CEO
Mike is cofounder of Turning Technologies and serves as Chief Executive Officer. Mike began developing applications for the first radio frequency wireless group response hardware soon after its introduction as a partner and president of one of the earliest group response software companies. Throughout his 20 years in the industry, Mike has been one of the leading innovators in the group response industry working and leading efforts in sales, marketing, research and development, as well as product delivery and fulfillment. He has led Turning through remarkable growth and to their current position of dominance in their industry and markets. In addition to his contribution to Turning’s remarkable success and multiple product and company awards, Mike is a recipient of the prestigious Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" Award and was inducted into the Northeast Ohio Business Hall of Fame as the first winner of the “Entrepreneurial Spirit Award”.
Dave Kauer
President and COO
Dave serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of Turning Technologies, LLC. Dave's primary responsibilities include the direct oversight of daily operations at Turning as well as such company departments including Operations, Fulfillment, Administration, Finance, Human Resources, Product Management, Software R&D, Hardware R&D, Customer Support and Quality Assurance. Dave has 25 years of experience in a variety of financial and operating roles with Johnson Controls, Inc. and Insilco Technologies, Inc. He holds an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin and he is a Certified Public Accountant.
Dr. Tina Rooks
Vice President & Chief Instructional Officer
Tina serves as Vice President and Chief Instructional Officer, crafting our strategy, approach and thought leadership position across all of our markets globally. She has been a primary contributor to building Turning Technologies' school improvement initiative for the K-12 market. Tina oversees the educational consulting team and guides them during expansion and in their efforts of multiplying success. Tina has over 16 years experience in education, as a classroom teacher, middle school principal, technology administrator and Vice President of a professional development division for an educational technology company.
Dr. Eric Mazur
Chief Academic Advisor
As Chief Academic Advisor, Dr. Mazur’s primary responsibility is to advise product development and support the company’s ongoing efforts to add product capabilities that easily facilitate innovative pedagogical approaches and methods in learning environments. Dr. Mazur also provides recommendations on how to best address educators’ needs and challenges and how to further leverage the proven, effective pedagogical uses of the company’s products and services. In addition to his position at Turning, Dr. Mazur is also a respected author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He is a Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University and Area Dean of Applied Physics. Dr. Mazur’s pedagogical work includes “Peer Instruction,” an interactive teaching approach that has shown a substantial, measurable impact on student engagement and learning, and the “Interactive Learning Toolkit” (ILT), a web-based platform for implementing innovative teaching strategies. Previously, he served as Chairman of Turning’s Instructional Strategies Advisory Group.
Dan Rinn
Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Dan serves as Vice President of Strategic Alliances at Turning Technologies and is responsible for originating new and growing established strategic relationships. In this role, Dan manages Turning's overall partnership strategy and business development to extend Turning's product reach to help fuel Turning's growth. Dan works with customers and partners along with Turning sales, product management, R&D, marketing teams, and senior management to leverage business partner relationships to extend or create new business for Turning. Other responsibilities include market analysis, forecasting, and partner contracts. Dan has over 20 years of experience in a variety of sales, marketing, strategic technology initiatives, and business development roles with some of the largest publishers in the world, including Pearson Education, Cengage (Thomson) Learning, and Houghton Mifflin Publishing. Prior to joining Turning, Dan was Director of New Technology Initiatives & Partnerships for Cengage Learning.
Ron Smrek
Vice President of Sales – Corporate/Government
Ron is the Vice President of Corporate/Government Sales and has over 20 years of professional experience in sales and sales management. Prior to joining Turning Technologies in early 2006, Ron spent the bulk of his career in the wireless communications field where he was responsible for the successful growth and development of the entire sales channel for his market, encompassing retail, B2B and indirect sales channels. Previously, Ron held the position of Director of Sales - Higher Education for Turning Technologies. Ron's mission is to continue to accelerate the growth by concentrating on the customers' learning development needs through a dedicated, well trained direct sales team.
Jon Koren
Vice President of Sales – K-12
Jon serves as Turning's Vice President of K-12 sales. He leads the efforts of our K-12 direct and indirect sales teams and develops strategy for future growth of the division. His responsibilities include training and advancement of the direct sales team, management of the indirect sales channels, expansion of research-based school improvement programs and creation of professional development services. His mission is to continue to penetrate the K-12 market through products and services that have a true impact on student learning and enhance the classroom environment. Jon is a well-known industry leader , particularly in the K-12 market. He holds a B.S. in Political Science from Hanover College and is a native of Mineral, VA.
Steve Crea
Controller
Steve Crea serves as Controller in the Finance Department. His primary responsibilities include the implementation and maintenance of financial and operational policies, procedures and controls to safeguard the company’s assets. Steve also oversees maintenance, preparation and reporting of quantitative financial statements in an effort to accurately provide management with information to make effective decisions. He has over 25 years of international financial and operational experience. Most recently, Steve served as an executive financial consultant to Gerber Scientific, Inc. With a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business administration, he is also a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.
Kevin Owens
Director of Sales – Higher Education
Kevin joined the Turning Technologies team in August of 2004 as an Account Executive. From 2007 through 2009, he served as Regional Sales Manager for Higher Education. Kevin’s mission as Director of Higher Education Sales is to expand the successful usage of our products in Higher Education by focusing on our customer’s needs and creating an environment for our sales team to grow and accomplish their goals. Kevin is a graduate of Youngstown State University where he received his B.S.B.A. in Marketing Management from the Williamson College of Business.
