Rick Fort, Chairman of the Board and Entrepreneur-in-Chief
After a 12-year career in Human Resources with Fortune 500 companies in the aerospace and telecommincations industries, Rick moved into the world of education when he bought a Sylvan Learning Center franchise. In 1995, he founded a customer contact center for a handful of Sylvan Learning Centers in Colorado, which grew into ESM. On July 1, 2010 Rick made the transition from his role as CEO to Chairman of the Board and Entrepreneur-in-Chief. Rick earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University, a master’s degree from Northeast Louisiana University and is currently working on his Ph.D. in organizational psychology as an online student at Walden University. In recent years, his adventurous spirit has led him to the Galapagos Islands and the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. In the summers, you might find him on the golf course or tooling around the Colorado Rockies on his motorcycle. His emphasis on building a winning environment and shaping a culture of excellence has led ESM to be recognized as one of the Best Companies to Work For in Colorado and Ohio.
Doug Kelsall, Chief Executive Officer
After serving as ESM's President and CFO since November 2007, Doug assumed the role of CEO and acting CFO on July 1, 2010. Doug is the former president and COO of eCollege, the NASDAQ-traded online learning services provider that was acquired in 2007 for $538 million. Under his leadership, eCollege grew from 4 million to $125 million in revenue with 550 employees in four cities. The former director of the Colorado Institute of Technology, Doug brings more than 30 years of experience in operations, technology, financial management, sales and marketing for start-ups and large private and public companies in multiple industries including online education, software development and financial services. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned his MBA at the University of Denver.
Marcy Suntken, President and Chief Operating Officer
Marcy joined ESM with over 20 years of executive leadership experience in the education field. She became ESM's President and COO on July 1, 2010. Marcy was most recently president of Knowledge Learning Corporation’s School Partnership division (formerly owned by Aramark). During her 16-year tenure she had responsibility for sales and business development, operations and ultimately general management of the division. She participated in multiple acquisitions, three of which were specific to her division and resulted in annual revenue growth from $55M to approximately $100M. Her entire career has been in the education industry with client-centric organizations and she brings a wealth of experience in account management, strategic planning and operations to ESM. Marcy holds a master’s degree in education from Iowa State University.
Murray Smith, Chief Marketing Officer
Prior to joining ESM in 2003, Murray spent 25 years in sales and marketing at both large and small companies including Dun & Bradstreet, Wang Laboratories, MCI, KN Energy, Convergent Communications and Qwest. He has a broad range of professional experience, including direct sales, marketing, sales support, product development, corporate communications and executive management. Murray holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Paul Konkel, Chief Information Officer 
Paul has two decades of experience leading operations and technology teams to produce peak levels of performance, services delivery and profitability. His core areas of senior IT executive expertise include strategic planning and execution, business intelligence and analytics, call center operations, process improvement, IT service management, and software and system development. Throughout his career, Paul has held senior leadership positions at Experian, MetaSig6 Advisors, True Logic Financial Corporation, Narex Inc., Mellon Ventures, and AUB-IVY Group Inc. He has supported Fortune 50 and Fortune 500 clients in technology development, process improvement, systems architecture and data driven performance measurement. In addition to earning engineering and developer certifications from Microsoft, Cisco and PeopleSoft (Oracle), Paul is Six Sigma certified and has a degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds several advisory positions with various small to mid-size technology, call center and manufacturing companies.
John Goodwin, Vice President, Business Development
John has more than 18 years of executive experience in call centers. Prior to joining ESM, he was a leader in the development of call center operations and strategy at Travelocity.com and DirecTV/ Primestar. He has overseen operations involving more than 1,000 employees and understands dynamic, rigorous and rapidly changing business conditions along with customer expectations. John’s call center leadership has earned his sales and operations teams “#1 in Customer Satisfaction” from JD Power & Associates. His experience includes hands-on leadership in business development and client relations while managing mission-critical projects and strengthening sales and service initiatives in highly competitive markets. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
Mark Zahringer, Vice President, Operations
Mark is recognized as a turnaround specialist for new build outs and the reengineering of numerous contact center, restaurant and distribution service organizations for small, medium and Fortune 500 companies. He has been the driving force behind positioning organizations toward profitability, generating over $1 billion in new revenue and over $100 million in cost savings during his career. He has served in a variety of executive positions, expanding and diversifying revenue through operational and sales activities across diverse vertical markets for internal and outsourced organizations, servicing clients such as AT&T, Blue Cross BlueShield, British Airways, Comcast and John Hancock Insurance. Mark is currently working on his Master’s degree and holds a Bachelor’s degree, graduating suma cum laude from Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL.
