Officers
President – Janet Lankford (CORT Business Services)
Janet currently serves as the Senior IT Helpdesk Manager for CORT Business Services. She has over ten years experience in the IT Service and support industry. Over the past 15 years as a dedicated employee of CORT, Janet has held several positions; Administration Manager for the Detroit District, Field Auditor for the West Coast Regional Office, Helpdesk Specialist, Project Manager for several PeopleSoft implementations, and now as Senior Helpdesk Manager. Janet’s presently manages a 10 person virtual helpdesk staff that supports 2,500 internal users for their PC, Microsoft Exchange, internal applications and network needs. Janet received her Bachelors degree from Western Michigan University and her Master’s degree from Walsh College. When she is not busy working, Janet enjoys spending time gardening, cooking, and going to Detroit Tiger baseball games with her husband and 7-year daughter.
VP of Fina
nce – Ella Norman (Detroit Water and Sewage)
Ella Norman has been employed by the City of Detroit for over 23 years. Over 15 of those years have been with Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Currently, Ella is the Manager of the DWSD Service Desk, providing customer support and assurance for the 2500 computer users in the Water Department. Ella has worked in various assignments for the City, which included the Fire Marshall Division of the Detroit Fire Department, Building Management at the Veterans Memorial Building and Engineering Services at Cobo Hall. Ella has several degrees including one in Computer Sciences from Davenport University. She is a certified Help Desk Analyst, Certified in ITIL Foundations and a Certified Practitioner in Support and Restore and Configuration and Release. Outside the job, she is the former President of the Warrendale Community Organization, a Board member of the Northwestern District Police Community Relations Council of Detroit, Chairman of the Bylaws Committee, a Board member of the Joy-Southfield Community Development Corporation, Health and Education Center, and a member of the Chief’s Advisory Committee to the Chief of Police of the City of Detroit. Ella serves the United States with an appointment to the Selective Service Board. With several colleagues, she is a partner in a collaborative effort, which handles forensic psychological case management of probationers, and parolees in Oakland County.
VP of Membership and Vendor Relations – Joy Goberville (Technisource)
With over 20 years experience in the Staffing Industry, Joy Goberville has been providing companies with value-added solutions throughout North America. Her expertise includes launching new divisions, building sales teams, hiring and training, creating recruiting and retention plans, and global account management. She is currently the Managing Director in Southeast Michigan, for Technisource, a leader in IT solutions, Engineering Services, and technology staffing. She is active in Southeast Michigan’s various non-profit organizations that support workforce development. She is also a member of professional networking organizations such as Michigan Council for Women in Technology, Ann Arbor SPARK Shifting Gears, Human Capital Institute, Executive Suite, Technology Leaders Association, and Point of Sale Professionals. Joy graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
VP of 
Programs – Bob Sochacki (ANXeBusiness)
Bob Sochacki has over 22 years of IT experience. He started his career at EDS on the GM/Saturn account as a Data Communication Analyst. He worked with EDS for over 10 years in various roles including Desktop Support, Network Administration, Security Analyst. He also was a supervisor for the EDS Videolink Customer Assistance Center which provided videoconferencing services for EDS and GM. Bob spent two years at one of Detroit’s top law firms, Miller Canfield as a Computer Systems Manager/Project Manager. He was responsible for the support of all Computer and Telephony Systems for the firm. He spent 11 years with Aditya Birla Minacs, where he managed Help Desk, Desktop Support, Lotus Notes, Computer Operations and IT Purchasing. Bob was responsible for the successful consolidation of regional Help Desks into one corporate Service Desk where he helped to implement consistent processes and procedures across the organization. He has 10 years of experience in ISO 9000, implementing new processes and as an ISO auditor. He also has ITIL Foundation V3 certification and experience implementing and supporting Incident Management, Problem Management and Change Management. Bob now works for ANXeBusiness as a Help Desk Manager supporting external customers. Bob has been married for 14 years to Rochelle and they have two great kids: Aubrey and Bobby.
