Meet the Team at SDI/TDI/ERDI
We want to be sure that you feel like you are getting the attention and customer service your deserve. At International Training, it is our job to make sure you not only receive the support, but feel that you are a valued member of our team as well.
Please take the time and get to know your team members in the scuba diving business.
Brian Carney
The best way to describe what Brian does at International Training is whatever needs to be done, he does it. His passion for the sport of Diving started at a very young age with the fascination of fish. Always loved snorkeling for hours where ever his parents would allow; sometimes that meant a murky river in New England where he grew up. Now Brian feels fortunate enough to be sharing his love for the ocean with Jack, his son who is just as passionate as he was at that age. Enjoying time exploring with Jack and wife Steph are what he likes to do during down time but he is also a little (a lot) addicted to exercise these days, regularly competing in Cross fit competitions when time will allow.
Sean Harrison
As a long time scuba diver and an avid outdoorsman, Sean enjoys a lot of activities nearly all of which involve being outdoors. At the office, Sean deals with almost everything from training, RSTC, Insurance, and everything else that involves company relations with other agencies, manufactures and the industry as a whole. During most of his off days when not at the beach with his sons, you can find Sean enjoying kayak fishing, canoeing, cycling and walks through local parks introducing his kids to the outdoors and helping them identify the flora and fauna. “I have been fortunate enough to live and travel around the world and one day will be able to take my sons to some exotic destinations.”
Shipping/Inventory and Accounting
Sally Camm
Sally is responsible for maintaining our wide variety of inventory items, making sure orders get to the customer on time, and keeping our vendors in line. Sally’s diving “career” started in Lake Champlain, VT. Outside of diving, Sally enjoys road cycling, strength training, and spending time with her family.
Samantha Madigan
Samantha is originally from Long Island, New York. Her responsibilities at International Training include shipping orders, various customer service tasks, and helping wherever she is needed. When she’s not working, she is out diving and is looking forward to getting her first TDI certification; she also loves spending time with family and friends.
Product Development and Technology
James Councill
A North Carolina native, James graduated from Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. With a passion for travel, he studied international entrepreneurship at The University of Alicante in Spain, and lived as a ski bum in Steamboat Springs, CO for a brief period of time. Before joining the marketing team at SDI/TDI/ERDI, he was a marketing and social media specialist for a web development firm in North Carolina.
Aaron Lazar
Aaron, a Northeast Ohio native, is a new member to the International Training family. He graduated with a major in Digital Media Production from Ashland University in spring of 2016. Aaron obtained his open water certification in 2012 and has been hooked on diving ever since. He is excited to begin work with ITI’s product development team, combining video with his love for the underwater world.
Rob Goodenow
Initially hired as a customer service representative in 2004, when the office was located in Maine, Rob quickly proved his value beyond customer service, displaying an ability to transform data and build systems to help streamline processes throughout the company. Rob created the first in-store system for printing c-cards and continues to work on refining and optimizing all our web systems today. Rob still lives with his favorite companions in Maine (Wife and pets), where he enjoys cooking delicious food, landscaping the yard and all manner of technical toys and distractions.
Richard Carlson
Rick.Carlson@tdisdi.com
Rick is the multimedia artist at International Training, is responsible for any of the graphic work ranging from all SDI TDI ERDI training materials to advertisements. In his free time if he’s not in the water diving, he’s painting furthering his studies in the art world.
International Business Development
Paul Montgomery
Hailing from Maine, Paul started diving recreationally while a Firefighter/EMT-I and then became an instructor as well as owning and operating a retail dive center. “Like many of my generation, we were influenced and driven to explore the oceans by Cousteau and his teams as well as the television show, Sea Hunt.” Paul is responsible for our 24 global regional offices that serve our members and divers in over 100 countries and territories as well as new business development. “While I enjoyed my time as a dive center owner and instructor, working with our global partners is truly rewarding”. During down time, Paul enjoys the beauty of Maine with activities that include camping, hiking and kayaking.
Jordan Greene
Jordan Greene has been with SDI/TDI/ERDI for 2 years now and is an aspiring Instructor for all 3 agencies, particularly ERDI due to his degree in EMT/Firefighting. He works in our International Business Development Dept and is currently working on TDI and ERDi certifications, as well as SDI professional ratings. In his free time, he can be found diving Florida’s amazing reef systems and wrecks or looking for ways to explore and travel the world – again.
Marketing
Darren Pace
Darren gives 2 thumbs up for Wes Anderson movies, remarkable people, entrepreneurship, technology, long weekends, a great laugh, the outdoors, tacos, ice coffee and white hat SEO. He frowns when he has a lack of sleep, burnt popcorn, car maintenance, lame memes, cold showers and black hat SEO. His wife and daughter are amazing! Darren is the director of Marketing and if you asked, he’d tell you that quality content is king. Questions?
