Meet Our Faculty

Tommy Barnett is a Senior Manager of Customer Interaction Services consulting with The North Highland Company specializing in helping clients across industries develop and enhance their Service and Support Center practices, processes and cost improvement methodologies. Tommy is a certified Support Center Director, Instructor, and Site Auditor specializing in service and support operations with more than 20 years management and consulting experience in designing, staffing and assessing service and support centers; developing service strategies, service level management and educational programs, as well as, performing project management.

Gary brings to the table years of experience in Training, Customer Service and Management,. He has extensive hands-on experience as a trainer, manager and executive in the Customer Service and training fields.Gary is currently a faculty member at the College of Business, Montana State University where he teaches business and management courses and seminars. He additionally serves as a contract Certified Instructor for STI Knowledge.

Gary’s education includes a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics, a Master’s Degree in Management with Post Graduate work in Adult Education. Gary resides in Bozeman, Montana with his wife licia

Rae Ann Bruno is the President of Business Solutions Training, Inc., a firm focused on experiential training for process improvement, business-aligned leadership and team development. Rae Ann is known for her interactive, information packed training courses and her ability to tailor information to her participants so that they can apply it in their respective roles. She has trained all levels of employees in the areas of communications, high performance teaming, DISC Profile, and leadership skill building with a special emphasis on Information Technology.

Rae Ann has over 15 years of management experience with an emphasis on process re-engineering, employee development, and business alignment of IT services. Formerly the Vice President of Strategic Relations for Previo, Rae Ann was the publisher of Previo’s eZine, eSupport Perspectives and has authored many articles and white papers published in various support and service industry publications. In this role, Rae Ann consulted with Previo customers on process re-engineering and best practices and trained support professionals on industry best practices.

Prior to Previo, Rae Ann was the Director of IT Customer Service for Siemens Energy & Automation (SE&A) where she started up an IT training and documentation department, re-engineered the Service Desk, and implemented Incident Management, Problem Management and Service Level Management across the IT organization. She came to SE&A from Cutler-Hammer where she re-engineered the Support and Security teams in her role as Enterprise Support Manager. In her previous role as the Training & Documentation Manager, she worked closely with the business units to develop and deliver business-focused training and support. Her training team won the Cutler-Hammer Award for their innovative and successful training program focused on raising the computer literacy of the Cutler-Hammer sales force through organized peer training.

Rae Ann has her ITIL Service Management Foundation Certificate and is a certified trainer HDI Professional, Knowledge Management, Team Lead, Manager and Director Certifications. Rae Ann was nominated for the 2001 Computer World Premier 100 and was the recipient of the 99 Service Award from Service News. She was the co-chair of the Georgia 100 Mentoring program Alumnae Association and served on the World Leadership Team for Help Desk 2000. She is a regular speaker at leadership and support conferences.

Mr. Celaya is a keynote event speaker and Instructor with 17 years of support center industry experience. Randy has been recognized as a strong motivator, results focused coach and effective communicator working with groups or individuals to achieve success.

Mr. Celaya has worked extensively with Help Desks and Call Centers around the world to develop and train Professional to Director level positions in Customer Support, Critical Thinking, Team Building, and Problem Solving skills. Randy was critical in the conception of one of the Help Desk industries most recognized certifications in the support services industry. Randy has served as the Keynote speaker at Help Desk and Call Center events around the world.

John Custy is the founder and principal of JPC Group, a professional services company focused on IT Service Management (ITSM). The staff and partners of JPC Group have extensive experience developing service management in both large and small organizations, and can leverage their knowledge and experience to assist you in meeting your objectives. He is an ITIL certified Service Management Manager, Service Management Practitioner, and is an itSMF certified ISO/IEC 20000 Consultant. He is a member of the HDI Faculty, an HDI-Certified Auditor, and serves as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the HDI Individual Certification Standards and HDI Support Center Certification Standard. He is also a member of the HDI International Certification Standards Committee. John has been involved with industry certification programs for over 15 years and was a key participant in the development of the HDI Support Center Certification program and the SSPA Support Center Practices program. He was also certified as an internal ISO 9000 auditor. John has been involved as a practitioner, educator and consultant in developing industry education and certification programs for over 15 years and he is a well known speaker and educator at IT Service Management conferences globally.

