Jason Sturges

President

Jason Sturges, MED, CPTD  has a passion for learning and facilitating learners ‘one step closer’ to their desired goals. He has been in the talent development world for over 19 years, and has spent time in the franchise, bio-tech, medical device, higher ed, retail, professional services & association industries. He has worn many talent development hats including: learner experience, instructor led content development, facilitation, e-learning development, organizational development, employee engagement, onboarding, LMS management, management/leadership consulting & more. Jason has served the Utah Association for Talent Development chapter for 10 years and led the board as president twice.

Currently, Jason is leading Maverik’s Learning Experience Team, helping to create world class training programs and solutions for our Basecamp, Logistics and retail store teams. He is also available to consult with any group, team or individual, that wants to look at creating or updating their training, or even trying new & innovative strategies with their training content.

Jason received his BS in Business/Information Resource Management (2004), and his Master of Education in Adult Learning (2012) both from Westminster College – where is also an adjunct profession in the graduate school of education. In 2017, Jason earned his CPTD (Certified Professional in Talent Development) credential, with an emphasis in instructional design.  

As an avid reader and change agent, Jason’s research and consulting pursuits embrace the talent management/development, human resources, and organizational design & development arenas. Specific topics/projects in the past have included: corporate orientation/on-boarding, team development, trainer development, facilitation & presentation skills, coaching/mentoring, leadership development, program planning, and learning transfer.

Shannon Herrera is currently the Content Curation Manager for Go1. In this role, she helps match organizations with the eLearning to meet their training needs. Prior to Go1, she was a Senior Instructional Designer at AllenComm. She has been involved in training and development for the past 15 years and has her master's degree in Instructional Design from Purdue University. 

She has been involved in the Utah ATD since 2017. She is passionate about helping learners find their 'aha' moments and connecting L&D professionals in our community.

Barbara Schifano

President-Elect

Barbara Schifano, PHR, CPTD is currently the Sr Director, Learning and Development for University of Phoenix. In this role, she oversees the strategy for employee and leadership development and several talent functions to include onboarding, performance management and talent and succession planning. She has extensive training experience and her professional motto is "keeping the learner at the center of everything you do." . 

She earned a master's degree in Strategic Communications and Leadership from Seton Hall University and was awarded the Spirit Leader award for exemplifying the high standards and the spirit of St Elizabeth Ann Seton. During her board service with the Arizona Foundation for Women (AFW) she developed and oversaw the SHE Leads! leadership development program graduating more than 50 leaders and raising over $200,000. Barbara is passionate about maximizing human potential, an advocate for advancing women into leadership positions, enchanted by gardens, and an avid country music fan!

Yvette Amparo

VP of Finance

Justin Whiting

VP of Professional Development

Yvette Amparo is the Training and Development Specialist at Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District where she has worked for almost 23 years. She is originally from New York and has made Utah her home for the past 30 years. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resources Management and a Master’s in Management and Leadership.

She has really dedicated herself to helping others succeed through mentoring and coaching and is passionate about learning and sharing what she learns with others. She believes that even if something doesn’t need fixing, it could always be improved.

Justin Whiting is an Instructional Designer for Intermountain Health. At Intermountain, he loves working with the various groups such as Primary Children’s Hospital, Clinical and Surgical services, as well as Business Operations to create various learning experiences that can directly affect health outcomes for patients and caregivers. He also has nearly two decades of experience in corporate training as well as higher education.

Justin earned a Masters (MS) and Education Specialist (EdS) degree from Indiana University, and loved the time spent in Bloomington exploring informal learning environments, such as makerspaces. He loves exploring the mountains of Utah, but misses the green forests and hills of Indiana and the East coast.

Samantha Easter

VP of Marketing

Samantha Easter is a Senior Strategic Communications Manager at Mountain America Credit Union. Before this role, she was Assistant Vice President of Instructional Design, overseeing a team of designers responsible for designing all training programs and employee development.

Samantha has a Masters in Adult Education & Diversity and an MBA focused on project management and analytics. She brings over a decade of experience educating adults—in the US and internationally on how to be more effective in the workplace. Samantha is a native of Southern Arizona and spends her time seeking out the best places to find legit Mexican food when not writing professional development articles that only her grandpa likes.

Rachael Roche

VP of Memberships

Rachael Roche is a Director of Sales for Go1, the worlds largest eLearning provider that helps companies up-skill their employees. Previously, Rachael was a CRO/founder of a pharmaceutical manufacturing company with over 250 employees and has been in sales/operations for over 20 years. Rachael is passionate about Learning and development and watching companies grow through education.

When Rachael is not working, she enjoys traveling the world, hiking, running, and spending time with her family/dogs.

Alex Bingham

VP of Sponsorships

Alex Bingham is currently an instructional designer for Maverik. In this role, he designs and develops instructional programs, e-learning materials, and instructor-led training to support policies and process changes. He also conducts assessments and evaluations of learning experiences to more accurately measure their effectiveness. He has a master’s degree in instructional technology and learning sciences from Utah State University and recently started a PhD program in adult and organization learning and leadership from the University of Idaho. 

Alex has a passion for lifelong learning and loves helping others develop for their current and future roles. He is an advocate for prioritizing learning and development as a crucial function within any organization. 

Cody Heck

VP of Technology

Cody Heck is a Senior Instructional Designer at PlanSource, a benefits administration software company. He specializes in corporate employee development and edu-tainment, incorporating multimedia, videos, podcasts, gamification, and storytelling throughout the training programs he builds. Cody received his Bachelor's in Organizational Leadership from Valencia College and his Master's of Instructional Design & Technology from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida. 

Originally from North Pole, Alaska, Cody has always been curious about the world around him. He's always been an avid learner and through his education, he's committed to understanding how people learn and the neuroscience of learning. Outside of his professional life, Cody is a huge media junkie, movie buff, and gamer. He is passionate about baking and a self-proclaimed bread guru.