TiER1 Blog
More Have Joined the TiER1 Family!
We sure have been busy around here! Over the past couple of months, we have had a lot of new people join TiER1 (and more are coming). Get to know the newest members of the TiER1 team!
Navigation Team
Stu Rodgers
Prior to TiER1, Stu served for 25 years with the US Air Force in roles including flight instructor, fighter pilot, and experimental test pilot, and held numerous leadership positions from small to large teams. After retiring from the Air Force as a Colonel, Stu founded and ran a consulting business in Dayton, OH participating in research projects with the Air Force Research Laboratory and serving clients in the defense industry. Stu is passionate about leveraging advanced technologies to enable more adaptive and robust behavior in complex knowledge-based systems. He has authored and presented a number of scientific papers on heuristic search, computational cognitive process models, and knowledge representation topics. He is a member of the IEEE Computer Society and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
Stu has a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the US Air Force Academy; a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of West Florida; a Management of Technology Certificate from the California Institute of Technology; and is a graduate of the Experimental Test Pilot Course, at the U.S. Air Force’s Test Pilot School.
Stu hailed originally from Madisonville, KY but has moved many times. His homes have included AR, GA, NC, CO, AK, OK, TX, NM, FL, AZ, CA, and OH. His wife, Rosanna, and his daughters, Alex and Franchesca have cheerfully accompanied him on this journey. They all are looking forward to a long stay in Dayton.
Brandee Abel
Brandee has been leading change her entire life, and as the newest member of the Pittsburgh team, and she’s already hard at work expanding TiER1’s OCM practice in the Pittsburgh region. Her communication and education/learning background round out her consulting expertise, which includes projects in industries such as manufacturing, retail, insurance and banking, records management, food/beverage, consumer packaged goods and the federal government.
When she’s not crusading for change and delighting her clients, you’ll often find Brandee cruising around on her motorcycle with her husband, John, enjoying time chasing her 8-year-old and 11-year-old stepsons, or lacing up her skates to play some ice hockey.
Teresa Piner
Teresa has over 15 years of retail experience and is excited to bring her retail knowledge and training background to TiER1. She started her retail career in 1996 as a buyer’s assistant for Belk Department Stores in Charleston, South Carolina and a year later was promoted to buyer for Belk Department Stores in Macon, Georgia. Teresa then moved to Seattle, Washington where she started her Macy’s career as an assistant buyer with buying responsibility in the Layette department. She returned to the southeast to become the Lead User Advocate for Macy’s Systems and Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. After 6 ½ years, she transferred to Macy’s Corporate Services.
Teresa holds a B.S. in Elementary Education from the College of Charleston. She has completed a variety of courses in Instructional Design and Training Needs Analysis at Langevin Learning Services and Xavier University. Teresa is also certified in Microsoft Project 2002. Teresa, her husband, Doug, and three-year old daughter, Zoe live in San Diego, CA. Free time is spent at the beach watching Doug surf, playing in the sand with Zoe and taking their kayaks out at Mission Bay.
Brett Dickson
Brett couldn’t be more excited to join TiER1. He comes to us with a strong general IT and project management background with a particular interest in team collaboration and effectiveness (SharePoint, Knowledge Management, Process Management, Teambuilding).
Brett grew up in Westerville, OH, a suburb of Columbus and has a BSBA in Management Information Systems from Ohio State and an MBA from Xavier. He originally came to Cincinnati to work for P&G in 1997. He worked at P&G for 13 years on a variety of projects within Global Business Services, with his highlights being expat assignments in Manila, Philippines and Newcastle, UK. In his free time, Brett plays and coaches soccer, teaches GMAT test prep for Kaplan, and spends time at the park with his experimental prototype black lab/border collie hybrid super dog, Jake. Brett has a house in Covington, about 1 mile west of TiER1, with a pretty cool view of the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati.
Learning Team
Erin Shaffer
A native of southern Ohio, Erin is an educator with 10 years of experience in curriculum development and classroom facilitation. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education from Miami University in 1998. Following graduation she moved to the Cleveland area where she taught high school for five years before moving back down to “warmer” weather. While teaching and coaching she also completed her Master of Arts degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Cleveland State University. This unique program focused on Diversity Management within organizations and opened the door for work with area high schools and the Cleveland Clinic. After relocating to the Cincinnati area, Erin worked as a Senior Instructor in the community college field before coming on board with the TiER1 team. Erin has a passion for education and creating “aha” moments for students and clients alike.
Jason Durler
Jason has always had a passion for improving the lives of others, whether by teaching people new skills or creating solutions that allow them to facilitate and improve their own learning. As a new member of the TiER1 team in Pittsburgh, he has spent his time getting his feet wet in the instructional design process, assisting with and supporting tasks related to the creation of online courses for EDMC’s online universities. A native of the Pittsburgh area, Jason’s background is in communication and education, and taught middle school English literature and public speaking for two years in Orlando, Florida. He holds a BA in Communication, and a Master’s in Education, specializing in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
When not in the office, Jason is usually delving into several hobbies, including podcasting, website design, playing and recording music, and cooking amazing food. That’s right….amazing!
Creative Team
Abby Sadowsky
Abby is thrilled to be a new member of TiER1. Having first connected with Motionplan in 2007 (now the TiER1 Pittsburgh office), joining the team has been both long in coming and well worth the wait. She’ll be applying her marketing communications expertise to TiER1’s diverse array of change management and learning initiatives, and is currently focused on reshaping program materials for an elite PNC Bank leadership program. She’s looking forward to diving into more change management initiatives, immersing herself in the world of consulting, and leveraging her community connections to grow TiER1’s Pittsburgh-area presence.
Before joining TiER1, Abby spent much of her time crafting marketing vehicles and strategies to promote the Pittsburgh region for investment and job creation at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, and writing everything from annual reports, to web content, fact sheets, and articles for Pop City and other publications. Abby is Smith College and Leadership Pittsburgh Inc. alum; serves on the board of directors at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre; and co-chairs the New Pittsburgh Collaborative(NPC), a collective that promotes communication and partnership among civically engaged young professional groups.
A Regent Square resident, art-lover, aerobic kickboxer and health foodie, Abby can often be found at the playground with her nephew, wordsmithing a friend’s resume, offering advice (when asked), singing loudly in her car, or chatting over Thai food.
Whew! As mentioned before, we have even more people joining us in the coming weeks, so be sure to check back to see who our newest team members are!
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