John has a BS from Lowell Technological Institute and an MS in Innovation and Technology from Boston University. He is also co-author of the paper Customer Oriented Enterprise Integration Technology. Certifications include: ITIL Service Management Manager, ITIL Service Management Practitioner, ITIL Foundations; ISO/IEC 20000 Consultant; HDI Support Center Manager (SCM), HDI Support Center Team Lead (SCTL), HDI Support Engineer (HDSE), HDI Support Center Analyst (SCA), and Knowledge Centered Support (KCS).

With over 30 years of experience in the high technology and software development industry, Paul has held numerous positions in customer services, support and marketing. Experience includes front line technical support (levels 1, 2 and 3), support team lead, manager of international support, service business development manager, marketing manager and director of solutions marketing.

Paul’s wide ranging experience includes creation of support center policies and procedures, integration of multiple support centers, selection and development of Knowledge Management Systems, quality assurance processes, implementation of sophisticated Service Management Systems, support marketing strategy and collateral development, new service development and launch, and services marketing.

Before founding Optimal Connections, LLC in 2002, Paul held key service & support positions with Motorola, FileNET, and QAD. In terms of education, Paul hold’s a Bachelors in International Relations and a Masters in Business Administration. As a contributing member of HDI, Paul was a team leader in updating the HDI Support Center Certification (SCC) standards in 2004. In 2005, Paul also led the team to update the HDI Customer Service Specialist (CSS) and Support Center Analyst (SCA) Standards.

Recently published articles or white papers include "How to Market the Value of Your Support", "7 Steps to Exceptional Customer Service", and “ISO 9000 and HDI Support Center Certification: Complimentary Approaches”. Paul is also active in industry organizations, including HDI, itSMF, ITIM, and the ASP. He currently serves as Advisor to the Orange County HDI Chapter (www.ochdi.com).

HDI certifications include Support Center Analyst (SCA), Support Center Team Lead (SCTL), Support Center Manager (SCM), Certified Instructor (CI), and Certified Support Center Auditor. Paul is also ITIL Foundations and Practitioner Certified (Service Desk and Incident Mgt.).

Graham has 20 years of experience in Information Technology covering many skill sets and industries. Within the practice of IT Service Management, he finds synergy with the incorporation of the ITIL framework in his project management and business analysis practice.

Graham embodies a wealth of experiences and perspectives gained on the front lines: Technical and Operations Management; Software and Database Development; Data Modeling and Data Warehousing; Business and Systems Analyst; Training and Course Development; Team and Department Management; Project and Process Management. These experiences come together in the delivery of service excellence.

Graham is fully involved within the Service Management discipline. His projects and ongoing consulting assignments have ranged from the initial adoption phase through to ongoing service improvement cycles. Within training and awareness, Graham both develops and delivers certified and customized Service Management courses. And within industry, Graham is an active member of itSMF Canada having presented at and co-organized regional conferences and events.

Greg is an independent IT service management consultant. He has been active in service management software and process consulting for more than 15 years. Greg holds ITIL, COBIT, Six Sigma black belt and several software tool certifications. Greg has been delivering IT tool and process training for 25 years. Greg has written several ITIL training courses and has developed a Deming-based ITIL implementation methodology. He works closely with the Collaborative for Enterprise Transformation and Innovation at the Ohio State University and InsightETE, an IT service management software vendor in Columbus, Ohio.

Rick Joslin is the Executive Director of Training for HDI. He is responsible for the development, sales, and delivery of HDI’s training and certification offerings. He is a certified Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) instructor and has guided organizations through the implementation of KCS. Formerly, Rick was the VP of Customer Care, VP of RightAnswers.com, and VP of Knowledge Engineering for ServiceWare. Rick is the author of the HDI Focus Book on Knowledge Management, the Knowledge Management Maturity Model, and the Knowledge Management chapter in the HDI Service and Support Handbook. A winner of the Service 25 Award, Rick is a regular speaker at industry events.

