Ted Slater
Senior Web Developer · Founder of Orchard Grove Media
For more than three decades I’ve worked with every wave of new media technology — managing teams of developers, serving hundreds of clients, and producing countless compelling, profitable websites. Today that means running sites at news scale, shipping free open-source WordPress plugins, and building AI tools for working newsrooms.
Experience, education, commitment
Experience
Three decades managing the design, development, and maintenance of hundreds of websites, online stores, membership sites, and social networks — working both independently and with teams of developers.
Education
Master’s degree in Intercultural Communication. Master’s degree in Education. Bachelor’s degree in English/Journalism. Bachelor’s degree in Spanish.
Commitment
Loyalty to my employers, fellow employees, and clients. Dedication to complete projects on time and in ways that meet requirements and exceed expectations.
Orchard Grove Media
Since 1994 my practice has grown by referral into a boutique web studio — Orchard Grove Media, LLC — where the day-to-day work looks like this:
Client work at news scale
Designing, building, and running WordPress sites for national publishers — performance, caching, monetization, and migrations for sites that have to stay up on their biggest day.
Eight free WordPress plugins
SEO, analytics, watermarking, polls, syndication, author payouts, auto-tagging, site diagnostics — built for the sites I run first, then released free and open source at orchardgrove.com.
AI, put to work
Custom tools on Claude and OpenAI for working newsrooms: drafts in each author’s own voice, answers from a publication’s entire archive, an editorial typo scanner, and site audits. The tools draft — people decide.
The studio side of my work — services, plugins, and project inquiries — lives at orchardgrove.com.
An editor’s eye, an engineer’s hands
I read like an editor and build like a developer — the same person can fix your database and your grammar.
Managerial & editorial
- 7+ years managing the development and maintenance of hundreds of websites, and growing relationships with dozens of website owners and ad vendors
- 5+ years overseeing a national online magazine for young adults, managing a $100,000 annual budget
- Experience leading teams of website developers, collaborating with them to write code as necessary to bring new functionality to a variety of websites
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including conversational fluency in Spanish; excellent understanding of APA and AP styles; accurately type 75 WPM
- Experience interacting with clients throughout the United States and internationally to identify and document business and application requirements
Technical
- 30+ years designing, building, and maintaining hundreds of websites, online stores, membership sites, and social networks, working both independently and with teams of developers
- WordPress specialist for more than a decade: custom theme and plugin development, responsive ad placement, speed optimization, and whatever it takes to exceed expectations
- Building with AI since the current wave began: production tools on the Claude and OpenAI APIs, retrieval-augmented search, and AI-assisted editorial workflows
- Proficient with a broad spectrum of technologies and applications — the full toolbox is below
- Proficient with both Macintosh and Windows operating systems
The toolbox
Thirty years of tools — the ones in daily rotation and the ones that built the early web.
Employment history
An abridged look at three decades of building for the web — from hand-coded pages to national news networks.
Orchard Grove Media, LLC — Founder & Senior Developer
What began as a freelance practice in 1994 now operates as Orchard Grove Media, my boutique web studio. Most of my projects have come about through recommendations from current and former clients — a testimony to the attentiveness I give my clients and the quality of my work. For more than a decade I’ve focused almost exclusively on WordPress: custom theme development, responsive ad placement, speed optimization, functions and shortcode coding — whatever it takes to exceed my clients’ expectations. Today that includes running publications serving millions of pageviews a day, maintaining eight free open-source WordPress plugins, and building AI tools that draft, search, and audit for working newsrooms.
Yippy Inc. / Republican Legion Inc. — Senior Web Designer
As senior web designer at Yippy Inc. and Republican Legion Inc., I was responsible for the functionality and design of the RepublicanLegion.com WooCommerce/WordPress online store, including customizations and integrations with Authorize.net, PayPal, ReAmaze, MailChimp, Klaviyo, InboxFirst, Square, ShipStation, Google Analytics, and Facebook. I also improved the responsive look and feel of the Yippy.com search engine, including the image search results pages, and was responsible for all functionality, design, advertising, and newsletters for a variety of news websites, including TheWashingtonSentinel.com, FreedomOutpost.com, and GodfatherPolitics.com.
Romulus Marketing / Klicked Media — CTO & Senior Web Designer
At Romulus Marketing and Klicked Media I was responsible for every aspect of developing and maintaining over 60 active websites and webstores, from hosting and DNS to theme development to content creation and editing to ad optimization. Over the years I managed relationships with dozens of website owners and editors, providing training and being available 24/7 to resolve urgent requests. In early 2019, I personally managed the migration of over 150 websites from WP Engine to Flywheel — a feat accomplished over the course of 10 days.
Teen Challenge International, USA — IT Manager
At the national Teen Challenge office, I maintained the office systems and helped develop the ministry’s variety of websites and Magento-based online store.
Crossway Books — Digital Marketing Manager
During my tenure at Crossway, I developed and executed marketing plans for Crossway’s digital resources, including eBooks and mobile apps. I was also tasked with leading Crossway’s digital product development, including book applications, web content, enhanced digital books, and subscription services. I lost my job because of a corporate restructuring and consequential reduction in force.
Focus on the Family — Editor, Boundless
As editor of Boundless.org and BoundlessLine.org at Focus on the Family, I was responsible for both the editorial and technical side of the online magazine and blog. This included contracting with dozens of authors to write articles and blog posts adhering to Boundless style and messaging, managing a $100,000 annual budget, editing according to AP style, creating all the artwork, marking up text with HTML and any relevant scripting, creating contests and surveys, entering articles into our database/CMS, writing and coding a weekly e-newsletter to 30,000 subscribers, writing 600 blog posts, enhancing our sites with new functionality and design, building a mobile-friendly version of the site, facilitating SEO, evaluating visitor statistics, and engaging constituents through social media and personal e-mail. I lost my job because of a reduction in force that resulted from a ministry-wide series of budget cuts.
