Ryan Buckholtz, Co-Founder
Ryan graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in business, and currently lives in Studio City, California. He has been an entrepreneur for as long as he can remember, starting with buying and selling sports cards at trade shows. At the age of fifteen, he founded TeenDriving.com. While attending UNC, he started a business that built computers and day traded stocks for a living. After college, he spent three years in the real estate industry and traveled around the world playing professionally on the poker circuit. He earned his Project Management Certificate from UCLA in 2015 and is currently working as a project manager. Ryan is also active in the Southern California Tech Startup community and helped launch Twistup, a showcase event for innovative startups. He manages operations for the new TeenDriving.com website.
Eileen Buckholtz, Co-Founder
Eileen is Ryan’s mom, as well as a web and e-marketing consultant and the author of over sixty books of fiction and nonfiction for adults, kids, and teenagers. In 2000, she was recognized as one the country’s outstanding women in science and technology by Women in Technology International (witi.org). She was the co-creator of the MicroAdventure and Magic Micro series that taught a whole generation of kids how to program. Recently she is working with Auri’s Ideas to put the Micro Adventure books and programs online at MicroAdventures.net. Eileen, who resides in Sykesville, Maryland, was a professor of e-business and business technology and runs Technology Concepts, where she designs websites and provides e-marketing for small businesses, authors, and individuals. She is currently directing the Queens of Code Project to highlight the stories, experiences, and insights of NSA’s computing women from the 60s, 70s, and 80s..
Our Story
In 1994, we started the New Teen Drivers’ Homepage as an online community service in Howard County, Maryland. The site was created in response to several very serious accidents at Ryan’s high school, Glenelg. Sadly, our community lost 3 students and a teacher in car accidents over a 4-year period, and there were many other serious accidents that resulted in injury. At the time, there wasn’t much out there online, so we came up with the idea of doing a website that gave easy-to-understand tips on safe driving for teens.
Over the past twenty-five years, millions of teens, parents, police, and teachers from all over the world have visited the site, and many have sent in tips. We also get a lot of questions from teens and try to answer as many as possible. This project was recognized as one the most outstanding youth community service projects in the country in 1997 with a Prudential Spirit of America Award.
We think driving tips are important. Just like any skill, driving takes a lot of practice and experience to become good at it. Learning from mistakes and tips from other new drivers helps the process. A lot of the tips on the site are basics that can benefit all drivers—not only teens. Teens and new drivers have significantly more accidents than other age groups. Over the last year, we redesigned the website with improved features and easier navigation.
Thanks for your interest in TeenDriving.com.
– Ryan and Eileen Buckholtz