Dr. JoAnn Hackos is President of Comtech Services, a content-management and information-design firm based in Denver, Colorado, which she founded in 1978. She is Director of the Center for Information-Development Management (CIDM), a membership organization focused on content-management and information-development best practices. Dr. Hackos and colleagues are called upon by corporate executives worldwide to consult on strategies for content management, development and organizational management, product interface design, customer studies, Web and traditional information architecture, and tools and technology selection.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Hackos has addressed audiences internationally on subjects ranging from content management, project management, effective interfaces and information, minimal information products, usability testing, and online and Web-based information, to managing the information design and development process. Her workshops are dedicated to enhancing the practices and products that will best promote customer satisfaction.

She authored Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio and People (Wiley 2006), Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery (Wiley 2002), Managing Your Documentation Projects (Wiley 1994), Standards for Online Communication (Wiley 1997), User and Task Analysis for Interface Design (Wiley 1998) and Introduction to DITA—Second Edition (Comtech 2011). JoAnn is a Fellow and Past President of the International Society for Technical Communication (STC).

Dr. Bill Hackos, is cofounder with JoAnn Hackos and Vice President of Comtech Services. He is involved in projects related to information management and process improvement. He designed Comtech’s estimating metrics and continues to conduct key studies into ratios of developers and writers and analysis of the return on investment of single-sourcing projects. Dr. Hackos has focused on the design of graphic user interfaces that are easy to learn and to use. With 30 years’ experience in the computer industry, Dr. Hackos understands how to increase the usability of products.

Frank Miller is a Senior Consultant at Comtech Services. Frank works with Comtech’s clients to plan and execute successful content management roll-outs, often within the DITA framework. During the course of a roll-out and beyond, he works with information development groups in training, coaching, and development capacities. Frank draws on a background in newspaper publishing, relational database design and development, and technical communication.

Dawn Stevens is a Senior Consultant specializing in information development, instructional design, and management consulting. With over 20 years of experience, including 10 years at Comtech, Dawn has practical experience in virtually every role within a documentation and training department, including project management, instructional design, writing, editing, and multimedia programming. With both engineering and technical communication degrees, Dawn combines a solid technical foundation with strong writing and design skills to identify and remove the challenges her clients face in producing usable, technical information and training. Dawn has a keen interest in metrics, editorial and design standards, user and task analysis, and single sourcing strategies. She enjoys helping our clients gain efficiencies through improved publication processes, minimalist writing techniques, and designing for reusability, with an emphasis on XML and DITA solutions.

Anne Bovard is a Senior Consultant at Comtech Services. She develops Information Models and stylesheets and assists in DITA implementations. She also serves as instructor for Comtech’s workshop series. Anne has a BS in Biology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Hal Trent, Senior Consultant

Hal Trent is a Senior Consultant at Comtech Services, assisting companies in developing and integrating their XML and DITA publishing solutions. Hal’s main focus is expressing the information development process through a customized tools suite and spends much of his time developing custom publishing integrations using XML technologies. Hal teaches many of the Comtech workshops and has extensive experience working with organizations to improve their content management strategy. Hal has a BS in Biology from Roanoke College and an MS in Information Systems from DePaul University.

Bill Gearhart is a consultant and instructor specializing in minimalism, user-centered design, and information modeling for single-sourcing and DITA. Bill also developed and delivers a workshop that helps writers adopt Agile methods. In collaborating with his clients and students, Bill draws on over 20 years of experience in developing and managing information and leading innovative teams. Prior to working with Comtech, Bill spent 15 years in the enterprise software industry, most of it as a director responsible for diverse, global teams. After starting his career as an information developer at a variety of manufacturing and consulting companies, Bill held several management positions in information development, usability, software engineering, project management, and support services. Bill holds a BS in technical writing and editing from Carnegie Mellon University.