OUR TEAM
Ryan BostickCVO and Founder
Ryan is our founder and sales/marketing expert focused on technical sales for 20 years. He's worked in almost every market, from renewable energy, oil and gas, and electric vehicles, to name a few. He spent ten years helping designers find innovative fastening solutions for their applications. Ryan has an M.B.A. from Texas A&M University and a B.B.A. in International Business from Stephen F. Austin State University. For the last six years, Ryan and his team have helped electric vehicle and battery start-ups take their designs from concept to launch.
Ryan moved to California in 2016 to manage his employer's electric vehicle and renewable efforts. While working in these markets, he saw firsthand some of the holes in a start-up's launching practice from a joining standpoint. They relied heavily on partners and their joining needs, but they often spent weeks or months waiting for a solution. Engineers would search online for "what fits in the hole" without a strong understanding of the fastener's needs. With a problem in mind, he began to look for experts that could help fill that gap with a virtual tool and launched our first product.
In his free time, Ryan enjoys traveling the world with his adventurous wife Heather and spending time with his family and friends. He's worked in or visited 48 states in the U.S.A. and traveled to over 25 countries worldwide. He's an avid golfer and mountain biker, but as he's gotten older, that has slowed down. Ryan has always been a movie-goer and will watch everything at least once. He is also a foodie and loves to try new and exciting dishes.
Ryan has three passions that he supports: abilities, animals, and the environment. He's a strong supporter of anyone able and willing to provide to the world, and he will also chip in or work with any charity or foundation that protects the planet and animals.
Tim BartlettChief Contributor
Tim started his fastener education over 40 years ago and joined the industry with Avdel® blind products in Canada as their president of sales and marketing. He helped merge Avdel with Cherry Rivets under Textron Fastening before the business was bought out by Stanley Black and Decker. Avdel invented almost every structural rivet in the market as well as most of the blind tooling for them and rivnuts. As director of tooling, tim launched and helped design most of the tools, but he was also the go to design guru for most of the sales team. If you couldn’t find a solution, you went to Tim. Tim is also an expert in automation, specifically blind, but he can help with any type needed. Tim helped us create JoiningIt™, so let us know if you like to learn more about him.
Heather BostickCreative and Learning Director
Heather creates the courses for LearningIt and assists in the web design process. Heather was an educator for 17 years (12 TX and 4 CA) and earned a Masters in Education from Stephen F. Austin State University (2011). As an educator, she taught intermediate math and science and was an instructional coach; however, her passion was teaching 5th graders in a self-contained classroom. Heather became well-versed in creating online courses during the pandemic for her students to ensure that lessons were fun and engaging, and she has brought this teaching style into our learning platform.
During her downtime, Heather is a volunteer for the Junior League of The Woodlands, where she volunteers to assist and support those in her local community. One of her favorite shifts includes being a fairy-godmother to at-risk teens, and enjoys searching through donated evening wear provided by the Giving Gown Foundation to have a memorable prom night. Heather enjoys going to Asia to work at animal sanctuaries to provide animal husbandry, enrichment, and maintenance to facilities during her summers. She has worked at the Samboja Lestari sanctuary in Borneo to better the lives of orangutans and sun bears. Heather has also volunteered at the Laos Wildlife Sanctuary, where their sole purpose is to prevent animal trafficking and rehabilitate them to either be released back into a protected national forest or provide them a forever home if they are unable to survive in the wild. Heather has also volunteered her time in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where she spent a week shadowing an elephant moute, where she fed, walked, and bathed elephants that were rescued from the logging industry or used as an enjoyment transportation ride.
Outside of working and volunteering, Heather enjoys traveling and living life through unique experiences, with her favorite being dog sledding in Colorado, which helped the dogs prepare for the iditarod. While at home, she enjoys lounging around and spending time with her sidekick Stanley, who fills their house with love and laughter because of his extreme cuteness and silly antics.
Evan JohnstonFull Stack Developer
Evan has been with our team from the beginning as the company’s full stack developer. In addition to designing and implementing new features, he handles service delivery, automated testing, database administration, and system monitoring.
Before joining Finding Fasteners, Evan was a Software Development & Pedagogy Intern at 42 Silicon Valley, where he developed student management tools in Python, led new student programs, and contributed to curriculum development. Evan earned bachelor's degrees in Dance and Biological Sciences from UC Irvine (2011).
Software development is Evan's second career, after a 14-year career as a professional dancer with companies including Menlowe Ballet, Bay Pointe Ballet, em(body) dance project, and more. He is proficient in ballet, modern, and contemporary dance; he particularly enjoys partnering and portraying characters with a broad emotional range.
When he isn't coding, Evan is passionate about learning various skills such as dancing, reading, refining his cooking skills, and effective altruism. Evan supports various effective charities through GiveWell's Maximum Impact Fund, which focuses on evidence-based charities to support a cause.
Justin ReeseFull Stack Developer
Justin is a member of our software development team. He focuses mainly on front-end development and user experience. He is responsible for designing & implementing new features and making sure the website is appealing & easy to use.
Software development is Justin's second career, after a career in restaurant I.T. management; he was first introduced to coding leading him down the path to software development. After deciding to transition careers, he received his certification as a Full Stack Web Developer from The University of Texas-Austin (2020).
Aside from coding, Justin enjoys computer gaming, reading, traveling to new and exciting places, and long walks with Abby, his family dog. He is an avid moviegoer and loves fishing trips with family and friends, his favorite destination for deep-sea fishing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Our Contributing Experts
We have experts in weld studs, Huck® Bolts, assembly friendly threads like MAThread®, specialty screws like a SEMS screw, Delta PT®, or Taptite® that helped us design and build both FindingIt™ and JoiningIt™. We have over 180 years of joint qualification experience and launch practices built into the site. Our experts shaped the start of our product, but they also support our users daily with answers to questions. From choosing the right rivet nut to learning which locknuts are the best choice for your vibration concerns, our goal is to be a one stop shop where all the experts are here to help.