Rocky Sease
CEO - SOS Intl
 
Co-founder and CEO of SOS Intl, Rocky has been working in the electric utility industry for a quarter century and has experience in virtually every aspect of electric utility operations including generation, transmission, distribution, and customer service operations.  He is a registered professional engineer and a NERC Certified System Operator.  Rocky has actively participated in development and implementation of operating policies at the NERC, Southeastern Electric Reliability Council (SERC), regional transmission organization (GridSouth), and control area levels throughout the United States.
 
Rocky was the Director of System Operations for GridSouth, a regional transmission organization formed by CP&L, Duke Energy and SCE&G. Prior to that assignment, he spent 22 years at South Carolina Electric and Gas where he rose to be the Manager of System Control.

rocky.sease@sosintl.com

Melanie Payne
DIRECTOR OF SALES 

Melanie Payne is Director of Sales at SOS Intl where she heads up the sales team and assists in training development. She has earned a BA from Columbia College and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. Melanie began her career with MCI, working in the telecommunications sales department. She has over ten years experience in the computer training field, in which she provided Instructor-Led and Distance Learning training solutions for corporate clientele such as Bank of America, Wachovia, Duke Power and Lockheed Martin. Melanie’s experience includes training development, and she has assisted training departments in the creation and implementation of custom training projects designed to target the needs of the users. 
  
Since joining SOS Intl, Melanie has been a vital connection to the customer base, helping provide a bridge to clientele who call in from around the world. Her goal to provide training not for just ‘training’s sake’, but to provide a training product that helps better individuals and their companies has helped to create the high standards of quality SOS Intl products meet.

melanie.payne@sosintl.com

Pam Ey, Ph.D.
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
   
Pam Ey is Director of Operations at SOS Intl, responsible for all training, consulting and compliance programs. She regularly participates on the consulting teams, providing expertise in business practices, and training-related issues.

She holds a PhD in Business Administration and her content specialty areas include individual job competencies, person-job fit, intelligences, personality, and learning.  Her recent projects and consulting engagements include job analysis, development of train-the-trainer programs, development and delivery of job task analysis workshop, training program gap analysis, and training program planning and design. 

Dr. Ey is on the academic editorial board of a peer-reviewed journal with a distribution of more than 15,000, sponsored by the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA).  She has presented at the EPRI user group, several regional train-the-trainer workshops, and the NSHMBA conference and career expo.  Dr. Ey continues her research on issues of person-organization fit through the Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, previously presenting at their international conference.  Her recent research work in Naturalistic Decision Making as it applies to system operations was accepted for presentation at the international conference NDM9 in London, and will be subsequently published.  She teaches MBA level courses in a broad range of content including Organizational Behavior, Accounting, Management and Strategy. 

Dr. Ey holds an MBA and undergraduate degree in Accounting and has prior experience in consulting, public utility and non-profit accounting.  She is a member of the Carolina’s Organizational Development Network, American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the Academy of Management (AOM), and the American Psychological Association (APA).  She is co-author of the upcoming Owner’s Manual for the Brain, 4th edition, along with Dr. Pierce Howard.

pam.ey@sosintl.com

Jeffrey G. Sill
MANAGER OF SIMULATION TRAINING DEVELOPMENT
  
Jeffrey Sill is an Analyst and Project Manager of Simulation Training Development with SOS Intl. He has conducted JTAs across North America for electric utility clients. Jeffrey has also developed and taught the JTA workshop for electric utility professionals, at Gonzaga University. He has been involved in simulation development and simulation-based training development for electric utilities across the U.S. and Canada, involving complex interactions between the simulator, students, and instructors to meet organizational development goals. He is NERC Certified and a member of Carolinas Organizational Development Network.

Jeffrey began his career in the US Navy. As an enlisted service member, he received education in the operation and maintenance of a nuclear power plant. As a midshipman at the US Naval Academy, he pursued a degree in mechanical engineering before returning home to continue his education as a Business Management and Information Systems management double major. He has also previously served as Product Manager for Incremental Systems where he assisted in the design and delivery of the PowerSimulator. He has extensive experience in educational design, having spent the past two years improving and optimizing organizational development through academically based training initiatives.

jeffrey.sill@sosintl.com

John Matula
MANAGER OF COMPLIANCE & TRAINING
 
John Matula is Manager of Compliance & Training at SOS Intl where he oversees consulting and assists with consulting engagements. With over thirty years of experience in the electric utility industry, he has designed and overseen numerous compliance and reliability consulting and training tasks. He has served in many positions for Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NiSource), performing vital duties including training of all Electric and MISO rules, standards and regulations, designing and implementing formalized Company Electric Transmission Operator training, acquiring NERC Independent learning Provider Recognition, and coordinating on-site NERC and RFC audits.