Debby Kowal’s 20 years of Information Technology, Help Desk, and Customer Service experience bring a comprehensive and diverse background to her consulting role in the service and support industry. Prior to becoming a consultant and instructor, Debby held various management positions within the healthcare sector which included I.S. Manager, Help Desk Manager, and Customer Service Manager. Her other areas of expertise included the development of corporate training programs that focused on new hire practices, teammate incentive programs, continuous quality improvement initiatives, coaching and mentoring skills, and management training videos. Debby is also a certified HDI instructor, providing training and certification classes to customer service representatives, help desk analysts and team leads/supervisors. This unique combination of experience and skills allows Debby to share with her students the tools necessary to create a lasting culture of outstanding customer service. Debby is an active member of HDI’s local Delaware Valley Chapter. She is also a member of the National Small Business Association and serves on the Ambassador Committee for the Delaware Valley Chamber of Commerce in Media, Pennsylvania.

Katherine is a seasoned ITIL Practitioner with significant consulting expertise in the ITIL education and implementation space. She is a former certified instructor for STI knowledge and has been teaching STI certification courses, and ITIL Foundations classes across North America for 2 years. As a consultant in varied industry verticals she has also created and delivered customized education solutions geared towards attaining sustainability, adoption and alignment with ITIL best practices, and optimal service delivery to the business.

Katherine is certified at the ITIL Foundations level, is a Six Sigma Green belt, holds an ITIL Practitioner's certificate in Incident Management/Service desk and is currently pursuing her ITIL Service Managers certification.

Peter J. McGarahan is the founder and president of McGarahan & Associates. Pete is also the acting Chairman of the IT Infrastructure Management Association, a sister organization to HDI. Pete’s value to the service and support industry and business is his thought leadership. As a practitioner, product manager and support industry analyst and expert, he has influenced the maturity of the service and support industry. His passions for customer service led the Taco Bell support organization to achieve the Help Desk Institute Team Excellence Award. IT Support News also named him one of the “Top 25 Professionals in the Service and Support Industry” in 1999. Support professionals voted McGarahan “The Legend of the Year” in 2002 and again in 2004 at the Help Desk Professionals conference for his endless energy, mentoring and coaching and his valuable contribution to the support industry and community.

For the past fifteen years, Mia has provided professional and organizational development programs for customer contact centers within entrepreneurial organizations and Fortune 1000 companies. These programs focus on implementing best practices and exceeding industry standards, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Through her firm, Performance Consulting, Ms. Melanson works primarily with professionals in high customer contact functions where performance impacts profit on a daily basis. In addition to classroom training, Ms. Melanson provides clients with appropriate tools including resource kits, assessment profiles, and call guides to reinforce skill development. She also instructs students at Northeastern University’s Graduate School of Business where she is an adjunct faculty member.

Before founding Performance Consulting, Mia was a Manager in Sales Support at Prime Computer, Inc., responsible for both strategic and tactical aspects of marketing campaigns and sales support programs. These initiatives generated measurable revenue including new accounts and an Excellence Award for individual achievement.

Prior to joining Prime Computer, she was involved in Theatre Arts as an actress, producer, and publicist. Mia has authored articles and books on coaching, communication skills, and stress management. She is a member of the Association of Support Professionals, Who’s Who in the World, and is a Help Desk Institute Standards Committee member as well as an ITIL Foundations Certified Instructor.

Fancy Leigh Mills, has over 10 years of experience in classroom training, consulting, and recruiting specializing in the technical support and call center industry. She has been part of the team that over the past 6 years certified more than 20,000 help desk and call center professionals, managers, directors, and corporate trainers.

Fancy also facilitates courses at Dell Computer Corporation that focus on presentation, communication, and time management skills. She has been a facilitator and presenter at industry conferences/events such as SSCE, STI Knowledge Symposium, ASTD, and the Witness Annual User Conference.

