SESSIONS COLLEGE FOR PROFESSIONAL DESIGN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Design Educator and Founder of ModernPhoenix.Net
Pat Perigo - Veteran digital design, digital photography & production professional
As an Admissions Advisor, Angie's goals are to help students grow, develop, and change their lives for the better. Angie has spent her career in education over the last 20 years, working in admissions and running financial aid departments, and she has found that working in admissions is where she has had the most meaningful years of her career by helping others. In addition to her love of helping people reach their goals she is also passionate about expressing her own creativity. After culinary school she started her own small business baking and designing custom cakes. She loves seeing the joy on peoples faces when she delivers their vision in form of a custom cake to capture the moment of celebration. When Angie isn't working she also enjoys traveling with her family and spending time with her two dogs Novi and Doji.
Job Titles:
- Art Director, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Carole Anne Bailo directs financial management and strategy at Sessions College. Carole Anne is a seasoned financial professional with an extensive and varied background in both profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has worked extensively with venture capitalists to fund start-up companies and has played a major role in bringing several companies through the IPO process and/or merger and acquisition. Carole Anne has served as Chief Financial Officer for the Center for Developmental Disabilities, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to children and adults with developmental disabilities. Carole Anne is a Certified Public Accountant who holds degrees from Pace University, Queens College, and an MBA in Taxation from St. John's University.
Job Titles:
- Filmmaker and Multimedia Author
Job Titles:
- Controller
- Controller at Sessions College
Christine Colotla is the Controller at Sessions College, supervising the team responsible for accounting and financial aid processes. Christine is a seasoned financial professional with more than 10 years of finance, financial aid, and accounting experience at firms ranging from H & R Block to JC Penney and Overstock. In her most recent role, Christine managed an accounting team at Ameritech College of Healthcare in Draper, Utah. In the role she was responsible for company reporting regarding cost management, budgeting, forecasting, auditing, and revenue. Christine holds a finance degree from the University of Utah and a Masters in Accounting from Colorado State University.
Job Titles:
- Web Design Author and Speaker
Job Titles:
- Owner / Multimedia Developer, Quip
Job Titles:
- Financial Aid Director
- Director at Sessions College
Debra Richards, Financial Aid Director at Sessions College, has served in financial aid roles for over 16 years in helping students navigate financial aid in order to reach their goals through education. She has served as a Financial Aid Counselor, Financial Aid Manager, and Financial Aid Director at many for-profit and not-for-profit higher education institutions. Debra has served as a Certifying Official for VA and TA education benefits and attends the annual Financial Aid Conference conducted by the Department of Education to stay current with federal regulations. She holds degrees from ITT, University of Phoenix and a Master's degree from Western International University.
Deniz Coker has over a decade of experience in the digital media and entertainment industry, has worked on multiple Emmy/award-winning productions and has been a member of the Television Academy. After attending the Parsons School of Design and New York University, Deniz worked in film and TV production. He later became an interactive producer at 21st Century Fox, and later The Walt Disney Company, where he helped run a creative studio producing original branded content and interactive advertising.
Deniz has supported top brands launching Super Bowl spots, marketed major theatrical releases, and won awards for innovating a few industry firsts. He presently runs Deniz Coker Productions, a small but thriving creative company servicing the entertainment industry.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Executive Management Team
Dr. David A.M. Goldberg is a designer, educator, and critical technologist who came of age in the era of the Commodore 64 and the birth of Hip Hop. David is currently a lead product designer for Disney Streaming's Inclusive Design team where he works to create innovative customer-centric products, using an approach grounded in the ethical use of metadata, algorithmic transparency, and attending to the authentic experiences and desires of underrepresented folks. He has taught at all levels of public and private education from elementary school to graduate levels, from studio courses in digital media production to seminars on popular culture, digital culture, and Hip-hop. He has also been a full-stack web developer, video producer, lab manager, animator and graphic designer who supported arts and cultural institutions who normally wouldn't have access to these skills. He holds degrees in computer systems engineering (BS, Howard University), visual criticism (MA, California College of the Arts), and a PhD in American Studies (University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa). David is a board member of BAYCAT, a San Francisco organization dedicated to preparing local youth to enter the media production and storytelling industries.
Dr. Meryl P. Epstein is the Dean of Academic Affairs for Sessions College. In a dynamic and evolving role, Meryl is responsible for faculty training and evaluation, outcomes assessment, and curriculum development. Working with our Sessions College Faculty, Department Heads, and our Advisory Board, Meryl directs program planning and institutional improvement activities, providing academic leadership and guiding program development, accreditation, and more. Dr. Epstein is focused on helping the innovative Sessions College team to continue to achieve the mission of preparing design professionals. Meryl strives to inspire excellence and is consistently focused on supporting the existing creative and positive environment of Sessions College.
