Program Chair

Darien Chimoff
Help Center Manager, Alston & Bird LLP

Darien Chimoff has twenty years of service desk management experience. She is currently the senior IT manager of the Alston + Bird Help Center, which has won several awards, including STI Team of the Year – Best People (2002) and HDI Global Help Desk Analyst of the Year (Sheri Robertson, 2006). Darien has earned a number of industry certifications, including Help Desk Manager, Help Desk Director, ITIL Foundations, and Knowledge-Centered Support. She is the cofounder and past president of the HDI Atlanta local chapter, former director of the HDI Southeast region, past chair of the HDI Member Advisory Board, a 2017 HDI Hall of Fame recipient Hand Program Chair of the HDI Conference.

Program Advisor

Fancy Mills
Faculty, HDI

Fancy Mills, has over 18 years of experience specializing in training, consulting, recruiting, and workforce management focused in the technical support and contact center industries. As a Certified Workforce Manager, she has assisted companies in developing staffing and workforce management best practices and standard operating procedures. As an HDI Faculty Member since 2006 she has certified thousands of support professionals, managers, directors, and corporate trainers around the world in virtual and classroom environments. In addition to training, she has developed and facilitated customized curriculum for Fortune 500 companies such as Dell Computer Corporation in the areas of presentation, communication, and time management skills. Fancy has also served as a session speaker for various industry conferences and events such as HDI and Fusion. While at HDI she’s served as a chair for International Certification Standard Committees, served on certification testing committees, as well as published articles for Support World Magazine. She is currently serving as Track Chair for the 2016 ITSMF/Fusion International Conference and as Program Advisor for the 2017 HDI Conference and Expo. She's currently pursuing her Masters in Human Resource Development with a specialization in Adult Education from Texas A&M University. While at Texas A&M University Fancy was selected as a speaker for the 2016 TEDx TAMU speaking on The XYZ Strategies for Succeeding in a Multi-Generational World. She is currently serving on the Texas A&M Graduate Advisory Board and the Steering Committee for The Academy for Future Faculty and was awarded the 2016 Senior Fellow for Outstanding Service.

Support Center Optimization

This track dives into the concepts and best practices that promote process improvement and operational efficiency and effectiveness, all of which are critical to support center optimization. Learn from others' experiences with implementing new services, facilitating process adoption, and keeping pace with emerging trends. Gain insights from industry experts on how to optimize day-to-day operations and implement new strategies, while keeping a focus on quality assurance and continuous service improvement.

Track Chair

Melissa Jackman
Help Desk Manager, Duquesne University
       

Melissa Jackman has more than 20 years of experience in managing and motivating support teams in blended internal/external support environments. As help desk manager at Duquesne University, she is currently responsible for a team that supports approximately 15,000 users, and she's passionate about leadership and building and developing strong teams and individuals. Melissa currently serves as the VP of Vendor Management for the HDI Steel City local chapter, and she received her MA in leadership from Duquesne University.

The Executive Stakeholder Perspective

The sessions in this track deliver strategic guidance for managing sourcing strategies and service providers, building peer and business relationships, improving demand management and service level adherence, benchmarking, empowering and engaging your staff, managing change, measuring the metrics that matter, marketing your support organization, and communicating effectively. Learn how to maximize your organization’s investment in process, people, and technology.

Track Chair

Pete McGarahan
Founder and President, McGarahan and Associates

Peter McGarahan is Senior Director of IT for First American and an industry expert and thought leader in global IT Service Management. He is also the founder of McGarahan & Associates and offers 30 years of business, IT, and service leadership experience. He enjoys sharing his lessons learned and career experiences through published articles and presenting at industry conferences. He has received various industry awards and honors, including the Help Desk Institute’s Team Excellence Award for his work with the Taco Bell support organization, the “Top 25 Professionals in the Service and Support Industry” from IT Support News, and “The Legend of the Year” (twice) at the STI Knowledge Symposium and Help Desk Professionals conference. Pete is well known in the support industry for his endless positive energy, leadership, mentoring and advisory services, He can be reached at pmcgarahan@firstam.com.

Breakfast Briefings & 1 Day Preconference Workshops

The sessions in this track deliver a wide array of critical business intelligence that will help you maximize your organization’s investment in people, process and technology.

• Strategic guidance for managing sourcing strategies and service providers
• Building peer and business relationships
• Improving demand management and service level adherence
• Benchmarking, empowering and engaging your staff
• Managing change
• Measuring the metrics that matter
• Marketing your support organization
• And communicating effectively

Track Chair

Megan Selva
Content and Community Manager, HDI/ICMI

As the content and community manager at HDI, Megan Selva is responsible for managing the overall content strategy, overseeing the development of new products, and ensuring that HDI's content meets the needs of the technical community. Megan has been with HDI since 2006. Prior to taking on her current role, she was the senior editor responsible for SupportWorld, general content editing, and corporate editing; before that, she was the training courseware editor and a member services representative in the Customer Care Center. Megan received her Masters in publishing from The George Washington University in 2014, and a Masters in history from the University of Guelph in 2007.