Dave Martelon, Vice President, Information Technology
Dave comes to ESM with over 15 years of Technology leadership. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the company's software platform, with an emphasis on continuous, metrics-based product and process improvement. Dave has successfully led the development and launch of multiple Software as a Service platforms. Before joining ESM, he held the position of VP Engineering at InfoNow Corporation, President & CTO at Solaquillo, and Director of Development for TrueLogic Financial. Dave holds a Bachelors of Science degree in computer science from Purdue University.
Shane Quint, Vice President, Technical Product Development
Shane has more than 20 years of hands-on and management experience in Information Systems. Prior to joining ESM in 2005, he was a senior systems architect at Level(3) Communications, responsible for defining and implementing processes and procedures for various operations departments. As part of the mergers and acquisitions team, he gained extensive knowledge in telephony systems including VOIP and PSTN-based networks. Previous experience includes owning and operating an independent consulting firm and working as an IT developer. Shane has expertise in database technologies and development platforms including .NET, SQL Server and ORACLE, along with various Web development programs. In addition to his technical skills, he has managed IT teams both in the U.S. and overseas.
Chuck Klijewski, Vice President, New Operations
Since joining ESM in 1998, Chuck's held VP level positions in Marketing, Operations and Business Development. His focus is driving quality company growth and developing systematic processes for the scalabilty of our company. Currently, he is a member of our Executive Team and is responsible for ESM's Project Management Organization, helping to launch all new clients and new applications. He received his degree from Colorado Christian University and his PM Practioners Certificate as well as his Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate from Colorado State University. Chuck is an active member of PMI and brings to the table over 20 years of Management experience comprised of Engineering, Project Management, Operations and Sales.
Stephanie Wallace, Vice President, Training
With a bachelor of fine arts degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and professional theater/public speaking experience, Stephanie brings a tremendous amount of talent, energy and creativity to ESM. She joined the company in 1997 as an education consultant after serving more than 20 years in sales and training for the retail and real estate industries. In addition to designing and delivering effective, customized training programs, one of her most notable accomplishments is the development and implementation of the “Leader in Training” program through ESM University. As a member of the American Society of Training and Development, she continues her education through certification courses and adult learning technique classes.
Cheryl Miller, Vice President, Human Resources
Cheryl is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado with a bachelor's degree in elementary education, with an emphasis in human development. She taught in the Colorado public school system before entering the human resources field. Prior to ESM, Cheryl worked at KLC School Partnerships for 14 years where she was responsible for setting the division's strategic direction in the areas of compensation and benefits, organizational development, recruitment and retention, leadership training and employee relations. At KLC, she supported a population of more than 7,000 employees. Cheryl holds a SPHR certification through the Society of Human Resources Management.
Sanya Maerschalk, Vice President, Operations Support
Sanya joins ESM with over 18 years of call center and leadership experience. Most recently, she was with OppenheimerFunds as vice president of operations, responsible for all call center and processing departments. While at OpenheimerFunds, Sanya’s departments achieved numerous “Best In Class” awards from National Quality Review. She was also responsible for the eServicing strategy and helped promote self servicing options for clients. Previously, Sanya spent six years at APAC Customer Services where she was responsible for a 24/7 call center and served as account director for one of the main clients. She also ran the reporting and billing departments, and achieved her Six Sigma Black Belt on the reengineering team. Prior to APAC, she was with MCI. She earned her BA from the University of Iowa.
Don Casler, Director of Compliance and Facilities
Don joined ESM in 1999 and wears a number of hats. Since 2003, he has served as the primary legal compliance officer for call center operations responsible for policy formation, training program design and implementation. He has established a reputation in the higher education marketplace as a subject matter expert. In addition, he is responsible for the implementation of ESM’s commercial real estate strategy through the acquisition, maintenance, provisioning, disposition and security of ESM’s call center facilities nationwide. Don previously held management positions with Decisioneering, Information Handling Services, and was a broker in the financial services industry with Paine Webber and EF Hutton. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Colorado State University.
Lori Pufahl, Director of Finance and Controller
Prior to joining ESM in 2004, Lori spent 16 years in the Credit Union industry and two years at Blue Mountain Arts. She started her career in the auditing area, advanced to accounting manager at Colorado State Employees Credit Union, and spent the last seven years as chief financial officer at U of C Federal Credit Union in Boulder. During her time as CFO, the credit union annually received the highest regulatory rating granted by the National Credit Union Administration. Lori holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Colorado State University.
