John Harms

FOUNDER/CEO
Millennium

John Harms, Founder & CEO of Millennium SpaSalon Software has been designing award-winning software and educating the beauty and wellness industries for over 25 years. John's passion for helping spa & salon owners has helped him understand what they really need to streamline and grow their businesses. John's commitment to educating owners on Millennium's key growth indicators and why software is more than a front desk tool is unmatched throughout the industry. In 2004, John was awarded one of the top 40 entrepreneurs under the age of 40 by NJ Business Magazine, and Millennium was profiled on CNN and CNBC during the 'Pulse On America' segment, which discussed innovations in technology. Today, Millennium is utilized in thousands of businesses in over 36 countries. Millennium's corporate headquarters is based in New Jersey with over 75 employees and its international office is based in the U.K.

Robert Maconi

VP ENTERPRISE SALES
Millennium

Robert Maconi came to Millennium Software in 1997 and brought a ton of industry experience. Growing up as child, Bob's family owned over a dozen salons in the New Jersey area. In 1985, Bob opened his own salon in Lincoln Park, NJ and in 2006, he was named one of the Salon Today's Top 200 fastest growing salons in the country. Bob loved using Millennium so much in his own salon that he brought his industry expertise to our Sales Department. Today, we are honored to call him our VP of Enterprise Business Solutions where he oversees the entire sales force. He is responsible for molding, educating, and motivating our team of professionals. Throughout the course of 15 years, Bob has received many awards for exceeding almost every goal that has been set before him.

Matt Scudder

DIRECTOR OPERATIONS
Millennium

Matt Scudder came to Millennium in 1999 as an intern while completing his B.S. in Mathematics with concentrations in Physics and Computer Science. Over the last 13 years Matt has steadily worked his way up through the company and has become an integral part of the development & growth of Millennium, our staff and culture. Today Matt is the Director of Operations & Product Development and focuses on ensuring company operations are constantly improving & production initiatives are being met. In 2011 Matt also became certified in Project Management obtaining his PMP certification.

Robert Cromeans

GLOBAL ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & OWNER
John Paul Mitchell Systems & ARCS & Walkin Salons

Robert Cromeans is a Global Artistic Director for John Paul Mitchell Systems. He is also a proud owner of A Robert Cromeans Salons and Walkin Salons by Robert Cromeans in San Diego, Las Vegas, and Tulsa.

Tabatha Coffey

HAIR STYLIST, AUTHOR & TELEVISION STAR
Tabatha Coffey

Tabatha Coffey has devoted her entire professional life to achieving excellence in hair design and education. As host of the hit Bravo series Tabatha's Salon Takeover, Tabatha brought her years of hands-on experience (as well as her trademark unapologetic and brutally honest assessments) to salon owners and stylists in dire need of her skilled business direction. Her newest series, "Tabatha Takes Over" expands beyond salons and follows the demanding perfectionist as she takes over various small businesses and family enterprises and whips them into shape.

Mary Rector-Gable

PRESIDENT & FOUNDER
behindthechair.com

Mary Rector-Gable is the president of behindthechair.com, the largest online community portal site for the professional hairstylist market. This community serves over a million hairdressers and salon owners from around the world.

Matt Beck

OWNER
Salon Gratitude & Gratitude Education

Business Coach, Educator, founder of Gratitude Education, and owner of Salon Gratitude in New Hope, PA. Matt is a hair cutting expert with a business mind. He has spent the last 9 years educating stylists to help them develop a better knowledge of the industry, and to help them be more successful behind the chair. Working with some of the top stylists, companies, distributors, and receiving recognition awards for artistic ability, dedication, knowledge, and skill are just some to name. In 2010 Matt Developed Gratitude Education with one goal in mind, to help stylists and salon owners all over the world achieve their goals.

Bonnie Bonadeo

PRESIDENT & FOUNDER
The Beauty Agents

Speaker Bureau and Training Company and Beauty Goorus Consulting and Co-Founder of Naked Audience Productions. She has represented the beauty industry for over 30 years by, Connecting People to the Power of Beauty. Bonnie's experience s in the industry started as a stylist, to managing salons, and working for some of the most notable manufacturers and distributors to directing the industry's most celebrated events such as NAHA, Beacon, Symposium, ISSE and Beauty Changes Lives. She is producing the program Stages to support mastering the art of authentic speaking skills and is committed to building quality educators. Bonnie volunteers her time to Look Good Feel Better and Student Mentor Programs and is recognized as the go-to expert and connector on all facets of the industry, and has PR mentions in Cosmopolitan, Oprah's O Magazine, and New York Times as well as numerous trade journals.

