Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ was born and raised in the Silicon Valley. In 1988 he started working with "R&A Professional Consultants", one of the first computer consultation firms in the valley. After undergraduate work at Santa Clara University he entered the "Society of Jesus", a religious order of the Catholic Church also known as "The Jesuits".

As a Jesuit, Fr. Robert has worked as a teacher, a software developer, a retreat director, a telecom deployment manager, an associate pastor, and the Director of Vocation Promotion for the Jesuits of North America.

In 2001 Fr. Robert started technology-based blogging for "The Tech Stop" which evolved into video views on the "gadget" YouTube channel. Fr. Robert has been a contributor to CSPAN, FOX-5 (DC), BBC World News, NPR and Al Jazeera on topics of technology, religion and society.

Prior to moving on to his post at The Vatican, he was a host on This Week in Enterprise Tech, Know How..., Before You Buy, Coding 101, and Padre's Corner. He has been a guest on many other TWiT shows and remains a regular contributor.