Newtype Inc. Who Are We?

Who We Are

Jo Ann Porto, CEO

Jo Ann holds a BS in Business Administration from Fordham University. She joined Newtype in 1984 as a Sales and Marketing Manager, the same year that she married Mark and was welcomed into the Porto family. In subsequent years Jo Ann held the position of Translation Project Manager, followed by Accounting Dept. Manager and then VP Finance, overseeing all financial aspects of the company.
In 2001 Jo Ann became majority stockholder of the company, and was promoted to CEO of Newtype, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the business’s operations. Additionally, Jo Ann takes particular interest in working with our Sales Executive Kathleen O’Brien in opening new markets, while participating in WBENC events.
At home, Jo Ann is very active in animal welfare and rescue groups, devoting her time and energy to promoting animal welfare awareness.

Mark Porto, President

Mark is a 1975 graduate of Dartmouth College with a B.A. in Psychology and teaching certification in secondary school education. In addition to serving as vice president and fraternity rush chairman of Alpha Delta fraternity, Mark was a 3-year starter on the Dartmouth men’s varsity soccer team. Following graduation, Mark worked in the Logistics department of ITT for 4 years, and then began work at Newtype in 1979 as Vice President. With his father’s training, Mark learned the business “from the bottom up”, working in each department for several months at a time in order to understand what was required of each job description.
Upon Joseph Porto’s retirement in 1979, Mark was promoted to President. With Mark’s aptitude and interest in foreign languages, Newtype’s focus turned to providing foreign language translations and desktop publishing in both the advertising and corporate sectors, a sector largely underserved at that time. Mark’s current duties include the overseeing of all work performed by both in-house staff and contract help, maintaining quality control on all aspects of Newtype’s work, and keeping in daily contact with clients and prospects alike. Outside the office, Mark enjoys playing golf and coaching a men’s soccer team.

Kathleen O’Brien, Account Executive

Kathleen has a solid background in translation: she holds a B.A. in Spanish Language, Literature and Culture from Loyola University in Maryland and spent a semester studying at the University of Seville in Seville, Spain where she completed her degree. In 2004, Kathleen entered the translation industry, working with one of the larger translation firms in New York City. Kathleen worked her way up from various roles in project management and by the end of her first year working with that firm, she was in charge of the account management for the firm's largest clients. In June of 2006 Kathleen joined the Newtype team where she is now overseeing new Business Development. Outside the office, Kathleen enjoys sailing, triathlons, cooking, knitting, and, along with her husband, keeping up with their two Labrador retrievers.

Raissa Spatola, Production Manager

Raissa has been a professional in graphics production for 20 years. She holds a BFA in graphic design from Kean University and has a solid understanding of design and typography. Raissa’s career journey has taken her through the many and varied areas of print production from analog to digital prepress and print. In 2005, she joined the Newtype team as Production Manager where she oversees our Desktop Publishing and Project Management departments. She reads and understands both French and Spanish. Outside the office Raissa enjoys papercrafting (card making, scrapbooking), photography and taking long walks with her two black Lab mixes.

Oana Drew, Project Manager

Oana joined Newtype in September 2007, after working for a major pharmaceutical company in the US and various other multinational corporations in Europe. She holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Brasov, Romania (1991) and she is working on completing a MBA degree. She studied in Romania and Hungary, with an internship in Italy. Comfortable interacting with different cultures, Oana has travelled extensively, both for business and pleasure. She is fluent in Romanian, English and French, with knowledge of German and Italian. She co-authored a series of 12 manuals for English for Business, for long distance study, targeted at Romanians wanting to learn the specific language used for business.
In her spare time she enjoys photography, hiking, dancing, reading and biking. She has been trained well by two children and one Akita.

Tom Bias, Systems Manager

Tom Bias began working as a typographer in 1971, shortly after graduation from Amherst College, where he majored in English literature. During the next three years he also worked in prepress and photo preparation as well as typography. In 1974 he traveled in the Middle East, where he learned to speak Farsi and to read the Arabic alphabet. Tom also has near fluency in French, Portuguese, and Italian. He came to Newtype in 1998, set up the procedures for desktop publishing in Far Eastern and Middle Eastern languages and organized the networking of Newtype’s Macintosh and Windows-based computers. Outside the office he enjoys playing tennis and singing in a community oratorio chorus. He’s married for over thirty years and has one adult daughter.