Putting Metrics to Work

Performance measurement is a critical activity for any effective technical support organization. The sessions in this track will help you identify metrics that matter.

• Delve into which metrics and KPIs your organization should be measuring
• Report the most meaningful metrics through executive dashboards KPI reports, and balanced scorecards,
• Put metrics to work to drive better business outcomes.
• Learn how to make the right decisions and take the appropriate actions for continuous improvement

Track Chair

Eddie Vidal
Managing Director, EJV Corporation

Eddie Vidal ( @eddievidal) has over twenty five years of experience in information technology, focusing on service delivery and support for IT infrastructures and operations. Eddie is a leader, team builder, communicator, solutions driven, strategic thinker and IT service management professional. In his current role as an independent consultant, he is leading the operational support for The Scripps Research Institute EPIC implementation. In the past he was the Manager of the UMIT Service Desk for the Information Technology department at the University of Miami supporting over 35,000 faculty, staff and students.

Reinventing the Customer Experience

It’s time to rethink the customer experience. Customer experience management (CEM) is more than just providing customer service; it’s about delivering service across all channels of support in a significant, meaningful, and intentional way. The sessions in this track will focus on:

• Identifying the customer needs
• Designing and implementing new and innovative approaches to providing support,
• Using the results to tell a compelling story that engages customers, executives, and stakeholders.

Track Chair

Julie Mohr

A dynamic, engaging leader who brings integrity and passion to everything she does. Through her books, articles, and speaking, consulting, and teaching engagements, her purpose is to change the world through thought-provoking dialogue and interaction. Julie is currently pursuing her PhD in management and organizational leadership in information systems and technology at the University of Phoenix; she received her MEd from the University of Phoenix, and her BS in computer science from The Ohio State University. She is an ITIL Expert, a Certified Help Desk Director, and a Certified Governance IT Professional.

Service Desk Foundations

This track focuses on Analysts and new supervisors and managers who need to learn the fundamentals, frameworks, methodologies and best practices to create value. If you’re just starting out and are passionate, hungry, and engaged, attend the sessions in this track to learn how you can gain valuable knowledge and set a strong foundation for your career.

Track Chair

Krista Ciccozzi
Service Desk Director, Nexworks

Krista Ciccozzi has more than twenty-three years of experience in support and is a certified Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma. She’s currently the service desk director for Nexworks, a division of ExamWorks. In addition to receiving her BA in organizational communication and her certificate in business leadership from Marylhurst University, she’s a certified HDI Help Desk Director and certificate-holder from the Dale Carnegie Leadership for Managers program.

Service Desk Masters

This track is for support leaders who seek to mature their organizations and demonstrate the strategic value of a professional Service Desk. If your tactical operations are running smoothly, now is the time to elevate the status of your Service Desk and improve alignment with the business. But your plans and vision must first win approval from senior leadership, giving you the extra push you need to take your team to the top. The sessions in this track will take a deep dive into the elements of a strategic roadmap, including best practices, metrics, and dashboards for measuring performance, building culture, and engaging employees. Take your Service Desk to the next level!

Track Chair

Lisa Hodges
Owner/Principal Consultant, Cornerstone Service Management

Lisa Hodges is the owner and principal consultant of Cincinnati-based Cornerstone Service Management, a company that delivers consulting, accredited certification training, and workshops to organizations seeking to achieve strategic advantage through superior service delivery. With more than twenty years of experience, she is a PRINCE2® Practitioner, PMP®, ITIL Expert™, and CPDE® - Certified Process Design Engineer. Lisa gives back to the industry and is actively involved in professional organizations including PMI – Project Management Institute and itSMF USA, where she is a regular speaker at local and national events and holds numerous leadership roles.

Team Performance and Transformation

This track focuses on key strategies related to team and people management in the support organization, covering best practices, strategies, philosophies, methodologies, and approaches that will help teams perform and transform into high functioning, successful teams. The sessions will cover a range of topics: performance management, employee engagement, retention, and motivation, organizational change, rewards and recognition, mentoring and coaching, negotiation and conflict management, staffing and workforce management, and much more.

Track Chair

Carrie Armstrong
Manager, Customer Support, Financial Information Systems, University of Pittsburgh

Carrie Armstrong is the Manager of Customer Support for Financial Information Systems at the University of Pittsburgh. She has worked in the IT service and support industry for more than seventeen years. She holds a Masters of Business Administration degree, a Bachelor’s degree in IT and Management and numerous ITIL, HDI, CompTIA and Microsoft certifications. Carrie is currently the District President for HDI Area 2C and has previously served as the Midwest Regional Director and on the HDI Member Advisory Board. Carrie has been an officer for the HDI Steel City chapter for ten years, where she currently serves as the Chapter Advisor. She was named as the first ever 2014 HDI Local Chapter Officer of the Year and her team received the 2015 HDI CSAT Elite 50 award.