PHCCCONNECT2020

Nathan Gonzales

Nathan Gonzales is the editor and publisher of Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, which provides non-partisan analysis of campaigns for Senate, House, governor and president. He was an editor, analyst, and writer for The Rothenberg Political Report for more than 13 years before taking over the company in 2015. He offers audiences some of the most detailed electoral forecasting in the business. He can regularly be seen on CNN discussing the latest in politics, and the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today have all sought him out for his expertise. On Election Night 2016, Nathan was an on-air analyst for Newshour on PBS after working as an off-air consultant for ABC News on their Election Night Decision Desk for 14 years.

Lt. General L. Honore', USA (Ret.)

LTG Russel L. Honoré helps organizations develop a culture of preparedness and creates the mindset of problem-solving, take-charge leaders in the age of COVID-19. An American hero who helped a New Orleans recover from catastrophe, he now shares candid and colorful leadership views how government resources, the private sector and we as individuals can work together to overcome the challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. As the commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, LTG Honoré became known as the “Category 5 Gen.” for his striking leadership style in coordinating military relief efforts in post-hurricane New Orleans. He is a decorated 37-year army veteran and global authority on leadership. When Hurricanes such as Harvey, Irma, and Maria approach, news networks like CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and CBS consider him their go-to expert on emergency and disaster preparedness, as well as crisis management.LTG Honoré’s uses his experience managing natural and man-made conflicts to help companies and organizations bubuild a culture of preparedness. On stage, his disciplined leadership and colorful, patriotic storytelling shine. In our country’s new normal, Gen. Honoré provides audiences impactful takeaways as change and unpredictability are constants, and resilience is mandatory. He is the author of three books, including his most recent, Don't Get Stuck on Stupid!

Kirk Alter

Kirk Alter is an associate professor in Purdue University’s Dept. of Building Construction Management, president of Fast Management, Inc., a member of the PHCC Educational Foundation’s Board of Governors and director for its management courses. He worked his way up from an apprentice to business owner, which brings a uniquely well-rounded perspective to his training sessions. Alter is a LEED-accredited professional, a Fulbright Scholar and has taught management and sustainable construction practices to audiences across the United States, Europe and around the world.

Jeremy Cheek

As of November 2019, Jeremy Cheek oversees Federated Insurance’s Risk Management Resource Center, a team of risk management professionals dedicated to working with Federated clients. He has six years of field experience in Risk Management and Loss Control and currently works out of Chicago, Illinois. In addition, Cheek oversees the monthly Risk Management Webinar series for Federated Insurance and presents at the company’s Risk Management Academy in Owatonna, Minnesota.

Gregory Chelap, Esq.

Greg Chelap concentrates his legal practice on the representation of middle-market businesses and business owners. He has represented owners of p-h-c, mechanical and environmental companies throughout the United States for more than 20 years, and he has advised on hundreds of p-h-c business ownership transitions. Chelap has extensive experience in advising business owners and their families on matters relating to financial, tax and management strategies for growing, protecting and exiting their businesses. He also serves as outside general counsel to business organizations and trade associations. Education: Pepperdine University, Certificate in Private Capital Markets; Widener University School of Law, J.D., cum laude; Dickinson College, B.A. in Economics.

Jeff Crandall

Jeff Crandall is a customer service and sales expert, equipped with the knowledge, tools and technology to help your business succeed. He brings more than 20 years of experience in training and developing top performing customer service representatives and sales teams. He has spent the last five years working with home service contractors, helping them understand the power of options, flat rate and how to get the most out of their businesses. From his time spent in the U.S. Army, Crandall brings a strong work ethic, a team-first attitude, and a commitment to helping home service contractors succeed.

Laurie C. Crigler

Marla DiCarlo

Marla DiCarlo is an accomplished CFO and business consultant with more than 28 years of professional accounting experience. As co-owner and CEO of Raincatcher, she helps business owners get their companies ready to sell so that they can find the best buyer and get paid the maximum value. DiCarlo has worked with groups such as Credit Suisse First Boston, ISS Group, Venture West Group and Madison Dearborn Partners. She is an accomplished speaker and has taught classes with her local SBDC and SBA, as well as with various lenders and banking institutions. She is a certified Value Builder Advisor and has helped more than 500 small business owners to grow and scale their businesses.

Beth A Dobkin

With a passion for training and developing people, Beth Dobkin is responsible for creating and presenting programs related to our industry, business development and the customer service experience. She joined PHCC in its Quality Service Contractor segment as a business coach, traveling throughout the country to help business owners meet their goals and follow their dreams. Dobkin resides in California with her husband of 38 years. They have three independent, successful adult children.

