Elevation Connect BPO

MEET OUR ADVISORY BOARD

We prioritize people over profit, placing value on those we serve in everything that we do.

Our Advisory Board!


We’ve seen it all… experience has taught us what really matters. Credibility drives us to deliver it. The result is a completely different and uncommon approach called Elevation Connect.

Donna Armstrong
Advisory Board Member
Donna Armstrong
Advisory Board Member

As a seasoned professional with more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Donna is known for driving sales growth, maximizing operational excellence, and delivering financial performance. She held executive roles at Verizon Communications Inc. and MCI Communications in business development, sales management, customer service, and operations. At Verizon, Donna accelerated internet, video, and voice sales distribution in direct, retail, and digital channels to over 40% of the business unit. She built successful BPO partnerships and was instrumental in growing revenue for the billion plus organization. At MCI, she led the company’s contact center development and expansion efforts into high growth, emerging markets both domestically and internationally including Canada, Mexico, Argentina, India, and the Philippines.


Donna intuitively sees the threads of opportunity that wind through an organization and drives material business advantage. She has a proven track record of giving people the opportunity to excel, including through her volunteer work serving elementary students in Denver Public Schools as a tutor with Reading Partners Colorado. Donna holds a BS in Marketing from Metropolitan State University of Denver and resides in Colorado.




Howard Brill
Advisory Board Member
Howard Brill
Advisory Board Member

Howard Brill has more than 20 years of executive experience in the professional staffing and Business Services industries. He was president and CEO of Global Employment Solutions (GES) and Fahrenheit IT for 16 years and is currently Executive Chairman. Under Mr. Brill’s leadership, the company has repeatedly ranked as one of the largest U.S. staffing companies. During his tenure, Howard was responsible for over a dozen recapitalizations and acquisitions, including GES becoming a publicly traded company.

 

Mr. Brill has been recognized as one of Staffing's 100 Most Influential People by Staffing Industry Analysts. Prior to joining Global Employment Solutions, he served in executive positions at Roth Staffing Companies and Norrell Corporation. Mr. Brill serves on the boards of the Special Olympics and the Allied Jewish Federation and is an active supporter of these and many other non-profit organizations. He is a member of the Young President's Organization.

Chris Onan
Advisory Board Member
Chris Onan
Advisory Board Member

Chris has invested in over 200 early / growth stage businesses. He is also a co-founder and former COO/CFO at Galvanize where he raised over $85 million of capital to support Galvanize’s growth and expansion from a concept to eight campuses with locations including San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Denver, Boulder, Phoenix, and Austin. Chris led Galvanize’s fundraising efforts and manages Galvanize Venture Fund I, LP. Prior to co-founding Galvanize, Chris was a partner with Appian Ventures where he worked with Ping Identity (acquired by Vista Equity Partners), mPay Gateway (acquired by Payspan), T3 Media, Tendril and Auctionpay (acquired by Global Payments). Earlier in his career, he had the privilege of working with companies such as Broadbus Technologies, (acquired by Motorola), Datalogix (acquired by Oracle). Chris is also an investor in Bullet Time Ventures (Uber, Sendgrid, Twilio, Simply Measured.) He served on the board of directors of Spex and led the company through its recent sale / majority investment from J.S. Held.

 

Chris spent four years with LEK Consulting, an international strategy consulting boutique, before locating to Colorado. Chris speaks often about entrepreneurial finance at both Denver University’s Daniels College of Business and the Leeds College of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He sits on the board of directors of Foodmaven and is a current board member and the former President and Chairman of the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association and is a co-founder of the Associate's Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado. Chris has a BA in Economics, from Northwestern University, (Phi Beta Kappa)


Tory Patterson - SPHR
Advisory Board Member
Tory Patterson - SPHR
Advisory Board Member

Tory is a strategic human resources leader with extensive change management and project management experience in national and global environments. She has over 20 years of experience in human resources working for companies such as Rolls Royce and Pearson Education. A trusted business partner to senior leaders, collaborating to align HR programs and practices with organizational objectives. Tory has proven success by mitigating liability and increasing employee engagement and retention. Tory is an excellent communicator who simplifies complex issues into business solutions.

Ken Smith
Advisory Board Member
Ken Smith
Advisory Board Member

Ken’s career has involved leading and operating large enterprises, to launching two successful start-ups. During his years as an executive with several telecom and technology companies, he was known for his ability as a turn-around specialist. Inheriting underperforming organizations and quickly establishing a culture of success, operational excellence, and crafting sound business strategies, has been consistent theme for Ken throughout his career. Core to his management philosophy is an unwavering focus on client satisfaction, which delivered dividends in retaining and growing revenues while accelerating new customer acquisition. His most recent start-up is PeakView Communications, Inc., a technology consulting firm with a particular focus on migrating legacy technologies to the Cloud. PeakView has become one of the top Cloud Contact Center consulting practices in the industry, with a recognizable client list of top technology companies.

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