Outside of Sessions College, Meryl has extensive experience in design, education, and leading academic teams and has served as Dean of Academic Affairs, Program Chair, Doctoral Development Faculty, Art Director, Graphic Design Manager, Higher Education Faculty member (online and on-ground), Change Agent, and Exhibiting Artist/Photographer. Highlights from her career include implementing and leading the graphic design of three different museums (Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona Science Center, and Arizona Historical Museum) and receiving the first Arizona AIGA fellow award. Meryl holds an EdD in Educational Leadership from Argosy University, MFA in Fine Arts (Photography) from Arizona State University, and BFA in Graphic Design from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Job Titles:
- Senior Designer, Phillips Design Group
Job Titles:
- Staff Accountant
- Staff Accountant at Sessions College
Elizabeth Duffy is a Staff Accountant at Sessions College. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico City. She has extensive experience in all aspects of accounting in a variety of business types. She got her citizenship to the United States in 2010 when she was transferred from Mexico City to Corona, California to train staff for a new office opening in the city for RCI Resort Management. She later gained in experience with homeowner associations with Pulte Homes / Del Webb in the active adult master planned community environment preparing monthly financial reports for homeowner and declarant boards of directors.
Before joining Sessions College, Admissions Manager Garrett Morrison worked as a Digital Artist for 14 years in agency and in-house design. He specialized in company branding, marketing, traditional and online media, website management and market analytics. He received his BA in Studio Arts from the University of Southern California and studied Hard Surface and Environment Modeling at Gnomon - School of Visual Effects, Games and Animation. When Garrett isn't playing competitive beach volleyball, he enjoys golfing, watching movies, playing video games, spending time with his family and cheering on the Arizona Cardinals.
Job Titles:
- Chief Academic Officer
- Member of the Executive Management Team
- President
- President of Sessions College
Gordon Drummond has served as the President of Sessions College since February 2011. Gordon is an educator and instructional designer with a passion for art, design, and technology who joined Sessions in 2001. As President, Gordon's role is to provide the leadership to help our school directors achieve their goals in education, operations, marketing, and student services teams. His key tasks include managing accreditation, licensing, and relations with government agencies and other institutions, coordinating strategic and educational planning, and representing the school at conferences, seminars, Webinars, and other public events. Prior to Sessions College, Gordon gained cutting-edge instructional design and online content expertise in director roles at Kaplan, Inc., and LearningBrands. Throughout his career, Gordon strives to create a positive environment for teaching and learning and a culture of planning, execution, and accountability. Outside of Sessions College, Gordon has extensive experience in school accreditation. Since 2007 he has served on the Middle States Association Commission on Secondary Schools, where he was Commission Chair from 2013-15 and served on the MSA Board of Trustees. Since June 2017, he has served on the board of the Distance Education Accreditation Commission (DEAC). Gordon holds a Master's in English Literature from The University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Job Titles:
- Character Rigger and Animator
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of Admissions
As Senior Director of Admissions, Jessica's goal is to help students find the best path to achieving their career goals. She has spent nearly a decade in the print industry, learning to take designs from the digital screen and bring them into a tangible reality that clients can hold in their hands. As a working mom, she can relate to the challenges inherent with finding time in an overloaded schedule to broaden one's education, and she is passionate about guiding students who feel the pressures of a full-time agenda. When not at Sessions, Jessica can be found balancing freelance design with spending time with her kids, playing video games, and checking out Arizona's growing number of craft breweries.
Jessica Layton is a photographer who draws viewers into earth's wildest places. Her work centers on environmental impact from the development and expansion of the Western United States. She is the recipient of the European Leica Prize. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Photographers' Gallery (London, UK), Bunkier Sztuki (Krakow, Poland), Folkwang Museum (Essen, Germany), Rayko (San Francisco, CA) and has completed residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris, France), the Wyspa Institute of Art (Gdansk, Poland) and Pepperwood's Dwight Center for Conservation Science (Santa Rosa, CA). Layton received her MFA in Photography from Royal College of Art, in London. Some of her commercial clients include Norcal Public Media, Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, American Heart Association, and 1100 Architect Firm. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Job Titles:
- Senior Graphic Designer, Martz Parsons Agency
John Gawley is a creative residing in the Midwest. After earning his Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of Phoenix, Gawley began working for the Phoenix Suns, NBA, where he worked with clients such as Anhesuser-Bush, Coca-Cola, Toyota/Lexus, and Southwest Airlines. Since relocating to his hometown of Omaha, Neb., in 2009, John has worked in various creative director roles for Omaha Magazine, SGH Concepts, and QC Supply, leading these brands through research and strategy execution of verbal and visual design. In 2023, John set out as an independent creative as a photographer and brand consultant. Follow John's journey exploring the intersections of light and movement through the lens of photography at johngawley.com.