Fluency/Netdecisions — Art Director & Lead UI Developer
Through two company restructurings, I served as Art Director, Lead UI Developer, and Voice User Interface Developer. Responsibilities included managing corporate internet and intranet websites, defining corporate and product branding (including logos and style guide), assisting with requirements gathering and rapid UI prototyping, designing much of the UI for the primary tool our developers used to create voice applications, creating several marketing videos, designing product brochures, and creating multi-platform CD-ROMs for trade shows. I lost my job because of a corporate restructuring and consequential reduction in force.
Christian Broadcasting Network — Internet & New Media Developer
As an internet and new media front-end developer at CBN, I designed and maintained websites (including CBN.com) and multimedia presentations, edited video and audio, and designed miscellaneous print publications — ads, flyers, forms, and more.
Business International Networks — GUI Department Manager
As manager of the Graphical User Interface department, I coordinated the design and development of a technologically progressive international business-related website. Responsibilities included hiring and supervising three employees.
Regent Times, Regent University — Adviser & Editor
As alumnus adviser and editor of the graduate university’s student newspaper, I performed copy editing and all photo editing, design, and page layout.
Operación Bendición — Desktop Publishing Consultant
As a volunteer desktop publishing consultant, for seven weeks I assisted the editors of the monthly Spanish-language periodical Desafío in better utilizing their software and understanding contemporary layout design and communication theories.
Four degrees, two disciplines
Communication and language on one side, teaching and technology on the other — both show up in the work every day.
Intercultural Communication
Regent University — Virginia Beach, Virginia
Education (emphasis in English as a Second Language)
Regent University — Virginia Beach, Virginia
English (minor in Journalism)
Northern Michigan University — Marquette, Michigan
Spanish
Northern Michigan University — Marquette, Michigan
Sites I’ve been responsible for
Design, development, ad placement, hosting setup, DNS configuration, and so on — every aspect of the following websites, with the longer client list below.
Additional clients over the years — the longer list
In their words
Colleagues, clients, and writers I’ve worked with over the years.
Ted is a passionate, committed Web editor who pours himself into his writing and work. Over the years that I’ve worked with Ted I have seen him work tirelessly to understand and master new innovations and Web trends with the determination to provide the best possible user and communication experience for his end users. If your primary goal is the care, feeding and happiness of your customers, you’ll never be sorry to have Ted on your team.
An associate from both Regent University and Focus on the Family. Ted shows character and quality work. I wish him the best in his career.
It’s been a privilege to write for Boundless for the past 3 years, and Ted Slater is a big part of the reason why. Ted stands out as a genuinely encouraging editor who honestly cares about writers. (That’s an increasingly scarce commodity in an era when some mags barely even acknowledge their freelancers’ work.) He’s helped me grow in my craft, recognizing and utilizing my individual strengths as a scribe. I don’t know where God will take him next, but I hope I’ll have the opportunity to work with Ted again.
Ted Slater is an excellent and proven editor with immense experience. My time working with Ted was an absolute pleasure and joy. He improved my work exponentially and was key not only to my personal success as a writer, but also to the success of the magazine. He is an incredibly talented individual with an amazing skill set. Ted deserves my full recommendation and utmost appreciation.
Ted Slater does an excellent job both of managing the technical side of a high-volume web site, but also understanding both the organizations and visitor’s differing needs. He is able to work in the organization to get changes implemented that enhance the user experience and that, in turn, results in high traffic volume. Meeting the needs of the customer is what Ted delivers.
Ted’s initiative and creativity have helped to keep Boundless.org fresh and compelling. I appreciate the enthusiasm he displays in his work and enjoyed working with him to provide resources for his audience.
Ted is extremely creative and productive. He sees the big picture, with its required details, and coordinates them into completion with excellence. He was coordinated in details and completion with all team members for every project on which both he and I worked. He is the type of person leaders wished they had on their teams. I would recommend Ted for all online content or web site team management positions.
I began writing for Boundless.org in 2007 under Ted Slater’s editorial leadership. He’s a skilled editor who did more than just find and edit excellent content—he directed the tone and vision of an entire community of writers and readers. I appreciated the freedom Ted gave me to write what was on my heart while making sure every article fit the spirit and vision of a fantastic online publication.
Ted has a broad skill set that would benefit any organization. He is highly skilled at web development, content management and editing, and front end and back end coding. Ted also has a great work ethic and passionately pursues the good of the organization. It’s been my privilege to work alongside such a gifted individual.
For the last three years, I have worked as a freelance author under Ted’s supervision for Boundless.org at Focus on the Family. Ted has always been very professional, prompt, and helpful in our time working together.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mr. Ted Slater over the last four years during which time I submitted 11 articles to his attention. As editor of Boundless, a popular webzine for young adults, he provided clear guidance on the tone, length, and manner in which articles were to be submitted to his attention. He consistently demonstrated an exceptionally high level of thoughtfulness in his editorial feedback. When he needed to make minor adjustments to my writing, he always preserved my authorial voice and increased the article’s accessibility for the target audience. His knowledge of grammar and diction, as well as his knack for style and creativity, are superb. He is also quite skilled with the ins and outs of html code on at least one platform. I commend him to you wholeheartedly.
I’ve enjoyed working with Ted on a number of projects over the course of several years. I’ve found him to be a man of integrity, a good team player, and passionate about his work.
I look forward to hearing from you.
The fastest way to reach me is email — I read every message myself. Looking to start a website project? That happens at my studio, Orchard Grove Media.
resume@tedslater.com · Arizona, USA