New York Agency an Oswego Family Affair

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When Joe Donofrio ’02 and a partner launched technology and design agency Karbyn Inc., they wanted an innovative environment with a strong focus on building—and maintaining—relationships.

So they stacked the staff with SUNY Oswego graduates, including Michelle Gotay Donofrio ’01, who is married to Joe and is the CFO of Karbyn.

“Starting Karbyn was a long time coming,” Joe said. “I’ve always seen myself as an entrepreneur and knew I always wanted to have my own business. Watching this idea turn into a success through hard work and building a great team is something we feel very proud of.”

From humble beginnings in the Donofrios’ home to offices in Melville and Manhattan just four years later, Karbyn now has 20 employees: Four of them hold degrees from SUNY Oswego and the first hired was Lucas LaReau ’11. Positions include designers, developers, project managers, marketing and strategy and administrative staff. Karbyn has an impressive client list, including fortune 500 companies like Adecco and Comcast; other clients include Endicott College, Dealertrack, Amgen, NBTY and many more. They provide digital services ranging from marketing strategy and design to application development and system integration.

“We love to hire from Oswego,” said Michelle, who is also a member of Sigma Delta Tau sorority. “We know Oswego grads are well prepared, eager to learn and extremely hard working.”

Joe, who has worked in various IT companies throughout his career, most recently as director of content management for MindShift, and Michelle, who has extensive background in both public and private accounting, met at SUNY Oswego in 1999 at The Nut House on West Seneca Street.

“I have so many great memories of Oswego,” Michelle said. “I met some of my best friends there, the beautiful summers, those crazy winters, and I met my amazing husband there. Just that alone is a great story for me!”

Both have siblings who are also graduates: Michelle’s sister, Taissha Gotay ’09 (who is now engaged to LaReau) and Joe’s brother, Anthony Donofrio ’98. The Donofrios welcomed future Laker, Ethan Joseph, on March 26.

Despite Karbyn’s successes in an ever-changing field, Joe wasn’t always interested in technology.

“Early on, my technology interests were more based around music and music production,” he said. “However, as I got introduced to web technologies, it sparked an interest for me and I never looked back.”

For more information about Karbyn, visit them at www.karbyn.com.

—Eileen Crandall

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