Meet Our Team
Instructors
Web Development
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Steve Brownlee
Instructor
Steve Brownlee
Steve Brownlee is dedicated to helping teach the next generation of software developers by providing people with a solid understand of the core technologies used today, and then expanding into how to be a valuable contributor.
Brownlee has been developing software since 1980, when he programmed his TRS-80 to do his math homework for him. Since then, he grew up with the world wide web explosion and discovering all the new technologies that got invented to exploit its capabilities. 35 years later, he wants to take all the knowledge and skills he has accumulated and teach a new generation to build the next version of the Web.
Originally a Yinzer (those from Pittsburgh to you), he has adopted Nashville as his new home, having moved here in 2007 and been honored enough to be a small part of the exploding Nashville tech community. Steve firmly believes in the following values when it comes to technology: Equality, Core Competence, Respect, and Creative Destruction.
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Joe Shepherd
Instructor
Joe Shepherd
A graduate of the second NSS web developer bootcamp way back in 2013, Joe is a mid-career convert to the software world after many years as an award-winning radio and online producer, writer, and voice talent. The thread that runs through his career is communication. The dissemination of information for the education and entertainment of a wide audience has always been at the center of his professional life.
After NSS, Joe worked as a front-end developer for Lonely Planet where he learned at the feet of some of the best developers from Nashville and around the world. In January 2015, he became a part of the teaching team for Nashville Software School’s first cohort of part-time night course students. In 2016, he returned to NSS full-time as a lead instructor.
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Brenda Long
Instructor
Brenda Long
For the past ten years Brenda Long has taught college level courses in web-, interactive-, and digital design. She brings 20 years of graphic arts and web design experience to her teaching, along with a belief that everyone should know how to code. As Brenda describes it, “coding is a way of thinking and problem solving that makes us a better person.”
Brenda enjoys blending her creative interests on the web. Early in her career she created art that utilized technology and incorporated dynamic user experiences. This translated to the web where technology was becoming more publicly accessible in a medium that supported multiple formats (music, photo, visuals, video, etc.). The multidisciplinary aspects of the field fit perfectly with Brenda’s bachelor’s degree in Music and MFA in New Media, and she continues to use technology to find new ways to communicate ideas, art, and solutions.
In 2014 Brenda’s app, Mabell’s Zoo, a counting app for children, was named as a finalist in UX Magazine’s International Design for Experience Awards. The app (available on the App Store and Google Play) includes handcrafted illustrations, original sounds, and Box2D physics. A second app, Mabell’s Days is underway.
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Andy Collins
Instructor
Andy Collins
Andy has been a professional software developer since receiving a Computer Science degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 2000. Throughout his career, he’s worked across an array of technologies - primarily focusing on web application development - in both the public and private sectors. Andy’s love for software development stems from a love of learning. He’s excited by new ideas, techniques and programming languages. That love of learning grew to include a love of mentoring and teaching. At NSS, Andy has found a place that appeals to both his technical side, as well as his desire to help others grow.
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Hannah Hall
Instructor
Hannah Hall
Hannah Hall graduated from NSS in 2016 with Web Development Cohort 13. After graduating she joined the team as a junior instructor for a year. Since then, she has had an interesting career as a developer working on many different types of projects from marketing websites to applications for organizing machine learning models. Nevertheless, teaching web development has been her favorite project so far and she’s thrilled to be back at NSS.
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Nathan Gonzalez
Part-time Instructor
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Dr. Teresa Vasquez
Part-time Instructor
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Lynn Samuelson
Part-time Instructor
Lynn Samuelson
The enjoyment of solving problems led Lynn Samuelson into science and research. While doing research, she discovered a passion for teaching and mentoring. After years of researching cancer therapies, Lynn attended NSS in 2015 (cohort 10). Since graduating NSS, she has primarily worked in start-ups, with a brief stint in corporate. Currently, Lynn continues to work with start-ups to build new technologies and solve all kinds of problems, while teaching part-time at NSS.
Analytics + Data Science
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Michael Holloway
Instructor
Michael Holloway
Michael Holloway is a mathematician turned data scientist who brings over 7 years of teaching experience to Nashville Software School. Michael holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a Masters from Tennessee Technological University. Michael loves the challenge and excitement of keeping up with the ever-evolving landscape of data science. Prior to joining Nashville Software School in April 2019, Michael served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Saint Augustine’s University.