Franc S. Exley

Franc Exley joined Quality Service Contractors in 2019 and serves as the Business Management Coach. He comes to QSC from Aire Serv and Mr. Rooter where he worked since 2001 as a Franchise Consultant, Sales Trainer and Underground Division Instructor teaching training sessions such as Managing Through Your Financials, Key Indicators Within Your Business, Budgeting, Marketing, Day to Day Operations, Underground Sales in Plumbing, Key Manager Training and Sales Training. Previously, Exley was the owner and operator of a local heating and air conditioning business, with locations in Macon and Savannah, Georgia.

Robert Freedenberg, Esq.

Robert Freedenberg concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning and business planning. With an emphasis on the federal and state tax issues associated with business formation, restructuring and succession planning, Freedenberg assists clients in achieving the goal of minimizing their overall tax burden through business transitions and ongoing operations. He previously served as Deputy Secretary for Taxation with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, and he also worked for the Internal Revenue Service in both its Examination Division and the Appeals Division. Education: Villanova University, LL.M. in Taxation; Temple University School of Law, J.D.; Temple University, B.B.A. in Accounting.

Susan Frew

As the daughter of a carpenter and wife of a master plumber, Susan Frew is now using her business coaching experience, having coached 17 different trades and 150 companies to propel their family businesses. Frew is a former international GM with AT&T Wireless, business coach with ActionCOACH Business Coaching, instructor for the SBA’s national Emerging Leaders program, and radio host of “Coaching Not Just for Sports” on ESPN Radio in Denver. She is known for growing Sunshine Plumbing, Heating and Air 535% in just one year! After a break to focus on Sunshine’s growth, she is a professional speaker and emcee and travels around the country delivering keynotes and training to trades conventions, helping members to “Go Out on the Skinny Branches.” She is also the author of “The Pufferfish Effect,” helping other small businesses to grow their companies.

Talbot Gee

Talbot Gee moved to Columbus, Ohio, to join HARDI in 2006 after serving as Executive Director for wholesale distributor trade associations in the security hardware, horticultural supplies, and general aviation industries for five years as part of an association management company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his role as HARDI’s CEO, Gee oversees the association’s new and ongoing efforts to increase distributor members’ competitive advantage, and that of their committed supplier partners and customers, in their respective markets. He accomplishes this through proprietary education and professional development, benchmarking and market data analyses, government affairs and advocacy, and the exchange of proven best practices. Gee regularly writes for industry and distribution publications and also represents HARDI’s membership in front of a wide array of audiences speaking on the value of wholesale distribution, government affairs trends and updates, specific issue briefs, and emerging HVACR opportunities.

Nathan Hallows

Nathan Hallows has been a strategic part of building, leading and developing companies for more than 15 years and is currently the Business Development Manager at ClientTether. With successful accomplishments throughout his life – from state championships in high school to championships in Junior College and Division II college basketball programs – he grew a passion for helping build and develop winning programs in his career. For the past 15 years, Hallows has been part of developing SAAS programs for the education industry, manufacturing, international business consulting, and building strong, effective sales organizations and processes. He and his wife are both from Utah and have five children. His wife is a stroke survivor, and they have come to appreciate the simple things in life.

Les Hanks

As a QSC Business Coach, Les Hanks operates with a fervent desire to help people grow, personally and professionally. Traveling throughout the country, he brings an abundance of experience helping business owners better understand their finances, their employees and their customers ... so that everyone wins. Hanks enjoys creating financial tools, service training programs and model action plans for his customers. He lives in Texas with his wife, Christine, and has four children. Becoming a grandpa in 2017 is his crowning lifetime achievement.

Dave Hansen

Nathan Hallows has been a strategic part of building, leading and developing companies for more than 15 years and is currently the Business Development Manager at ClientTether. With successful accomplishments throughout his life – from state championships in high school to championships in Junior College and Division II college basketball programs – he grew a passion for helping build and develop winning programs in his career. For the past 15 years, Hallows has been part of developing SAAS programs for the education industry, manufacturing, international business consulting, and building strong, effective sales organizations and processes. He and his wife are both from Utah and have five children. His wife is a stroke survivor, and they have come to appreciate the simple things in life.

