Join us in our LinkedIn Forum

HomeOfficersUpcoming MeetingsPast MeetingsNewsTrainingAbout UsSearchLinksFeedbackMembershipSponsorship

 Officers

 

Kelly
O'Connell
President

Branch Manager at Robert Half Technology

Email: Kelly.OConnell@hdila.org

Telephone: 310-719-7356

Kelly started her professional IT career in 1999 in the Information Technology Department at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. After moving up the ranks to a Director Level position at Simmons she ventured out of academic technology finding a new home at Wachovia International. When Wachovia acquired World Savings Bank in 2006 Kelly was transferred to sunny Southern California. Quickly identifying the volatile state of the banking industry in the greater LA area Kelly left Wachovia and refocused on IT Risk Management Consulting. She currently represents the worlds’ largest specialized technology staffing firm Robert Half Technology as Division Director in the consulting Services Division.

Rudy Gallegos Vice President of Vendor Relations

Technical Support Manager
British Telecomm

Rudy has over 10 years experience in the Information Technology industry and has been involved in many different types of daily operational environments including managing customer service, help desk, consulting and IT support. He has worked for several companies such as BT, Infonet, PBM IT Solutions, and Prosum.

In Rudy’s current role, he leverages his broad technical expertise and 10 years of IT experience to ensure his team provides flexible support solutions to our clients.  He supports incident and problem management, system designs and implementation and new product rollouts with quick response and escalation as needed. Rudy has developed many proven processes and tools to ensure that his team delivers high quality service.

Oscar Gomez

Vice President of Programming

Email:  Oscar.Gomez@hdila.org

Telephone:  626-230-0097

Oscar has been in a Managerial role for Service Desks for 15 years and has 20 years of experience in the industry. He has been an active member of HDI for over 10 years, both participating as a board member and delivering lively and entertaining presentations.

Michael Lopez Vice President of Membership IT Manager
Reed Business Information

Email: Michael.Lopez@hdila.org

In 1999, Michael left a successful career as a graphic designer and made the jump into the world of Information Technology. Michael began work with Daily Variety as a level 1 Macintosh Technician, working up to a Tier 2 technician, and eventually a Tier 3 Publishing Specialist. Soon after, Michael was promoted to Publishing Systems Supervisor and led the corporate Publishing Technology Team on new strategies and upcoming technologies. In 2004, Michael was awarded the first Corporate IT Employee of the Quarter award and was invited by Adobe to speak at their corporate Interoperability Summit two years in a row.

In 2004, Michael was promoted to IT Manager for the parent company Reed Business Information responsible for 3 offices, 50+ home based employees and a staff of six technicians. Since then, Michael was awarded the 2008 Employee of the Quarter for leading the Daily Variety site move for into a state of the art high rise on the Miracle Mile.

Michael is an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician, Apple Certified Support Professional, Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist, Network+, and Security + certified. He is also a member of CORBA (Concerned Off Road Bikers Association), CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), USATF (USA Track and Field) and the Mac Valley Users Group.
 

Ilan Justh Vice President of Communications Email: Ilan.Justh@hdila.org

Mr. Justh provides world class IT asset management; software licensing expertise; and contract support; as well as strong research and writing skills, for any organization that is trying to improve their levels of software compliance and provide a positive impact on their bottom line. With a strong background in risk avoidance, analysis, policy and procedure writing, and management, he has held responsible positions in the engineering, bio-pharmaceutical and entertainment industries. At each location, he has provided award-winning results while reducing costs, eliminating risks, and improving efficiency. A proven history of cost savings and optimizing asset usage resulted in six-figure reductions in expenditures. Besides delivering world-class technical skills, he also maintains a strong ability to communicate with both staff and executives in an organization.

Karen Segawa

Vice President of Finance Helpdesk Consultant
Vaco Technology, LLC

Email: Karen.Segawa@hdila.org

Telephone: 310-293-5761

Karen is a consultant for Vaco Technology, LLC advising on Helpdesk processes and procedures to develop helpdesks and move them forward.

Karen's has over 18 years experience in the IT industry ranging from Helpdesk to IT Director. Her career in IT began in the US Air Force where she started as a Communications Computer Systems Operator. Since then, Karen has had the opportunity to work in various IT related positions at Mattel, Vivendi Universal Games, Fox Networks Group, American Honda Motors and En Pointe Technologies/Global Services. Karen’s experience has been with helpdesk, desktop support, systems/network engineering, project management, customer support and customer service. Karen has proudly been part of the Vaco team on and off since October 2005.

Mary Cruse Advisor

Director – Client Services West
Genzyme Genetics, Inc.

Email: Mary.Cruse@hdila.org

Telephone: 310-482-5316

Passionate about customer service, Mary Cruse has led teams for Fortune 500 companies for more than 25 years, in the airline, healthcare and health club industries.  She has extensive experience in leading both technical and non-technical customer service centers, with an expertise in software implementation and deployment, call center design and technology, workflow definitions and design, metrics, and SLA design and implementation.

Mary's primary responsibility at Genzyme Genetics is to lead the activities of 5 external customer support centers, supporting the medical community in oncological and prenatal diagnostic testing. There are a total of 50 customer service representatives in her centers around the Southwest.  Mary carries the HDI certifications of Help Desk Analyst, Help Desk Manager and Certified Training Instructor as well as the CIAC Call Center Operations Manager Certification. Mary is President of the Los Angeles Chapter of HDI, as well as Member Emeritus of both the Global Member Advisory Board and Strategic Advisory Board of HDI.

Steven Fuhrman

Webmaster Senior Information Specialist at FM Global

Email: Steven.Fuhrman@hdila.org

Telephone: 818-227-2264

Steven's passion for computers started as a hobby in 1980, but did not become a career for him until 1996 when he joined Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture) supporting laptops and desktops.  Within five years, his responsibilities grew to include Novell Network Administration and Project Management.

Steven was recently hired by FM Global as a Senior Information Specialist in their Woodland Hills office, supporting the entire office as well as remote Field Engineers based out of this location.

Prior to which, he worked for International Rectifier where he not only handled supporting a user community of up to 800 PCs, but took on additional tasks such as maintaining the department's Share Point website, drafting corporate policies for review and adoption by Management, and was the primary person which handled PC product review and vendor pricing negotiation for the entire company.

Home ]

Send mail to steven_fuhrman@earthlink.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2007-2009 HDI Los Angeles Chapter
Last modified: 08/23/10