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Chris Wright
Instructor
Christopher Wright
Christopher Wright is a data analyst with 17 years of combined experience in various education roles. Christopher earned Masters in both educational leadership and data analytics from Towson University and University of Maryland - Global Campus respectively. Christopher’s real world experience as a data analyst is diverse and includes bioinformatics research, real estate investing, business development, and academic assessments. Prior to joining the team at Nashville Software School Christopher most recently was working as the Director of Research and Analytics for Catapult Learning.
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Andrew Marsee
Part-time Instructor
Andrew Marsee
Andrew Marsee has a passion for uncovering the stories that data can tell. Andrew received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering but made a career change to follow this passion after beginning his career in engineering. Andrew made this leap with a bootcamp at NSS and now works as a Data Analyst in the public sector. He has led a couple workshops with subsequent NSS bootcamps and is excited to now be a more permanent fixture in guiding NSS students toward their career goals.
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Sekou Tyler
Guest Instructor
Sekou Tyler
Sekou Tyler is a self-proclaimed “data geek”: a computer aficionado who combines the scientific elements of data analysis with the narrative properties of data visualization. His degrees and extensive certifications have allowed him to use his version of data storytelling in multiple industries. Sekou is fascinated by the learning process; he actively seeks out ways to improve his skill set and utilizes different tools to display actionable data to ultimately empower people to make better data-driven decisions. Aside from all things data, Sekou enjoys speaking, mentoring, and reading. He is a Tennessee Titans and LA Lakers fan, but most of all he’s happiest spending time with his wife and hanging out with friends and family.
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Matthias Mueller
Guest Instructor
Matthias Mueller
Matthias Mueller is a data scientist specializing in marketing analytics. Using data as a primary tool to govern the decision-making process, Matthias currently serves as the Director of Marketing Analytics at Campaign Monitor, where he oversees a bilingual team (R/Python) of data scientists and marketing analysts tasked with utilizing applied statistics to build attribution models, optimize the marketing channel mix, and drive incremental revenue.
Matthias received his graduate degree in Marketing Analytics from the Manderson Graduate School of Business at the University of Alabama and holds several industry certifications, including a data mining certification from SAS Institute and a Certificate of Applied Statistical Learning from Stanford University.
UI & UX
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Susan Culkin
Instructor
Susan Culkin
I am an Interaction Design & User Experience Specialist. I have years of successes proving that user-centric design is the key to a successful product and a successful team. I work with clients to bring to market commercially successful and user-centric products, businesses, and processes. Over the years I have been lucky to build a portfolio of large company clients like IBM, Roche Diagnostics, and HealthStream as well as small start-ups. I have been a mentor with Nashville Software School focusing on design for developers. I also was faculty and mentor for Jumpstart Foundry’s IT start-up accelerator. I like this mix of large and small, teach and create because it keeps my skills fresh and gives me the chance to keep learning from the experts and the newbies.
I am patient with creativity and innovation but have a low tolerance for inefficiency and money-wasting. After 20+ years of working in the industry, I have seen crazy bubbles of success and failure. One thing that has been true of all successful products and companies over that time is the lesson that “You can’t do it alone and you don’t know everything.”
Career Development + Employer Engagement
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Marla Lamont
Director of Career Development
Marla Lamont
Marla has over fifteen years experience in talent acquisition working both internally for large organizations such as HCA and for third party staffing agencies. Her areas of expertise are within IT and Healthcare talent acquisition strategy and leading recruiting teams.
Marla has a passion for non-profit leadership and serving in the community by helping girls and women in the STEM industry. Marla currently serves on the Play Like a Girl Board as Board Chair. Also, Marla serves on the WiTT Board as Immediate Past President and has been on the board for 8 years. Marla was awarded Community Leader of the Year by the Nashville Technology Council in 2019. Marla graduated with honors, Delta Mu Delta, from Lipscomb University with her MBA and received her bachelor’s degree from MTSU.
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Ashley Canino
Senior Career Development Specialist
Ashley Canino
Ashley Canino helps current students plan their careers and provide personalized support for their job search. She comes to NSS with technical recruiting experience in both corporate organizations and staffing agencies in the Nashville area. She began her involvement with NSS during her time as a recruiter at Parallon HCA and placed several of our graduates. From there she fell in love with our mission!
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Julie Heckler
Career Development Specialist
Julie Heckler
Julie Heckler helps students plan their careers and provides personalized support for their job search. She comes to NSS with several years of experience in Human Resources Recruiting, IT Recruiting, Career Development, Talent Acquisition, and Employer Recruiting. Most recently, Julie closely partnered and volunteered with NSS while supporting one of our IT employer partners.
