovative reporting solutions.
Monica Romero, Director of Realtor Services
Monica is responsible for managing the screening and quality control processes for participating Realtors. She works closely with The Portal Tree software development team to ensure continuous quality control.

Monica is a certified paralegal who has worked for firms specializing in business litigation, civil litigation and corporate ethics committees. Additionally, Monica has over 20 years experience in various levels of administrative support roles and client relations. Prior to her legal career, she worked for a title company, drafting title insurance policies and other real estate documents.
Ken "Kenji" Griffen
Kenji has been a successful serial entrepreneur and contractor, specializing in the design, installation and maintenance of call centers, PBX, voice mail, and WAN (wide area networks). He has launched, built and later sold companies providing technical support and service.

Kenji’s technical experience and depth of understanding of his field make him a truly valuable asset. He is able to engineer and implement telecom solutions from cable to cloud. Prior to his position with The Portal Tree, Kenji has also been a valued and trusted talent sought after and hired by major corporations. Jessie Brader (Co-Founder)
Jessie's expertise is in affiliate networking technologies. Prior to working with The Portal Tree, Jessie was co-owner and co-founder of Planet Ocean Communications and Search Engine News, founded in 1997. She created and managed the affiliate program for Search Engine News, including finding engineers and coordinating the creation of the affiliate management software, as none was available at that early stage of the game. Her visionary qualities bring spice to the secret sauce. Her creativity, Rolodex and guidance make her a valuable and enjoyable asset to our team.

Jessie was one of the first to see how the web could be used to market travel and tourism. In 1995, she launched BestOfHawaii.com, which now has a 14-year history of success. This site has established partner relations with two branches of Expedia, and there also affiliate partnerships with WWTE Travel, Activities World and TravelNow.com

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The Portal Tree, LLC is a software development company focused on creating and licensing products that collect, manage, enhance and distribute opt-in data as sales leads.

The RE-Direct® application collects data through any web-based entry system. This could be a web form or data entered by a call center agent. Once the information has been entered into the system, we perform a series of real time evaluations to ensure the highest probability of closure and customer satisfaction.

Our experience and unique insight into large scale data distribution and management allow The Portal Tree to create products that are modular, scalable, market driven, easy to use and even easier to deploy.

The Portal Tree utilizes a web-based, agile software engineering environment and continuous process improvement to ensure market relevance.

The Portal Tree has grown from friendship and mutual respect of a group engineers and internet marketers with more than a century of combined experience.