Amy Carter

DIRECTOR OF FINANCES & BUSINESS OPERATIONS
Empowering You Salon & Spa Consulting

For the past nine years, Amy Carter has been making tremendous headway within the salon/spa industry. As an active salon owner of a salon and Co-owner of Empowering You Salon & Spa Consulting she has reinvented her businesses based on intense knowledge, active systems and business structures, and now benefits from a profitable successful business model. Her positive energy and excitement for the industry is her main motivation as a leader and excellent salon business coach and trainer.

Martino Cartier

CELEBRITY SYLIST & OWNER
Martino Cartier Salon

Celebrity Stylist, Martino Cartier, is a successful salon owner with a staff of over 50. Martino and his salon have been featured in Modern Salon Magazine, Seventeen, Salon Today, and The Golden Globes 2010. Along with being the international platform artist for Keratin Complex Smoothing Therapy, Martino and his team have been featured at all of the major hair shows in North America including Waldorf Astoria Intercoiffure New York, NY, as well as Fontainebleau Intercoiffure, Miami Beach, FL. This year Martino will be featured along with Tabatha Coffey, Kim Vo, Ken Paves, John Frieda and many more at the Stylist Choice Awards in Chicago.

Willis Chrans

CHAIRMAN
Avitus Group

Willis Chrans is the Chairman and founder of Avitus Group. Willis has been in business for over 40 years and has owned several businesses: from Land Development, a Title Company, Property Management, a Radio Station, a Real Estate Sales Firm, a Newspaper, Real Estate investments in apartments, mini storage, mobile home parks, commercial real estate and back in the mid-nineties he began to develop the concept that would eventually became Avitus Group. Willis's latest business venture, Avitus Group currently serves clients throughout the United States, and is developing an organization to assist businesses that want to do business in other countries throughout the world.

Dave Doetsch

DIRECTOR OF INSIDE SALES
Element Payment Services

Dave Doetsch, Element's Director of Inside Sales, has more than 18 years of direct sales and merchant services industry experience. Prior to joining Element in 2008, Doetsch led a sales organization for one of the world's largest payment processors. His combination of industry knowledge and sales skills allow Doetsch to effectively lead Element's sales team, which is dedicated to helping customers simplify and secure their payment environments.

Neil Ducoff

FOUNDER & CEO
Strategies

Neil Ducoff is the founder and CEO of Strategies, a business training and coaching company specializing in no-compromise leadership and culture shifts to no compromise. He is a business trainer, coach, keynote speaker and the creator of the Team-Based Pay System. He is the author of the award-winning book, No-Compromise Leadership, regarded as the new blue print for leadership success. Wake Up!, published in 2012, is a collection of powerful strategies that delivers the "wake up" that every leader needs in these crazy times. His latest book, Fast Forward Second Edition (2013), is the salon and spa industry's most highly acclaimed business reference book.

Elizabeth Fantetti

DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP & ASSOCIATION PROGRAMS
Professional Beauty Association (PBA)

Elizabeth Fantetti serves as the director of membership and association programs for the Professional Beauty Association (PBA). She is charged with developing nationwide membership retention & recruitment strategies and cultivating partnerships and resources that help members of the association achieve success. Prior to joining PBA in August 2008, Elizabeth developed successful investor relations programs for numerous publicly traded companies and held a senior leadership position with Valley Forward, a regional business association in the Phoenix area. She has extensive experience in association management and is a proud member of ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership.

Brenda Gallagher

Director of Sales
Your Name Professional Brands

Brenda Gallagher, Director of Sales for Your Name Professional Brands, leads with an impeccable foresight in maximizing operational success. A Graduate of Syracuse University, with over 30 years of dedicated hands on experience in multiple areas of salon /spa business and product research development. Within the scope of Executive senior management, operational priority focuses entail; Global Brand Sales development, Marketing/PR, Inventory Mgmt, P&L Mgmt, Salon Operations, Staff coaching, Revenue building pay plans and incentives, as well as Multi store USA operations. She believes, first and foremost that listening to your customers, and creating marketing strategies that delivers on what they are looking for, must be synergized with meaningful educational and motivational tools for staff to keep focused and deliver on same key messages. Overall message is value given and communicated to consumers, generate pay revenue for staff and sustainable profits to the business.

Sam Hennes

FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Web Openings

Sam Hennes is founder and president of WebOpenings.com, a last minute appointment booking website for spas and salons. Sam has been helping small and medium-sized businesses grow for the last 15 years and has focused on the beauty and wellness industry since 2005. During that time he realized a tremendous difficulty for spas and salons, not being able to fill their off peak times and canceled appointments. As a result, Hennes launched WebOpenings.com in 2011 to assist these businesses in selling their last minute appointments in a completely automated way.

