Team Bios

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Marlaina Capes

Senior Training Consultant, Americas

Marlaina brings over 20 years of passion and expertise, helping organizations improve performance in the areas of sales skills and leadership development. Marlaina spent eight years with Microsoft, where she served as a Sales Trainer, Sales Training Manager, Program Manager, and Instructional Designer. Also, Marlaina delivered sales training to hundreds of Microsoft Solutions Providers. Marlaina also served as the Manager of Sales Development at GiftCertificates.com, where she was responsible for the professional development of GiftCertificates.com's account executives, inside sales team and account managers. At SRG, Marlaina has worked with industry-leading clients, including Abbott, AdRoll, Alcon, Catalina Marketing, FactSet, Johnson Financial Group, Maritz, RingCentral, Univision, Valmont Industries and F5 Networks.

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Alonso Chehade

Director of Marketing and Sales Enablement

Alonso Chehade is a seasoned marketing professional with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the sales training industry. With over eight years under his belt, he knows what it takes to drive success for sales teams. At SRG, Alonso is the go-to for creating and implementing marketing strategies that drive growth and increase revenue. In addition, he has a burning passion for helping sales teams reach their full potential and is dedicated to helping sales leaders create a culture of continuous learning with a focus on delivering results.

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Jeffrey (Jeff) Cordes

Senior Director of Training Services

Jeff drives sales performance through the development of sales professionals at all levels. Jeff’s experience includes senior executive sales leadership positions at IBM Global Services as the VP of Sales and Director of the IBM Management Development Institute and most recently as the Chief Learning Officer for Xerox worldwide. Jeff is nationally recognized for his ability to provide energized, thought-provoking sales learning facilitation and training initiatives that deliver measurable ROI for sales organizations of all sizes and industries. A partial list of his clients includes Price Waterhouse Coopers, Ryder Dedicated Logistics, Abbott Labs, Ameren Corporation, Career Builder, Home Depot, Oracle, CVS/Caremark, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Lowes, DHL Express, and Novatech. Jeff is an adjunct faculty member in the MBA program at Benedictine University and ran the Quality program for Wharton. Jeff has an MBA in Organizational Leadership and a BA in Economics.

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Ilana Guttmann

Director of Learning & Development

Ilana Guttmann has over 20 years of experience designing learning experiences for a range of industries. She specializes in adult learning methodologies that engage learners through a variety of media to achieve a high degree of transfer of learning. Ilana has a deep background as an instructional design and organizational development consultant, working with organizations that include Tableau Software, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and HTC America.

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Pat Hansen

Senior Designer

Pat Hansen has over twenty years of experience with print and online brand development. She specializes in bringing clarity to complex information – using both logic and creativity. Pat was the founding President of the Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), and has taught graphic design at the University of Washington and Syracuse University. She served on the AIGA National Board of Directors and was selected by Graphic Design USA Magazine as one of the top 10 Women Designers in the United States. Pat earned her B.F.A. at the University of Washington, and then studied at the Kunst Gewerbeschule in Basel, Switzerland.

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Rein Kansman

Senior Training Consultant, Americas

Rein Kansman has an extensive background in Learning & Development. He specializes in engaging with participants so that they understand the key skills and can apply and adopt these skills in real-world situations. Rein worked at Sysco Foods (a Fortune 100 company) for over 25 years and brings with him experience in a variety of leadership roles (sales, management, and operations) including helping other leaders more effectively engage their teams. Rein is also an author with his latest book, "Introducing Love: A New Corporate Paradigm", which focused on how to create a more respectful environment to develop an engaged group of followers. Rein is a graduate of Hospitality Business from Michigan State University.

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Nathan Makela

Client Success Manager

Nathan brings a diverse skillset to the SRG team, specializing in writing, editing, operations, and digital learning. Nathan earned his Bachelor of Arts in English, Creative Writing at the Colorado College. At CC, he was News Editor at the Catalyst Newspaper, an editor at Cipher Magazine, and a News Intern at the Colorado Springs Gazette. Additionally, he has experience working as a peer tutor at the Ruth Barton Writing Center, a Design Assistant with the Innovation Institute at Colorado College, and as a Student Representative for the English Department. Nathan is known for his attention to detail and his passion for language, accessibility, and education.