John has worked closely with governing organizations such as NERC, FERC, and MISO and has a breadth of knowledge in compliance and reliability. As an instructor, he has overseen 400+ hours on in-house training. John has also been responsible for the complete training, development and supervision of more than a dozen employees. He holds a Masters of Science in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

john.matula@sosintl.com

Gary Jackson
SENIOR TECHNICAL TRAINER/CONSULTANT
 
Gary Jackson is a Senior Technical Trainer and Consultant at SOS Intl, where he develops training materials, teaches classroom courses, and serves as a NERC exam preparation expert and consultant. Gary teaches courses such as NERC Certification Preparation, System Protection, Voltage Control, and Effective Communication for Compliance and Reliability. Gary is also a vital team member for the SOS Intl NERC Compliance Consulting services.

Gary’s career began in 1973 as a power plant operator.  Since then he has spent time with large and diverse energy organizations including Orlando Utilities Commission, Calpine Corporation and Colorado Springs Utilities.  He has served in roles of significant responsibility in Generation Dispatch, Strategic Development, Market Operations, Control Area Operations, and Energy Operations.  He has a strong background in system reliability, application of standards and regulations, and emergency operations and restoration.  He is experienced in developing and implementing section policies and training programs.  Gary has recently brought this strong background to the SOS Intl team where he serves as a Consultant and a Trainer to Utilities and Energy Reliability Organizations across the country.

gary.jackson@sosintl.com

Chuck Johansen
SENIOR TECHNICAL TRAINER/CONSULTANT
 
Chuck Johansen serves as Senior Technical Trainer and Consultant for SOS Intl where he participates in classroom instruction, compliance consulting, and the development and implementation of custom training. With more than 35 years of electric utility experience, Chuck has been a driving force in the SOS Intl development of custom training in the areas of emergency preparedness, restoration, switching and tagging, and mitigation. He coordinated and delivered a custom Strategic Awareness and Response seminar at the APDA Las Vegas conference for over 100 operators. Chuck has authored a custom training template for how to develop custom “Blackstart and System Restoration Training” with simulator. As a Dispatcher Trainer and Program Developer, he developed training for industry transition into a deregulated market-based system as a result of FERC orders 888 & 889.

Chuck has a variety of experience in the power industry, having worked as a System Operator, Energy Dispatcher, Interchange Operator, Transmission Service Provider, Outage Coordinator & Scheduler, System Operations Specialist, Senior Trainer, and Section Operator.

chuck.johansen@sosintl.com

Robert F. Burkard
P.E. - SENIOR TECHNICAL TRAINER
 
Bob Burkard has extensive electric utility experience in risk management, strategic and system planning, engineering, system operations and general management of Investor-Owned Utilities, Joint Action Agencies, and Generation and Transmission Cooperatives. His most recent experience has been in the unregulated bulk power market, including power supply negotiations, risk management (including modeling of business and power supply risk), and related strategic and tactical issues.
  
Bob has been actively involved in Transmission and System Operations and has: trained transmission and system operators in Black start procedures, developed and taught a switching training program, engineered and integrated new projects into the power systems including "phasing out", developed emergency procedures for use during strikes, developed and implemented operations engineering training and procedures, and, completed root cause analysis of major system disturbances.

bob.burkard@sosintl.com

Theresa O'Leary
LEARNING DESIGNER/CONSULTANT
  
Theresa O’Leary is a Learning Designer at SOS Intl where she participates in the creation and development of online and classroom courses. She has over 15 years experience in instructional design, procedure writing and course delivery. Ms. O’Leary served as the Instructional Designer for DTE Energy where she developed training programs using the Captivate and RoboHelp applications. Ms. O’Leary served a vital role in the design and development of training programs for DTE mobile technicians, dispatch operations staff, and the protective tagging training program for substation operations. Her module design often combines computer-based training with online help, creating optimal learning design.

Ms. O’Leary has also served as Senior Technical Writer for Ctext, Inc. and the Development Specialist for Northern Telecom. Her educational background includes degrees in Electrical Engineering Technology and Technical Communications. She is a senior member of the American Society for Training and Development and the Society for Technical Communications.

theresa.oleary@sosintl.com