About

I'm a software engineering manager with a career spanning startups, enterprise technology, streaming media, and the nonprofit arts sector. I care deeply about building strong teams, shipping software that matters, and creating environments where people can do their best work.

Currently, I lead teams of software and QA engineers at Tessitura Network, a nonprofit providing CRM and ticketing technology to arts and cultural organizations worldwide. Before that, I spent years at Warner Bros. Discovery — a path that began at a video streaming startup which was later acquired and formed into Warner Bros. Digital Labs. There I specialized in QA engineering — building open-source automation frameworks in Python across web, iOS, Android, OTT platforms, and backend APIs — eventually leading 30+ person global engineering teams through rapid scaling, major platform transitions, and real organizational change. Earlier, I was a software engineer at IBM on the WebSphere and Watson teams, working on enterprise business rules management systems — building Java test automation and developing front-end code in JavaScript.

Across all of it, I've cared about creating teams where people with different backgrounds and experiences are genuinely valued — not as a policy, but as a practice. Psychological safety isn't a talking point for me; it's something I actively work to build and protect.

I hold an A.B. in Computer Science from Bryn Mawr College, where I played varsity tennis and earned Scholar Athlete honors. I was also President and Music Director of the student-led musical theatre organization, conducting productions of Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and Chicago, among others. I served as Principal Bassoon in the Haverford–Bryn Mawr Bi-College Orchestra and studied with prominent Philadelphia-area musicians through private lessons and master classes. I went on to attend the Bard College Conductors Institute where I studied conducting under the late Harold Farberman — conductor, composer, and Juilliard-trained percussionist — and continue to perform in Philadelphia-area groups across musicals, choral concerts, hired chamber music, pops, and symphony orchestras.

Mel Shafer with Jim Gardner after performing Peter and the Wolf with the Roxborough Symphony Orchestra — *Peter and the Wolf* with the Roxborough Symphony Orchestra — retired 6ABC anchor Jim Gardner as narrator, a fundraiser for children with special needs (May 2023). 6ABC ↗

Harold Farberman, conductor and director of the Bard College Conductors Institute — Harold Farberman — conductor, composer, and Juilliard-trained percussionist who directed the Conductors Institute at Bard College.

Mel Shafer playing tennis at Bryn Mawr College — Varsity tennis at Bryn Mawr College — NCAA Division III Scholar Athlete.

Conducting Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring at the Bard College Conductors Institute.

O Little Town of Bethlehem — self-arranged and performed for bassoon quartet.