Job Titles:
- Accounting Assistant
- Assistant at Sessions College
Karen Wolfinger is the accounting assistant at Sessions College. She has worked in a variety of accounting roles in assisting customers/students with their financial needs. Karen has worked in a variety of industries which most recently includes higher education. She has an extensive knowledge of accounts receivable, accounts payable, billing and payment processing. Karen holds degrees from Community College of Allegheny County and a Bachelor's degree from University of Phoenix.
Job Titles:
- Freelance Painter, Illustrator, Multi - Disciplinary Artist
Job Titles:
- Senior Web Designer and Developer
Job Titles:
- Senior Illustrator and Digital Artist
Job Titles:
- Artist
- Manager of Faculty and Curriculum Development at Sessions College
- Manager, Faculty and Curriculum Development
Lauren Hernandez is the Manager of Faculty and Curriculum Development at Sessions College. Lauren is an artist, educator, and former middle-school teacher with a passion for everything art-related. Lauren holds two degrees in Art Education and Painting from Arizona State University. Her role as Manager, Faculty and Curriculum Development is to collaborate with the academic team to provide faculty support, serve on academic committees, facilitate credit transfer, and more. Ultimately, Lauren's goal is to help further art education in any way she can. Outside of work, Lauren likes to take care of her plants and hang out with her bird.
Madison Stratford is a Course Editor at Sessions College. In her role at Sessions, Madison ensures the course content follows current industry standards. Additionally, she is passionate about creating high-quality, intersectional, student-centered instruction. Madison is an intermedia artist and educator who has previously instructed digital arts and animation classes at Arizona State University and Maricopa Community Colleges. She obtained her BFA in Sculpture from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, and as a Merit Scholar, she also studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia. Madison obtained her MFA in Intermedia Arts from Arizona State University in 2020, where her research focused on the ethics of Artificial Intelligence. When Madison isn't creating educational content, she enjoys learning foreign languages, traveling, visiting museums, and spending time with her family.
Job Titles:
- Admissions Advisor
- Operations & Finance Support Specialist
Before joining Sessions College, Admissions Advisor Melyssa Solis worked in print media, which included working on projects such as branding, social media, and signage. She also worked as a freelance designer creating logos, flyers, business cards, and posters while catering to each client to help their businesses grow. Melyssa graduated in 2016 with a Bachelors in Graphic Design, and enjoys hiking, drawing, watching movies, and spending time with her family. Melyssa hopes to help current and future designers advance and continue in their future endeavors.
Michael Bartalos's design work has appeared in a wide range of contexts from Swatch watches and U.S. postage stamps to Giro bike helmets and broadcast spots for Target. His focus is on visual identity, branding, environmental graphics, publication design, illustration, photography, and digital marketing in all forms. Bartalos has held full-time Art Director and Senior Art Director positions at Meta, Brainrider LLC, and Visa, helping their in-house design teams reach their potential and deliver excellence to clients.
Based in San Francisco, he is also the California Academy of Science's first Affiliate Artist and a grantee of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. He was a Stanford Fellow at SOMA Summer in Mexico City in 2013 and Graduate Fellow at the Headlands Center for the Arts in 2014. He is former Chair of the San Francisco Center for the Book's Imprint Committee and currently serves as Co-Director of ArtMadeHere.org.
Bartalos attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pratt Institute (BFA), and Stanford University (MFA). His design and illustration work is online at cargocollective.com/bartalos, bartalos.com, and dribbble.com/bartalos.
Job Titles:
- Freelance Animator and Book Illustrator
Job Titles:
- Digital Media and Software / Training Consultant
Job Titles:
- Creative Director, Snoack Studios
Job Titles:
- Design Director / Creative Director, Creature
As an Admissions Advisor, Virgil feels his purpose is to help others in developing a plan that will help students achieve their career goals. He has 25 years of experience partnering with students in thoughtful and creative ways that guide & motivate them to reach their full potential. He's passionate in helping people focus on goal setting, overcoming obstacles, & achieving success because "Education is generational and changes lives". He loves spending time with his spouse, children, and grandchildren. He also enjoys community volunteerism with friends. For entertainment he likes watching mysteries & sports while playing online chess. Additionally, ask him to make his famous Spanish coffee if you ever get a chance.