VP of Pr
ograms – Doug Long (Ajilon Consulting)
Doug lived in Royal Oak and was a lifelong member of the Royal Oak Boys’ Club. He received the Royal Oak Boys’ Club Scholarship to Oakland University and graduated in 1983 with a degree in MIS. Doug worked at Lanier Business Products and Unisys Corporation prior to joining Ajilon over 18 years ago. In his current role as a Vice President at Ajilon, he is responsible for leading their New Business Initiative of developing new clients and maintaining long term relationships at major clients.
As exciting as all of that sounds, Doug is far more proud of his life outside of work. He now lives in Shelby Twp and is an active father of two very active boys and an acceptable husband to a great wife. The boys are the focus of the house and drive most activities. His wife enjoys nice vacations at great places and keeping the boys in line. The boys enjoy snowboarding, biking, hanging out with their friends and doing hours of homework with constant parental involvement. Family and home life is a priority for Doug and will usually take precedent over any other personal interests, including working with Macomb lacrosse, biking at Stony Creek or golfing anywhere. Doug is active with Oakland University’s career placement services helping graduates get their first jobs and continues to support the Royal Oak Boys’ Club as it, and all other Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs are, a great place to invest in the future of kids.
VP of Communications – Anita Young (Volkswagen Group of America c/o Ajilon Consulting)
Anita Young has over 11 years of IT service and support experience. Anita is currently the IT Knowledge Manager for Volkswagen of America in Auburn Hills, contracted through Ajilon. Prior to Volkswagen, she spent most of her career with Kelly Services Global Headquarters in Troy, MI. At Kelly she held roles as a Help Desk Agent; Sr. Help Desk Agent; Help Desk Supervisor; Manager of Process, Metrics and Reporting; and Project Manager. She has extensive experience with gathering customer requirements, documenting processes, tracking metrics and managing reports. Anita holds an ITIL Foundations certification and an Associates Degree from Macomb Community College. She is currently working on her PMP certification. When not at work, Anita is spending time with her husband and two daughters.
VP of Communications – Steve Summers (U-M Health Systems)
Steve Summers is currently employed with the U-M Health System as an IT Manager. As the newest member of the board, he brings more than 20 years experience working across profit to non-profit; Fortune 100 to family owned; corporate to university. Diverse roles have provided him broad experience across Social Media, Customer Relations, Infrastructure and Data Management, off-Shoring and International Operations and finally IT Service Management across research and clinical care settings. Steve presently manages a 14 person team supporting a Clinical Data Repository. The CDR is the primary Electronic Medical Record for millions of patients and is used for real-time patient care at the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers. Steve was employed with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc. where he spent the bulk of his career focused on the support of research systems.
Steve has a Bachelors Degree in Biology from The University of Toledo and is an alumnus of Sigma Nu Fraternity. He is a member of EPIC Toledo, HIMSS (Health care Information and Management Systems Society) and a member of the Parents’ Association Coordinating Committee at West Side Montessori Center (PACC). He holds certifications as a SGI Administrator, ITIL Foundations v2, and additional certificates focused on Leadership and process management. Outside of work you will find Steve focused on family activities, technology and fitness. Steve has been married for 15 wonderful years to Catherine Summers. These days his two girls (4 & 6) keep the family on the go with ballet, Daisy Girl Scouts, swimming, t-ball and the list goes on….
Chapter Advisor - Dan Wilson (Volkswagen Group of America)
Dan Wilson has over 12 years experience in IT Service. Dan is currently the Manager of Client Services at Volkswagen of America in Auburn Hills, MI. He is responsible for a 55 person department providing all user facing services to 3500 users and 1100 Volkswagen and Audi dealerships across the United States and Canada. Previously Dan was the CTO and General Manager at PMV Technologies and has managed help desk and technical staff for Oakland University’s IIT Help Desk and School of Business Administration, and Handleman Company. Dan is heavy involved in the industry outside of work. He has volunteered in the HDI Motown Chapter for over 7 years as President, Vice President of Membership and Programs, and now is the Chapter Adviser. He also sits on the HDI Member Advisory Board as the Past-Chairman after serving as a Chairman for a year and Member at Large for 3 years. Dan has a Bachelors Degree in Management Information Systems from Oakland University’s School of Business Administration, HDI’s Service Desk Manager and ITIL Foundations certifications. Outside of work Dan is an avid cyclists, a triathlete, and volunteers for the Make a Wish Foundation. He is married and has 2 beautiful children.