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Haley "Zap" Zapolski
Employer Engagement Manager
Haley Zapolski
Haley Zapolski (best known as “Zap”) is passionate about building the technology ecosystem in Nashville. Originally from Iowa and a University of Michigan graduate, Zap moved to Nashville to build the entrepreneurial community at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. She managed Renew Nashville, Metro City Council’s covid-response program for small businesses impacted by the pandemic. Now, she’s caught the tech bug and is excited to connect NSS students to opportunities with employers in Middle TN and beyond. Outside of work she leads NashTech, a networking group for founders and high-growth startups and is very active in the local triathlon community.
Programming
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Mahesh Rao
Program Manager, Analytics + Data Science
Mahesh Rao
Mahesh Rao gave up life as a neuroscientist after he fell in love with data science at NSS. He’s a lifelong learner who enjoys taking an interdisciplinary approach to new problems, which made data science a perfect fit. Mahesh received his PhD in Biological Sciences from Vanderbilt University before starting as a data scientist at Amira Learning, where he worked to develop their data science pipeline and machine learning models. Mahesh couldn’t stay away from NSS and is excited to be a part of the growing data community in Nashville.
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Deanna Vickers
Program Manager, Fellowship Program
Deanna Vickers
As an NSS Program Manager, Deanna is building programs to help graduates bridge the gap between graduation and their first full time job by connecting them with short-term contract opportunities via the Fellowship Program and learning opportunities to keep growing their skills.
Before attending NSS with Web Development Cohort 25, she worked in software delivery leadership, where she helped teams deliver web and mobile projects for a variety of clients and worked as a developer before returning to NSS as a program manager.
She’s a Yooper (from Upper Michigan) but identifies fully as a Volunteer. From the start of her career, she has devoted much of her time to local nonprofits and is one of the founding organizers for Music City Tech.
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Heather Dixon
Program Manager, Web Development
Heather Dixon
As the Program Manager of Web Development / Software Engineering Programs, Heather Dixon focuses on the day-to-day delivery of web development programs, from admissions to graduation to job placement, and monitors the Nashville job market, paying close attention to how employers’ junior developer talent needs are evolving to inform the content and skills taught in NSS classrooms.
Heather’s relationship to NSS began as a hiring manager for a product development team. Over four years she hired several NSS graduates into junior developer positions and was impressed with their eagerness to learn and the speed at which they added value to her teams and the organization overall. Heather joined NSS to help shape its programs to continue creating opportunities for NSS graduates to make a decisive impact on the Nashville tech community.
Originally from Ohio, Heather has lived in Nashville for close to 20 years and has fully embraced the use of the word “y’all.” When not working, you can find her at the Ryman Auditorium or pursuing the perfect slice of pizza.
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Nathan Vaughn
Program Manager, Computing Infrastructure
Nathan Vaughn
Nathan Vaughn brings a broad range of experience to his role at NSS. Having worked in a variety of industries over the past 20 years, he has a strong background in computing infrastructure, software development and teaching.
As Program Manager for Computing Infrastructure Programs, Nathan will be responsible for identifying, developing and launching programs in the areas of IT infrastructure, cloud computing, and DevOps. He is excited to develop the IT infrastructure foundations bootcamp launching in cooperation with Apprenti Tennessee.
Since coming to Nashville in 2016, Nathan has engaged in opportunities with the Nashville tech community. He currently serves as a board member at the Greater Nashville Technology Council and the Chattanooga Technology Council. When not building and launching programming initiatives, Nathan enjoys volunteering and supporting his community with his family.
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Jeremy Bakker
Director of Learning Programs
Jeremy Bakker
Jeremy Bakker is a seasoned learner whose educational pursuits have taken him from the concert halls of North Texas to the streets of inner city Dallas and from the hallowed spaces of a denominational seminary to the famed classrooms of the Ivy League. He finally found his educational home at NSS as a part of Web Development Cohort 18. Since graduating NSS, he has worked as a data engineer and engineering manager responsible for data engineering and machine learning at Eventbrite. As Director of Learning Programs at NSS, Jeremy partners with the operational, program, and instructional teams to maintain existing programs and create new learning opportunities for students who are looking to advance their careers in technology.