Myra Irizarry

DIRECTOR OF GOVT. AFFAIRS & INDUSTRY RELATIONS
Professional Beauty Association (PBA)

Myra Y. Irizarry is the Director of Government Affairs and Industry Relations for the Professional Beauty Association (PBA), a national membership organization representing beauty product manufacturers and distributors, salon/spa owners, and licensed beauty professionals. Myra is responsible for research, legislative analysis, advocacy campaigns, and local, state, and federal government affairs efforts. Prior to joining PBA, Myra worked as a lobbyist. Previously she has served as a staff member for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, the Texas State Legislature, and the California State Assembly. During her education at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she earned a Master of Arts Degree in Political Science, Myra participated in the Essex School Methodological and Analytical Data Analysis Program at the University of Essex in Colchester, England. She has also earned a Master of Arts Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Larry Kopsa

PARTNER
Kopsa Otte

Larry Kopsa CPA, a partner of Kopsa Otte, which has often been referred to as "the only CPA Firm that specializes in Salons and Spas." As a former salon owner with his wife, Maggie, Larry has created a deep knowledge of the financial and the management challenges of the industry. In addition, by working with clients from coast to coast plus being in high demand to speak at events worldwide, has given him a unique insight to salons and spas. Larry has written numerous articles and assisted Milady in the development of fundamental tools for salon and spa owners. This combination of his practical knowledge of being a former salon owner with the financial skills of a Certified Public Accountant provides valuable resource to help solve problems and help salons and spas have more money at the end of the month.

Heather LeMere

MARKETING DIRECTOR
Salon Success Strategies

Heather Lemere is an innovator and recognized leader in all things marketing. With over 15 years as an owner of multiple successful salons, spas & medical spas, Heather understands the connectivity between consistent marketing and brand management. With her passion for marketing, Heather founded Salon Success Strategies in 2009, a full service marketing agency that focuses on providing the beauty industry with innovative solutions and proven strategies for companies and individuals looking to grow long lasting, profitable businesses.

Charles Marcus

PRESIDENT
The Empowerment International Group Inc.

Charles Marcus, originally from the UK, now based on Toronto, Canada has many years of international experience and a track record of success in the salon and beauty industry as a stylist, platform artist and salon owner. He started his career with the world famous Vidal Sassoon Company, moved on to work for Crimpers and then owned several award winning salons in England. Today Charles is a much sought after business educator and motivational speaker and his client list is a who's who of the biggest names both inside and outside of our industry. Charles is also the best-selling author of Success is Not a Spectator Sport and was recently honored to be selected to lead the tribute to Vidal Sassoon as the only presenter at the prestigious Contessa Canadian Hair Stylist of the Year awards in Toronto before 1,400 audience members and share his powerful, moving and memorable personal story about his encounter with Vidal Sassoon many years ago.

Michelle Perroton

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Demandforce

As Business Development Manager, Michelle is responsible for cultivating and managing strategic partnerships for the Lifestyle division at Demandforce, including various Beauty Distributors and Manufacturers. She has a unique blend of sales and marketing experience, having been a Salon Development Partner at Aveda Corporation, interfacing directly with salons and spas on a daily basis and more recently as Director at an Aveda Institute in her native Northern California. Having launched the Cinta Aveda Institute from day one, she has firsthand experiences with the challenges a small business owner faces. Now at Demandforce, Michelle enjoys bringing first-rate technology to small businesses to help them keep connected to their clients, increase efficiencies, and increase revenue.

Carol Phillips

FOUNDER
BEAUTEESMARTS

Carol Phillips is an internationally-known spa keynote speaker, educator, industry consultant and successful former spa owner and therapist. For the past 25 years, she has inspired spas and beauty businesses all over the globe to re-focus on working smarter to drive service and retail sales.
Carol is the founder of BEAUTEESMARTS, which offers full service sales consulting, marketing, advertising, branding, retail strategies and training. As the salon and spa industry leader in sales education BEAUTEESMARTS produces premier online training solutions for product vendors, salon and spas and now beauty schools.

Russel Thompson

BUSINESS COACH & TRAINER
Empowering You Salon & Spa Consulting

Russel has been dedicated trainer for over 25 years, helping professionals grow their careers and create life balance. As an owner of his own salon and a colorist Russel has the advantage of knowing what it is like to be an artist and business owner. "My training as a business coach gave me the abilities to not only push my life to the next level but to understand what kept me from achieving the things I wanted." These skills enabled Russel to open a salon in 2008 and grow his stylists 30%-50% year after year. Carmichael Salon has been voted "best of the bay" for 2011 and 2012. "I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish and look forward to sharing what we have learned with you."