James Chellis is a bestselling educator, author, editor, and publisher. James founded Comcourse in 1994 to provide innovative education. Since that time, millions of students have read James's technology publications. With more than 6,000,000 hardbound books in print, two of his titles have been worldwide #1 technology best-sellers.
Additionally, thousands of students have completed James's classroom trainings, watched his educational videos, and used his training software. James has provided training to dozens of Fortune 500 corporations, and many universities and governmental organizations.
Starting in 1995, in conjunction with Cyberstate University, which was the world’s first web-based IT training company, James presented online IT certification trainings, and the first live elabs to students across the country. Since that time, James has continued to contribute to the development of the frontiers of online learning, and elearning communities. James presents at industry conferences, has served as an executive member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and has developed and sold several patents internationally.
In 2004. Comcourse began supporting colleges and universities in the delivery of accredited programs, and has since partnered with approximately two dozen institutions.
James earned his degree in Community Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and has completed graduate work in Writing and Communication.
Matt has more than a decade of experience writing bestselling training books and developing educational technologies. Matt has co-authored more than a dozen IT certification books, and managed teams of developers in the production of more than a dozen software products. Matt was the lead developer on The EdgeTest software, licensed to Sybex Inc. for use in more than 3,000,000 technical certification exam preparation study guides.
Matt has developed advanced technologies related to the Comcourse Learning Management System, including student tracking and reporting functionality. Matt recently led and completed development on an advanced software simulation tool, produced by a team of five developers over a period of one year. This software simulates the Windows Server 2003 environment, providing necessary hands-on experience to students.
Matt earned his degree in 1998 in Digital Media from the University of California, Santa Cruz, helping forge the program as the very first graduate in the first year of the program.
Prior to joining Comcourse, Kim served as the vice president of business development for Toronto-based Embanet Corporation from 2006 to 2008. In this position, he directed sales activities, including business development for the their full-services offering and technical support division and was responsible for the day-to-day management of regional sales directors, developed and implemented a corporate sales strategy, increased the sales and business development pipeline, and guided the sales presentation and proposal processes. During his tenure at Embanet, working with the Embanet team he successfully brought over 10 schools to Embanet.
Before Embanet, Kim was the senior vice president for Winner Global, LLC. In this position, he was responsible for guiding the development and growth of two start-up companies, Winner Energy and Environmental Services, LLC and Winner Global SafExit. Responsibilities included business plan development, market strategy, and sales development.
Earlier in his career, he served as the president of the Educational Resources Group (ERG) that was part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Using technology and the World Wide Web, the ERG’s mission was to meet the educational needs of place-bound learners, under-served communities, non-traditional students, and rural Pennsylvanians and to provide lifelong learning opportunities for all PA residents.
Under Kim's leadership, the ERG focused building a sound financial/administrative unit; developing and implementing a strategic business plan and launching Keystone University Network, the State System’s virtual university; expanding community and economic development initiatives; increasing the organization’s workforce and professional development training programs and becoming a self-sustaining entity while bringing value to the State System.
Kim held several significant positions within state government under the Ridge Administration. From May 1995 to June 1996, he served as Policy Director for the former Department of Community Affairs (DCA). In this position, he helped to develop and implement the plan to merge DCA into the new Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). From July 1996 to July 2000, he served as the first Executive Director of the newly created Governor’s Center for Local Government Excellence. Governor Tom Ridge appointed him Deputy Secretary for Community Affairs and Development in DCED in July 2000 where he served until March 2001.
In the past, Kim has served as co-chair of the National Decennial Census Advisory Committee, and he was one of the founding members of the PA Rural Development Council.
John brings over ten years of experience in online marketing and internet technology. He began his professional career as the director of business development for a consulting firm in Orange County, California, specializing in public school facilities planning.
John went on to serve as the program coordinator for a full service interactive agency in Newport Beach, California. Here he specialized in creative design, brand strategies, e-commerce operations and integrated marketing for such clientele as: Surfrider Foundation, Marwit Capital, West Coast Choppers, Borax, Chip Foose, Jackie Warner, HireRight and PMAC. Currently at Comcourse, he leads the marketing team in strategic development and tactical implementation, along with the management of strategic vendor relationships. He is also responsible for the development of integrated marketing campaigns to drive demand with industry forums, lead generation, advertising and sales.
John earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Digital Media at Sacramento State University.
As the Director of Course Development, Christine combines her two professional passions: writing and education. Overseeing a team of course developers, Christine ensures that the courses Comcourse creates are not only well written but also educationally effective – inspiring, accessible and well-presented.
Christine found her professional niche working in Goucher College’s Writing Center. There she discovered that she had the ability to help others write effectively. Since then, she has spent a decade teaching: high school students, college students, and adults pursuing advanced degrees. Christine teaches because she is inspired by how empowering education can be – opening students to new career paths, new ways of understanding the world and new forms of expression.
Christine is originally from Maryland. She obtained her Master of Arts in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and earned her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Goucher College.
Leah’s involvement in education spans 10 years. She began working in high schools as an aid and soon became an after-school educator in a technologically-geared program for elementary through high school students. Shortly after, she became the program’s Training Manager where she facilitated the training to all instructors conducting these specialized classrooms in Northern California.
Leah received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Women’s Studies. A primary focus of hers was studying the Spanish language which led her abroad for one school year at the Universidad de Granada in Granada, Spain. Leah is also a certified Teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL)/Foreign Language (EFL) from the University of Cambridge. Leah has taught ESL/EFL in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Japan, and Costa Rica. She has also been a volunteer at her local chapter of Bay Area RotaCare (healthcare for low-income and uninsured families) as an interpreter for Spanish speaking patients since 2008.
In her position as Director of Program Support, Leah leads the team of Program Managers. Pre and post launch, each educational partner is assigned a Program Manager that is the day to day operational point person. Their department assures that the LMS is able to accommodate the individualized Programs and policies for each institution, handles the logistics of materials and course enrollments, and helps prepare faculty to use the LMS as an administrator and educator.
Prior to joining Comcourse, Bill served as Manager of Support Services for a worldwide software company with offices in San Jose and Tel Aviv. His 25+ years experience in building, revitalizing, integrating and optimizing support and customer service organizations helped him raise the Customer Satisfaction level for all worldwide customer to an unprecedented 95% and above for 3 years running. Successful in defining and implementing technologies, standards and best practices to enhance average speed to answer, improve first call resolution, and increase overall satisfaction.
Bill also brings a proven success in establishing and directing teams in providing optimal support to national and global users on all hardware, software and networking issues. Skilled trainer, mentor and project leader; proven ability to build and motivate high-performance and flexible teams focused on customer service and technical support requests.
Bill brings this experience to Comcourse to continue to drive Concourse’s path to easy accessible, concise help for all our partner school students. Bill is involved with various charitable organization in his spare time, and continues with his passion for amateur auto racing and mentoring various auto related websites and organizations.