Ric has over 18 years of experience in Help Desk management, consulting and operations. Ric began his career with Apple Computers" Midwest regional help desk in 1989 as a help desk analyst providing support on the Performa line of products. Throughout his career, Ric has held the positions of Help Desk Analyst, Team Leader, Relationship Manager, Help Desk Manager and Consultant. Ric planned, designed and implemented the IKON Office Solutions National Help Desk offering. He provided strategic direction for sales and led the team to numerous successes by winning and renewing accounts for the organization. He provided guidance and leadership in all sales efforts, customer relationship management strategies and help desk consulting efforts primarily focused on Business Process Re-engineering. He also held the position of Vice-President of Operations for Global Help Desk Services in Hartford, Connecticut. While there he was responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining the staff, workflow processes and technologies necessary to provide world-class support to various Fortune 500 clients. Under his guidance the support teams were empowered to achieve customer satisfaction rates of 90% and higher. Ric founded SupportCenter Global Technologies, Inc. in 2005, providing ITIL training, process assessments and customer service training.

For over 14 years, Julie L. Mohr has been passionate about service and support management. Her broad range of experiences include teaching ITSM and COBIT courses worldwide, working as Director of Professional Services for IHS Support Solutions, Consulting Practice Principal for Agilità and Pomeroy, Managing Consultant with ARC and Director of Outsourcing at Seneca. She has worked as a technical advisor to the Department of Education, a support manager at the National Institutes of Health and as a support analyst at NASA. Julie is a certified Helpdesk Director from Helpdesk 2000 and certified ITIL® Service Manager.


Julie provides imaginative insight and dynamic leadership to transform service and support organizations into best practice, customer-focused environments. She has helped organizations to implement Knowledge Management, ITSM, IT Governance, organization structures, service catalogs and service level management. Julie is an active contributor to the future development of the industry through speaking engagements at conferences worldwide and publishing over 150 articles on best practices. Julie is the author of The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Toolkit: Companion CD and The Help Desk Dictionary, and maintains an informative industry website for practitioners at www.blueprintaudits.com. She is also a member of IEEE Computer Society, ISACA, HDI, itSMF, ICMI and the Association of Support Professionals.

In a humorous storytelling style, Deborah's 20, plus years of Key Note speaking, teaching and coaching provokes truth and eye opening ideas to create "Life-Formation", understanding of our humanity, and how to get it back. Deborah is a Master Practitioner of Emotional Intelligence, one of twelve in the world.

Working largely with Help Desks, Call Centers and Technical groups around the world, Ms. Monroe concentrates on integrating humans and process for a balanced working environment. Her aim is to build understanding and empathy creating a positive bottom line through employee and customer retention.

Deborah, honoured recently, in joining the HDI faculty, after working extensively with STI Knowledge as one of their Master Certified Instructors, where she worked in partnership shaping their renowned courses, certifying trainers and thousands of Support Industry Professionals.

Ms. Monroe has been the driving force in launching three not-for-profit organizations, two of which are international. Deborah is also a published performer, songwriter and musician. She has appeared on local and international TV and radio. Ms. Monroe resides in the Hudson Valley in New York. She has lived and traveled abroad, and currently has two projects in line for publication.

Mike Rabinowitz is an experienced certified trainer. He spent the first part of his career as a New York City Police Officer. He calls it "the ultimate learning ground for communication skills". He also got involved in educating people in the community through meetings, lectures and lots of face to face communication. After a 10 year police career, Mike now has 10 years in the world of IT support and customer service. He spent 6 years learning his craft with companies such as Carolina Medical Center and Bank of America as a field technician, team leader, manager, Assistant Vice President and for the last 4 years as a trainer. Using his "street corner" approach and his passion for helping people learn the tools that allows them to stay motivated, Mike can be depended upon to combine his real life work experience and process knowledge to help companies get the most out of their training dollars.

Virginia’s experience encompasses nearly 20 years in computer and soft skills training, curriculum development, and computer software support. Her diverse background includes: compatibility testing, troubleshooting, and hardware and software support. Since 1993, Virginia has been associated with HDI as a primary staff instructor and consultant. During this time she has served as director of certification and curriculum development facilitating the launch of HDI’s Certification program (HDA, HDSA, HDM).