Gregg Holladay

Gregg Holladay is a Business Development Manager, Specialty Markets, for Bradford White Water Heaters. In his role, Holladay works to educate architects, builders and the p-h-c trade on the benefits of heat pump water heaters, including Bradford White’s own AeroTherm™. Before joining the Bradford White team, he spent 32 years with General Electric, where he introduced GeoSpring™, the first Energy Star electric heat pump water heater, to the U.S. market. With GE’s exit from the heat pump water heater market, its manufacturing assets were acquired by Bradford White and integrated into their own state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Middleville, Michigan. Now, Bradford White’s engineers and manufacturing experts use these assets to produce the next generation AeroTherm. Gregg lives on his Kentucky farm with Teresa, his wife of 37 years. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky.

Erica Leonor

Erica Leonor is a highly influential Customer Experience Coach and Sales Trainer at Power Selling Pros. She actually considers herself a Master Jedi Trainer because one of her many talents is using “the force” to influence others to create WOW experiences for their customers. She received a B.A. in Anthropology from BYU-Hawaii and has traveled around the world working with and studying different cultures and peoples. Leonor has an extensive background in coaching and training that ranges from customer service to leadership, substance abuse treatment and cultural awareness. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Women in HVACR and thoroughly enjoys bringing opportunities to and creating awareness for women across the industry.

Chad Murray

After serving in the Marine Corps, Chad Murray started a chimney service in Dallas, Texas. Twenty years later, he trained a management team to lead the multi-state chimney company with 50 employees. Stepping away from the day-to-day operations, he coached and consulted them. In 2019, Murray became a business coach and, this year, received the U.S. “Rookie of the Year” Award from the Professional Business Coaches Alliance. In February, he presented two Mastermind roundtables at the National Chimney Expo and already has been invited back to speak again. He still owns a service company and specializes in coaching home services trades.

Larry Oxenham

Larry Oxenham is one of America’s top asset protection experts, having helped thousands of professionals achieve financial peace of mind by teaching them how to properly structure their assets for lawsuit protection and tax reduction. He has authored and co-authored several articles and books on the subject, including The Asset Protection Bible and How to Achieve Financial Peace of Mind through Asset Protection. His career has been credited with helping thousands of people save millions of dollars.

Alain Parcan

Alain Parcan is the Director of Marketing and Member Education at Market Hardware. Working in the web marketing world for more than 11 years, he has an unbridled passion for educating business owners in this area. His web marketing workshops have helped hundreds of businesses transition from “old school” marketing strategies to modern-day digital marketing approaches.

Mr. Aaron Salow

Aaron Salow is the CEO of XOi Technologies, a cloud-based mobile application that empowers field service contractors to virtually collaborate with an industry-leading online knowledge base and complete more service requests. He worked in his family’s factory as a teenager and college student and began his professional career in manufacturing and construction, where he learned the value of hard work and developed a lifelong respect for the skilled tradespeople in blue-collar industries who have kept this country running for more than 200 years. When Salow embarked on his entrepreneurial path, he made a commitment to help skilled workers and the companies they work for.

Josh Smith

Josh Smith is the Vice President of Marketing for the Home Services division at Scorpion. He manages the development of the marketing team that handles all of the home service accounts across the organization. He works to continually provide the team with the industry knowledge, support and tools to ensure that home services professionals increase their revenue and grow their businesses. Out of the office, Smith is a father of three little munchkins and husband to a beautiful lady and loves to feed his creative side through film production, music, podcasting and even building up businesses!

Mark Valentini

Mark Valentini is the Director of Legislative Affairs for PHCC—National Association. A seasoned professional with more than 20 years of experience on Capitol Hill and with several national trade associations, Valentini applies his expertise in public policy, workforce and training, and insurance and tax matters to advocate on behalf of all PHCC members.

Roger Wakefield

Roger Wakefield, LEED AP, is the chief executive officer of Texas Green Plumbing, LLC and founder of The Trade Talks. He is known as “The Expert Plumber” on YouTube and LinkedIn, is recognized as a local social media marketing expert, and has the nation’s fastest growing plumbing channel on YouTube (which is still considered small but grew from 361 subscribers to more than 20,000 in its first full year). On that platform, Wakefield has released three videos a week consistently for more than a year and a half. In 2019, Wakefield was asked by LinkedIn to be one of the first 12 people in the world to beta test LinkedIn Live. After starting a seven-figure-a-year plumbing company, Wakefield got tired of being ripped off by “OPM”-type marketing companies (Other People’s Money). To help residential service providers, he started learning social media and building a digital marketing company, which he still operates today.

Chuck White

Charles “Chuck” R. White serves as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for PHCC—National Association. White works closely with government regulatory bodies, such as the DOE, and serves on a number of councils and coalitions including NSPC, PERC, ABPA and IAPMO as a representative of PHCC’s contractors.