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Jenner Marcucci

Senior Training Consultant, Americas

Jenner brings over 20 years of Fortune 100 experience working with top-tier organizations.  His background spans sales, sales training, sales management, leadership development, and organizational development. He is sought-after as a dynamic speaker, facilitator, consultant, and coach. Jenner has an infectious enthusiasm for learning, listening, and solving. He spent 2 years in Madrid, Spain, and is fluent in Spanish.  Jenner has worked with several industry leading clients including Abbott, Allied Barton, Catalina, Novartis, Pfizer, and Westin.

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Andreas Piani

Senior Training Consultant, Europe

Andreas is an experienced sales trainer and consultant. Before training and consulting, he's worked for 15 years as a hands-on sales manager and director for several high-growth, B2B-focussed research and technology companies, with an emphasis on scaling their businesses by selling customized services to medium and large corporate clients. Andreas majored in Philosophy and then did an MBA at Steinbeis Business School in Berlin. He's fluent in English, French, German, and Italian, and conversational in Spanish.

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Gloria Richards

Senior Training Consultant, Americas

Gloria has been engaged in sales, sales management, and leadership education for three decades. Working at sales training companies such as Wilson Learning corporation and Porter Henry, Gloria has helped numerous global sales organizations develop and implement training programs, including Xerox, Colgate, Lever Brothers, Weight Watchers International, and Pfizer. Gloria also served as a Learning and Development Manager for The Walt Disney Company, creating and facilitating educational courses for leaders across all the Disney-owned companies. She is committed to engaging learners and helping them with the practical application of skills and knowledge. Gloria holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester and is an adjunct instructor at Delaware Technical Community College, where she teaches classes in critical thinking and writing.

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Greg Steward

Vice President, Business Development

Greg is an accomplished sales professional and sales leader. As Vice President of Business Development, he is responsible for new business development, managing client relationships, and developing the SRG sales team. Coming to SRG from a successful startup where he was a top performing sales representative, Greg refined SRG’s outbound sales strategy and has worked with industry leading clients including ABM Industries, Avanir, Edwards Lifesciences, HD Supply, Infor, Kemper, and Smartsheet on customized sales and sales management training solutions.

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Laurel Tanner

Account Executive

Laurel is responsible for connecting with prospects and working with them to discover how SRG can best serve their needs. Laurel comes to SRG from the world of education, where she was a classroom teacher, curriculum designer, and team leader in public and private school institutions. She led several initiatives to adapt classroom training to eLearning and virtual instructor-led training (VILT) using various online platforms during the pandemic. She brings her talent for leadership and empathetic listening to the sales team and prospects, and clients of SRG. Laurel holds a BA in Education from Western Washington University and a teachers certificate in Texas and Washington state. In her spare time, Laurel enjoys hiking and reading about personal development.

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Will Voelkel

Senior Training Consultant, Americas

Will has over 25 years of experience in sales, sales training, sales coaching, and sales leadership. He brings a results-orientation, creativity, passion, and practical solutions to every client engagement.  In both, the consulting and corporate arenas, Will has designed and facilitated hundreds of training programs and initiatives. He has worked for more than 200 Fortune 1000 companies, including American Express, BNY Mellon, Brown Brothers Harriman, Cigna, Colgate-Palmolive, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lufthansa German Airlines, Novartis, Pepsico, Pfizer, Northrop Gruman, 3M, and Weight Watchers International. Will is also an adjunct instructor at NYU’s School of Continuing Education and Leadership.

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Maya White

Director of Client Success

Maya brings a unique and gifted eye for project management that she has crafted over the last 15 years of event planning and management. Most recently hailing from Point B as an event marketing manager where she project managed and lead events. The long list of compliments and high praises from stakeholders and clients alike speaks volumes of her ability as a PM. Maya effectively communicates with her partners to hear their vision translates into effortless anticipation and effective on the fly problem-solving. Her knowledge of systems and understanding of what makes a project run efficiently comes naturally. Maya is a part of the training operations team at SRG.

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