Sheila Hura
Director of Marketing
Sheila serves as Marketing Director at Turning. Her primary responsibilities include translating business unit objectives to develop overall brand objectives and marketing plans to facilitate growth. She is responsible for Turning’s advertising and sales promotion program as well as overseeing all corporate communication activities including events. She has over 10 years experience in Sales & Marketing leadership.
Gary Morrison
General Manager EMEA
Gary Morrison serves as General Manager of Europe. His primary responsibilities include managing European offices, channel partners and further development of European, Middle Eastern and African markets. Gary is a well-known industry leader with extensive experience in field, particularly in sales and marketing in the UK. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, Honours Bachelor of Arts and Postgraduate Degree, studying the fields of industrial psychology, history and international sales. Gary is also a public speaker on the topics of winning tenders, sales strategy, online marketing, selling online and similar themes. He speaks Dutch dialect Afrikaans fluently and is a member of the British Institute of Directors.
Todd Craig
Director of Product Management
Todd Craig serves as Turning’s Director of Product Management. His responsibilities include generating roadmaps for future Turning products through market research, customer comments and product vision. Todd works closely with and elicits feedback from our R&D, support and sales teams on a regular basis. He facilitates customer summits for product assessment and testing, identifying customer needs to support the development process. Todd ensures that Turning products are the easiest and most feature rich products available. Previously, he served as the Director of K-12 Sales and has a close connection with the market and its requirements.
Dave Chiszar
Director of Project Management
Dave Chiszar serves as Director of Project Management. He currently oversees the development of Turning’s testing applications and similar programs. Dave works closely with clients to understand the environments in which they operate, corporate partners to understand their challenges in delivering secure and reliable testing solutions, and research and development teams to ensure products meet market needs. Dave brings experiences from both education, most recently as a Director of Research and Assessment in a large K-12 system, and business where he spent time at a global assessment company implementing computer based testing programs and bringing new assessment products to market. Dave’s 20 years in education and related industries give him experiences as a teacher, building and district level administrator, in product development and field support helping clients get the most out of the products they purchased.
Jon Hallsten
Director of Hardware Development
Jon serves as Turning's Director of Hardware Development. With over ten years of experience in embedded hardware design and management, including 3 patents pending, Jon has overseen numerous successful product introductions into the marketplace. Jon received his Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering from Cedarville University, has completed Master's coursework in Advanced Engineering, and is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration with an Entrepreneurship emphasis at the University of Akron. Jon's responsibilities include managing Internal and External engineering resources, as well as managing the design, development, intellectual property, certification, testing and quality control of Turning's award winning hardware offerings.
Bill Snyder
Director of Software Engineering
Bill serves as Turning's Director of Software Engineering and oversees the development of all software products. His responsibilities include leading the research and development of software products, testing and proving new designs, assisting with product design and specifications, assigning responsibilities, creating timelines, defining objectives and assisting team through product conception, planning and creation. Bill holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Mount Vernon Nazarene University and has also completed master's coursework at the University of Iowa and Franklin University. In 2008, Bill was the recipient of the NetBeans Innovator's Grant.
Rob Kerber
Director of Operations
Rob Kerber serves as Director of Operations. He supervises supply-chain management which includes: evaluation, establishment and maintenance of contract manufacturer and other supplier relationships, the creation of company-wide purchasing policies and procedures, supplier price negotiations, management of appropriate product inventory levels, and the establishment of cost effective logistical systems for incoming and outgoing product shipments. Rob also oversees the customer service department, shipping and receiving. Previously, he served as the Director of Quality Assurance.
Patrick Kelly
Director of Quality Assurance
Patrick Kelly serves as Director of Quality Assurance. His responsibilities include establishment and review of appropriate quality assurance standards and policies for the company. Patrick ensures that the company adheres to the established standards, and oversees effective quality assurance programs to detect and prevent defects in products. He has over 15 years of experience managing and working in development and the quality assurance fields for companies, selling both software and hardware products, including Virtual Hold Technology, Catalyst IT Services and Microsoft. Among his many accreditations, Patrick is an Akron University Six Sigma Green Belt.
Sandra Cutlip
Human Resource Manager
Sandra is the Human Resources Manager for Turning Technologies. Her responsibilities include providing quality services and support in employment, training, employee relations, benefits and compensations as well as administering human resource policies, programs and practices, including planning, organizing, developing, implementing, coordinating and directing. Sandra has had ten years of experience in employee management and finance, with five of those years working with non-profit organizations. She is committed to providing our employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Above all, she strives to see that employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Turning Technologies customer.
Marion Johnson
Director of Educational Consultants
Marion Johnson (aka “The Clicker Lady”), has over 10 years of experience working with educators to incorporate a variety of instructional technologies into everyday classroom instruction. Her background includes classroom teacher, implementation specialist, and presenter. As Director of Educational Consultants at Turning Technologies, Marion works closely with the VP and Chief Instructional Officer in the Instructional Programs and Initiatives division including overseeing the EC team for K12, HED/Corp, the TurningTechnologies Distinguished Educator Program, and the TurningTechnologies P20 initiative.
Laura Frenz
Executive Assistant to the CEO
Laura serves as Executive Assistant to Mike Broderick, CEO. Her responsibilities include creating, summarizing, and managing miscellaneous reports and documents, handling incoming and outgoing communication on behalf of the CEO, communicating and coordinating with internal and external executives and assistants, prioritizing and managing multiple requests and projects, assisting with presentation materials, travel arrangements, calendar management and lead distribution. She also coordinates with the CEO on projects that encourage community growth and development, increase a social awareness of programs promoting health and well-being, and provide an opportunity for employees to volunteer and support the community. Laura has over ten years of management experience and holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Science from Youngstown State University.
