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.

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 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.

Email: Eric.Kinsey@hdila.org

Telephone: 805-582-1781

Eric Kinsey has been in the staffing/solutions industry since 2002, primarily involved with the staffing of IT professionals. He joined CDI in 2004 as a Senior Account Manager and took over responsibility for several national accounts while investing in new business opportunities locally. Additionally, he develops business in the finance and entertainment industries in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas.

Before coming to CDI, Eric worked as an Account Manager for another nationwide staffing firm, focusing on temporary and permanent staffing in the Los Angeles area. Prior to entering the staffing industry, he worked in the IT field in the area of software development, technical support, and testing.

Eric received a B.S. degree in Management Information Systems and Marketing from the California University, Chico. He is active in the community and currently volunteers with organizations such as Make-A-Wish.
 

Division Director at Robert Half Technology

Email: steve.higginbotham@hdila.org

Telephone: 310-719-7356

Steve Higginbotham has 11 years within the IT and Healthcare staffing and consulting industry, currently working in the Torrance / South Bay market place for RHT.  Previously, he was a Regional Business Development Manager for another large staffing company, focused on several strategic markets throughout the Western Region.   He has also successfully started up three different lines of business and built several other markets over his career.  Prior to staffing and consulting, he was an OS2 in the US Navy, on board the USS Peleliu LHA-5. Steve spent more then 2 ½ years out to sea, navigating the Pacific & Indian Oceans.

Steve's drive for results, attention to detail, customer service and mentorship has allowed him to produce results, year over year. Steve has successfully worked in eight (8) markets throughout Southern California and has been a multiple awards winner and business builder, based on results. His passion is to develop and grow people, as well as territories in support of his clients. Steve’s clients would say that he is tenacious, professional and provides excellent customer service, time and time again.

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.

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 is currently working as a contractor to FM Global as an 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.