April Kasza

 April Kasza is the General Manager of Executive Services in Pueblo, Colorado, and Professional Communication Services (PCS) in Longview, Washington. In January of 2006, April joined Executive Services when the company was acquired by Allgood Communications of Pueblo. She made many needed improvements right away including hiring additional staff, training, and improving service levels. She was also instrumental in managing the upgrade to the Startel CMC platform and with the acquisition of PCS in 2007.  That year Executive Services also received ATSI’s 26th Gold Site Certification, which was a significant accomplishment in itself.

 April has a well-suited technical and managerial background for the TAS industry which includes her degree in Applied Science Networking from Pueblo Community College in 2004, and her serving two additional years as an instructional teaching assistant upon her graduation.  April holds several advanced computer certifications, and has years of supervisory, technical and marketing experience in the answering service industry.

 Over the years April gained a variety of answering service industry experience by working as a shift supervisor for Columbine Professional Services from 1997 to early 1999 where she learned the Amtelco system. Following this she worked for Countrywide Telecommunications during 1999 where she quickly learned the Startel system.  Countrywide’s clients were subsequently acquired by Executive Services about six months later and she then joined Executive to help manage that transition.   In the fall of 2001, April resigned her manager’s role to attend Pueblo Community College full time to complete her education.  During this time she also served as a staff Tutor in the college’s IT Department and provided much needed technical assistance there.

Most recently, April has managed the company successfully for four years, with the company achieving the ATSI AOE four years running and the CAM-X AOE for the past two years.   At the present time April is serving her second year on the SNUG board, last year as SNUG’s secretary and this year as its Treasurer.  Her accomplishments on SNUG include conference chair for the 2010 convention, beta testing of Startel’s new SMS software, hosting a recent SNUG webinar, and working closely with Startel to help improve features of the CMC software.

April has a proven track record in our industry, in her community and in serving on the SNUG board and would like to be re-elected to another term on the board.     

Cameron Reichert

Cameron Reichert is the Customer Service Manager and Senior Programmer of Answer 1 Communications in Phoenix, Arizona and is looking forward to celebrating her 10^th anniversary with the company. In addition to managing the customer service team, Cameron is responsible for maintaining client relationships, account development, troubleshooting and enhanced services implementation. She also coordinates and oversees new technology implementation within the organization.  She is currently working towards her Associates Degree in Applied Science for Computer Technology, with a focus on web development and multimedia technology.

 Cameron has presented for conference sessions at SNUG as well as our programming webinars. She enjoys working with fellow Snuggies and brainstorming new ways to utilize the CMC’s features in an effort to increase efficiency, expand on service offerings and improve quality of service.

 “I hope to be able to return the favor for all of the wonderful SNUG members that have taught me so much over the years. I would be thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the SNUG Board who are always so diligently and passionately working towards the betterment of the association.” 

Cameron Reichert - SNUG Certified CSR

 Edgar Shupe

Edgar Shupe serves as the IT Manager at Central Communications in Riverside, California. New to the TAS industry in early 2007, Edgar quickly applied his skills as a VoIP and Network Engineer to assist Central with its successful deployment of 15 remote agents.  In addition to numerous other duties, Edgar oversees Central’s beta testing programs on both the Startel and CenturiSoft platforms and frequently contributes to other Startel users though the SNUG list serve.

 Gary Cooper  

Gary Cooper is President and CEO of Answer Quick, located in Louisville, TN at the base of the beautiful Smokey Mountains. Answer Quick is owned and operated by Gary and Beth (his wife of more years than should be legal in most states). They have been members of SNUG for 12 years and active in some way for most of them. He was on the committee that conceived and wrote the SNUG Certification program and helped draft the language that sold Certification to ATSI. Gary is also the Director of record for the SNUG Excellence series videos and has been “unofficial photographer” for SNUG events for a couple of years. In the office his duties include keeping all aspects of the CMC, as well as the network and other servers and stations, in good operation. He also handles office technical and general business issues and oversees the installation and service of fire and burglary alarms for our alarm division, Alarm Specialty Company.

 “Beth and I have been working for SNUG in one capacity or another for about 9 years. On the board or off, I am certain that I will continue to help out the organization that has given so much to my industry and provided me with tools and friends that aid in solving the unique problems of our business. My priorities on the board would be based on progress tamed by fairness. For the most part, though, I would like to give back in whatever capacity asked of me.”

 Gary is currently a member of the SNUG Technical and Certification committees.

In addition to his wife Beth, he has 4 wonderful cats and an arcade game collecting and tinkering addiction second only to a few crazies out there. “The activities I gravitate to always seem to be hardware based, either technical or theoretical; a bit of an old concept in such a software-based world. I feel like a tube TV repairman sometimes (that’s tech talk for ‘I feel like a pair of brown shoes in a tuxedo world’).”

 Gretchen Godwin

I have been involved with SNUG for the past 10 years and have been to each and every SNUG annual meeting since I became involved with the TAS industry.  I have participated on several SNUG conference panels for discussion of important topics such as HIPAA and "pitfalls" of answering for a hospital switchboard. 

 I belong to and attend all ATSI meetings as well as ATSI Owner's Forums, Medical Society of NJ, NJ Medical Group Management Association and 4 of my local chambers of commerce.

 The greatest "strength" and "benefit" I might be able to offer is possibly a compassionate contribution of the "views" of an answering service through the eyes of a Practice Administrator and Physician.  For 25 years prior to getting into the TAS industry, I was a practice administrator for a 12 physician group as well as worked in the OR as a surgical assistant.  My husband is also a doctor. This has helped my company grow and stay strong as we all have a small view into the window of the world of doctors and their harried lives.  I am the Owner/General Manager of Corridor Medical Answering Service in Kendall Park, NJ

 My goal as a SNUG director would be to help facilitate the specific goals of the President of SNUG.  I would be open to participating on just about any task the board sets for us to accomplish. I believe strongly in the importance of our industry and would be honored to take part in helping us all work together to continue to remain strong and prosperous.

 Maria Delaney

I began my career in 2003 as the manager of the Medical Bureau of Harrisburg, PA, a small nonprofit answering service.  I knew very little about the TAS industry but was assured that the manager of the operators took care of the day to day operations of the center.  It was not long before I realized why the business had been losing money for years.  I had to deal with a staff of rude operators, who worked on an old Startel DOS system, in a 100 year old building that was in dire need of repair.   I felt alone and frustrated until I went to my first ASTAA convention.  The networking and exchange of information lead me to SNUG and the rest is history.

We still continue to face challenges; however, we have come a long way thanks to the SNUG members. As a fairly new SNUG member, I have great respect for the group and its board.  The open sharing of information and help between members is incredible.  Although I lack the experience of many of the members, I feel my organizational skills and sense of responsibility can help this organization.  My diverse business background which includes event planning would make me a good fit for the annual conference planning committee. I feel it is now time to start giving back to the people who have helped me in so many ways.