Brittany Hadfield
Brittany is from a lot of places but moved to Florida from Pennsylvania in the Spring of 2015 just after graduating from East Stroudsburg University. She studied Art and Design and even took a semester in South Africa while in school. Brittany was a stay at home mom to her son for the first 18 months of his life and is so excited to be joining the SDI family. She has a football obsessed husband (go Steelers!) so you’ll find her on the couch watching every Sunday during the fall. She and her family are beach bums when the weather is good and love getting out on the boat whenever they get the chance. Coffee, kitchen dance parties and technology are the highlights of her interests.
Gregory Toscano
Greg grew up in Jensen Beach Florida right near HQ. He has a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Florida Atlantic University. He is a new member of the marketing team. He likes to surf, fish, play racquetball, and code/program.
Sales – Americas
Cris Merz
Cris joined International Training in 2006 and currently conducts the team of Regional Managers in North America dedicated to ensuring our members are kept up to date, introduced to our new products, changes and advances with the company and expanding new business. While not managing the sales team, Cris’ department overviews business development in the Caribbean, Central and most of South America. Cris still gets underwater as much as he can now that the office moved to Florida and splits his time cycling when he is not diving around the coast of Florida or wherever life takes him.
Training and Membership Services
Stephanie Miele
Stephanie has worked in the industry for nearly 20 years and seen firsthand the explosive growth of International Training. In the beginning, her focus was primarily international business resulting in broadening the scope of International Training’s worldwide expansion. Nowadays, her focus is closer to home with inside sales working directly with our members. When not at work, Stephanie enjoys spending quality time with her family and an occasional Cross fit competition.
Dennis Pulley
Originally certified as an open water diver in the mid 1970’s, Dennis reached the level of instructor in the mid 80’s. Dennis has been involved at the agency level for more than 26 years instrumental in developing training standards not only at the agency level, but for the industry as a whole. He has written several published articles and has assisted with development of training programs and materials during this time. Dennis’ primary duties at International Training are: to process leadership level paperwork, assist with training questions and standards. In his spare time he likes to ride his motorcycle with his wife and work around the house. Dennis is extremely active with Lions Club International, a world-wide non-profit service group, serving his local community.
Jesse Iacono
Jesse comes from Rhode Island, spending the majority of his diving career in the waters of the Northeast. After his involvement with the University of Rhode Island Scuba Program, he spent a year instructing for United Divers Inc in Somerville, MA before moving to Florida to join the International Training family. Jesse spends his weekdays working in membership services to provide our customers with the unparalleled customer service relationships they have come to know and love from International Training. When outside of the office, he tries to spend as much time as possible in the aquatic world enjoying the beauty of the local dive sites, instructing students, or training for new personal certifications.
John Bentley
John is a Virginia native and new to both Florida and International training. John worked as an instructor for 4 years at a small mountain dive shop and shared his love of diving the community. He now projects this passion by assisting dive centers, processing certifications and answering questions in the Membership Services and Training Department on the phones and emails. In his spare time John loves diving in the North Florida caves and Florida Keys shipwrecks.
Brian Shreve
Born and raised in Wyoming, Brian has been an instructor since 2002 and an SDI/TDI Instructor Trainer since 2008. Brian operated a successful SDI/TDI 5 Star Professional Development Center in Nebraska for over 13 years, and still enjoys sharing his passion for diving with others. Brian now brings that experience to the Training and Membership Services team at HQ. When not at work, he enjoys diving (especially deep wrecks and caves), playing guitar, working on projects around the house, and playing on the beach with his chocolate lab Zada.
Kate Heller
I’m originally from the Chicago area in Illinois and graduated from Western Illinois University with a degree in Spanish and a minor in Scuba diving. I earned my Open Water certification in 2013 and my passion for diving has grown ever since. Once I graduated college I started working at DJ’s Scuba Locker Inc. where my career took off and I was able to explore areas of diving that initially I didn’t know were a possibility. I am excited to be here and hoping to grow my passion for diving. When I’m not diving, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends.
Dillon Waters
Dillon is a graduate of East Carolina University’s Education Department with teaching credentials. His scuba career began with a university scuba course he took as a way to fill his credit hour requirements, but after the first day of class the first thing he said after emerging from the water was “I want to be an instructor one day” and from then on he never looked back. Spending the first half of his diving career on the deep shipwrecks of the Graveyard of the Atlantic, he has a love for the ocean and conservation, which he shows through his non-profit work on artificial reefs in NC.
Dillon has a love for this sport that he can only show through introducing it to others and his two happiest places are underwater and in the classroom. Although Dillon enjoys all types of diving, his passion is Technical Diving and the way it continues to humble him, yet drives him to learn more. Whether he’s inside a cave or on a shipwreck, diving is his true love.