Operations
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Aimee Johnson
Student Services/Admissions Representative
Aimee Johnson
Aimee is a Tampa native who joined NSS in 2021 as a Student Services / Admissions Representative. Her role acts as the first point of contact for anyone who is interested in Nashville Software School and serves our current students by assisting with any operational questions they might have.
After earning her B.A. in Psychology from Sewanee: The University of the South, she packed her bags and moved abroad to work as an ESL teacher in both the Czech Republic and South Korea. She entered the non-profit sector in 2017 to explore her passion for helping others.
In her free time, Aimee likes to go to local breweries, play board games, and collect (and enjoy!) hot sauces.
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Kate Wilson
Student Services Representative
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Katie Kuhl
Student Services Representative / Bookkeeper
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Jessica Grande
Community Advocate and Content Marketer
Jessica Grande
Jessica Grande joined NSS as the Community Advocate in March 2020. With a background in digital marketing and a passion for online content, Jessica creates content and messaging for social media while organizing and representing NSS in community outreach efforts and events.
Jessica graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2017, where she studied New Media Communications, Marketing and Public Relations. She is a native to Nashville, where she lives with her husband, AJ, and internet famous cat, Cash.
In her free time, Jessica enjoys creating video content, taking photos, and going to coffee shops with friends.
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Laura Buchanan
Director of Operations
Laura Buchanan
Laura A. Buchanan brings over 15 years of experience growing and managing not-for-profit organizations to Nashville Software School as the Director of Operations. Her responsibilities include oversight of regulatory compliance, financial management, data collection mechanisms and analysis, human resources, facilities, and personnel management. Prior to joining NSS, Laura served as an Executive Director, Statewide Project Director and consulted with educational institutions and a multitude of other community service organizations. Her educational background includes a BS in Psychology and an MBA along with two professional certifications in human resources management.
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Mandy Arola
Director of Marketing & Communications
Mandy Arola
Mandy Arola joined Nashville Software School in 2017 and leads our marketing and communications strategy and community building efforts. She enjoys telling student and alumni stories and helping people on their path to finding a career in tech. She has more than 13 years of experience in marketing and is currently serving as the President-elect for the Nashville chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA Nashville). She is also an alumna of Seth Godin’s altMBA for business leaders. Originally from North Dakota, Mandy has made Nashville home since 2006 and loves Nashville’s vibrant tech and marketing communities.
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Mary van Valkenburg
Director of Data Operations
Mary van Valkenburg
After a long career in software development and implementation, Mary discovered the wonder of data. After learning and doing some consulting work to grow her knowledge and abilities, Mary joined NSS in 2017 to help launch the Analytics + Data Science Programs. She played a leading role creating curriculum for the part-time Data Science Bootcamp, part-time and full-time Data Analytics Bootcamps, and the Analytics Jumpstart and was lead instructor for each of these programs at least once.
In 2021, Mary moved to the Operations team and began working to clean, organize and learn from NSS’s own data.
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Amy Henderson
President & Chief Operating Officer
Amy Henderson
Amy Henderson brings a deep understanding of the Nashville tech community, a strong commitment to what NSS stands for, and years of progressively greater responsibility as a software professional, manager, executive, and entrepreneur. Amy oversees the day-to-day business operations, including admissions and enrollment, student services, finance and accounting, HR, facilities, employer recruiting and relations, career development, and student placement services. She also serves on the NSS Board of Directors.
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John Wark
Founder and CEO
John Wark
John Wark founded Nashville Software School in 2012. He believed that Nashville’s technology talent shortage would never be solved by trying to import experienced developers from other cities that also suffer from talent shortages or by waiting for colleges and universities to start graduating enough students and/or appropriately trained students. He also had faith that Nashville had an ample supply of motivated adults with latent aptitude who, if offered a chance, would eagerly pursue a career in technology.
John started programming professionally at age 19 in 1971. He spent a few years in enterprise IT as a developer, analyst and project manager. In 1978 he moved to a startup database software company and spent the next 25+ years in the software vendor world moving back and forth between startups and growth stage companies. He was involved with helping to launch, grow, and/or lead four software startups. As CEO of Continuus Software he raised $30M in venture capital financing, took the company public in 1999, and sold the company in 2000.
John moved to Nashville in 2005 and has been involved with both the local startup and technology communities since that time. For seven years he taught entrepreneurship classes as an adjunct professor at Belmont University. He was an active mentor at Jumpstart Foundry from 2011 through 2014. He continues to be inspired and energized by the pro-active community engagement of Nashville’s technology community.