Regional Managers – North America
Buddy Brown
Southeast/South Florida
Buddy is the territory manager for the Southeast and Florida region. Buddy loves all things “water”. Needless to say, he loves diving, spear fishing, fishing, and most any kind of boating. Years ago, Buddy, along with his wife and daughter, lived and cruised on a 35 foot ketch rigged Morgan sailboat for an extended time. He has been in the business of SCUBA ever since. Buddy is an avid reader and enjoys jogging and biking, and of course, spending time with grandkids. Buddy has developed many friendships with his customers over the years, and gets great satisfaction from helping them be successful in their businesses. He is proud to have his son, Joey, and daughter, Jennifer working with him in this business.
Joey Brown
Southeast/ South Florida
Joey represents the Florida / South East / Mid-Atlantic Regions. Joey has been fortunate enough to grow up around the dive business his whole life and has been active in the water since he can remember. He is an SDI instructor and enjoys teaching but also likes to spear or catch his dinner when he is in the ocean. Joey has been representing water sport companies since 2007 and is always looking for new opportunities to grow the industry and help his dealers. His favorite places to dive are the Cay Sal Banks and Dominica.
Darrin Davis
South Central
Caring for the South Central territory, Darrin comes with over 20 years of public safety experience with cross training as paramedic fire-fighter for 17 of those years. While still being active in public safety and as an emergency responder, Darrin became a Dive Master and fell in love with scuba focusing on wrecks and spear fishing. He currently volunteers for his local dive team when he’s not out free-diving.
Dan Downes
Canada
Representing all of Canada, this certified Instructor Trainer for International Training and the FQAS in Quebec has a background in management consulting. Dan provides tailored instruction, training and coaching to both individuals and businesses, indulges in underwater photography and leads dive expeditions to different and exciting dive locations. Dan is a member of the Archeological Society of British Columbia and mentors graduate students at a local university and in his spare time can be found training for triathlons and motorcycling across North America.
Shawn Harrison
Midwest
In his early industry career years Shawn Harrison has worked in retail dive facilities in the greater Seattle region where his experience included retail sales, repair, dive training and store management. In early 2003 took a position with SDI/TDI/ERDI for Midwest Regional Sales Representative and over the years has progressed within the agency working in various positions including overseeing ERDI. When on his free time Shawn enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons, shooting and of course scuba diving.
Jennifer Miller
South Florida
Jennifer has loved the ocean since living on a sailboat and sailing throughout the Caribbean with her parents. Growing up in the Keys and diving as a youngster nurtured that love and desire to always be near the ocean. Jennifer has two teenage children, one of whom is Level 1 Freediving certified and the other excelling in various high school athletic teams. Jennifer is the newest sales representative and is enjoying getting back to her roots of diving and the salt life by looking over the Florida region.
Joe Stellini
Northeast
In 2006, Joe left Dive Retail and moved from the Midwest to take a position as Northeast Representative working with Dive Equipment Manufacturers. By 2011 he and Mike Williams partnered to expand business and were offered the position from International Training. In addition to Sales and Consulting, Joe is an Instructor Trainer and working to expand into technical diving instructor as well. Of course scuba diving is a passion, but on top of that Joe spends time hiking the outdoors and traveling as much as the world as possible.
Craig Willemsen
Northwest
Managing the Northwest and Southwest regions, Craig comes from a long history on the retail side of the Dive Industry, having earned his first Instructor rating in the late ‘70’s, and as a dive store owner since the late ‘80’s. In the late ‘90’s, Craig got involved with rebreathers, and continues with this passion to this day. Craig spends as much of his spare time as he can with his wife and two kids, hiking and (of course) diving.
Tim Wagner
Southwest and Hawaii
Tim Wagner is our Southwest/Hawaii Regional Manager. Tim will focuses on cultivating relationships with dive center operators and fostering new retail partnerships.
Before joining the SDI/TDI/ERDI team, Tim built relationships with media conglomerates like CBS, Infinity Radio, and Yahoo! as the Director of Strategic Alliances for jobs.com, and he managed a sales and recruitment team for a national search firm in North Dallas before moving into dive retail operations.
Tim is a Master Instructor, Technical, and CCR diver who teaches more than 30 diving specialties. He has been married to Tonya for 18 years and lives in Southern California with their four boys.
Ed Moggio
Caribbean
Ed began his professional diving career circa 1979 as the Owner, Operations Manager and head Sanitation Engineer of Choo-Choo Dive Center in Chattanooga, Tn. During the next ten years grew and expanded the business thru the training of new divers, implementing an extensive dive travel program and successful retail sales growth each year.
Chris Mullins
Caribbean
Technical diving has been Chris’ passion for the past twelve years as he shifted his business from telecommunications into becoming a dive professional back in 2002. A homegrown SDI instructor from Virginia’s The Dive Shop in Fairfax, Chris has had roles as a dive store owner, a sales rep, and an instructor trainer.
Chris has dived some of the most beautiful places in the world as well as many of the most undesirable murky, ice-cold holes in the ground and to this day, Truk Lagoon remains his favorite destination.
