Speakers

Kevin Cover

VP, Local Campus Admissions
Universal Technical Institute

Kevin Cover has been married for 26 years to his amazing wife, Grace and they have two grown children, Madeline, and Alex. He has spent the last twenty years as an entrepreneur and leader building, training and implementing the Great, Tour & Enroll (GTE) model. He has never felt as passionate about any industry and company as he does today.

Josh Muecke

Director, Regional Admissions
Universal Technical Institute

Josh Muecke currently serves as Regional Admissions Director for Universal Technical Institute. He first joined UTI in 2011 as a Campus Admission Representative, but he switched to field admissions two years later where he served for almost nine years before receiving his promotion.

Muecke up in San Diego as the only boy with 3 sisters. He played water polo and baseball at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego before heading to Loyola Marymount University on a baseball scholarship. He was drafted by the Astros in 2003 spent 9 seasons in the minor leagues with the Astros and Rockies.

He has been married to wife, Alyssa, going on 13 years and they have two sons, Gavin (8), and Grayson (5), as well as a boxer named Heisman (13). When not working Muecke enjoys coaching/watching both his boys in whatever sport is in season. He also loves the outdoors, including hiking, golfing, cornhole and losing money betting on sports.

Matt Druhe

Director, Student Engagement
Universal Technical Institute

Matt has led the implementation, execution, and evaluation of the student Coaching Program designed to support new students attending the ADIT blended learning program. He leads a team of Student Support Coaches with their managers and partners closely with campus leaders as coaches interact with students at defined intervals.

Matt brings extensive experience and expertise to this role having developed similar programs previously. In his previous role as Director of Campus Relations, Matt executed the development, playbook, and implementation of student retention, engagement, and student-life activities to over 700 unique university chapters and their one million plus student members.

Matt has also held positions as Partnership Director, Director of Student Services and Operations, and Associate Director of Retention/Student Services at Pearson, as well as other operational and academic leadership roles. Matt holds an MBA in Business Management and Bachelor of Science in Marketing. Matt lives in Gilbert, AZ with his wife Jody, two boys Jacob and Caleb, and two rescue dogs. Matt enjoys escaping the hot summer months by visiting San Diego and won’t pass up the opportunity to visit a local winery during any of his travels.

Bianca Hopper

Director, Content Marketing
Universal Technical Institute

Bianca Hopper has worked in the digital marketing space for nearly ten years. In her current role as Director of Digital Content Marketing, she oversees a team that develops and implements the brand’s digital marketing strategy. That includes content strategy, SEO, CRO, social media, and online reputation management.

Shane Brown

CRO Consultant
Conversion Rate Experts

Shane Brown is a CRO consultant for Conversion Rate Experts. He’s spent the last 15 years working in nearly every sector of marketing for clients ranging from small startups to Fortune 50 companies, including VF Corp, Intel, and even the Government of Mexico. He has a degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota and loves figuring out what makes people tick and how we can persuade them to act.

Andre Veiga

Account Executive
YouTube

Andre Veiga has been at Google for over 11 years, initially working out of London where he was a lead analyst for some of the most performance focussed advertisers partnering with Google. At YouTube, he helped launch Google Preferred, a premium content offering), into the UK market. In 2019, he moved to the US as a Branding specialist, where he lead executive summits at Google’s MTV campus before more recently joining BrandConnect, YouTube’s in-house creator platform to help clients make the most of organic content.

Bart Fesperman

Chief Commercial Officer
Universal Technical Institute

Bart Fesperman is a strategic, data-driven leader with a long track record of delivering ROI and exceptional service to customers, while also generating substantial long-term growth. As Chief Commercial Officer at Universal Technical Institute, Fesperman is accountable for UTI’s marketing and student recruitment functions. He also leads the company’s integrated approach to student engagement, with a focus on optimizing interactions with students from lead generation though graduation.

Prior to UTI, Fesperman served in a similar role for I.C.E. Enterprises, Inc., a leader in sales and service functions for brands such as American Express, USAA, and Marriott Vacations. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing for DirectBuy Inc. Fesperman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Missouri.

Kevin Naylor

Fixed Operations Director
Larry H. Miller Hyundai Peoria

Kevin Naylor currently serves as Fixed Operations Director for Larry H. Miller Hyundai in Peoria, Arizona. Prior to to joining the Larry H. Miller team, Naylor worked at Penske Automotive Group for almost thirty years, including stints at BMW North Scottsdale, Acura North Scottsdale, and Mercedes-Benz of Chandler.

Naylor is a graduate of Universal Technical Institute. He also graduated from Dale Carnegie Training, and the NADA Dealer Academy courses.

Ben O’Connor

Regional Service Manager
Sunstate Equipment Co., LLC

Over 10 years ago Ben O’Connor started as an Apprentice Mechanic out of our Houston Branch. Ben exemplifies Sunstate’s “promote from within” philosophy as he has continued to progress through various positions including Field Service Mechanic, District Service Manager and most recently was promoted to the Regional Service Manager for the Southwest. We are grateful to have such a valuable employee on our team and appreciate his willingness to pass along his knowledge to the next generation of Mechanics.

Rayna Davis

Regional Recruiting Specialist
Sunstate Equipment Co., LLC

As Sunstate’s Regional Operations Recruiter for the Southwest, Rayna Davis works hard to find new teammates for 23 of our branches in the region. She understands the importance of training and investing in the next generation of diesel mechanics. Rayna enjoys connecting with students and sharing the lucrative career opportunities that can be found at Sunstate and our industry in general.

Brian Schubert

Director, Product Marketing
Universal Technical Institute

With over 15 years of internal and agency marketing experience, Brian brings proven strategies from the education, automotive and retail industries to help maximize UTI’s student acquisition efforts. Having blazed a diverse postsecondary education path, Brian can empathize with the challenges facing UTI’s students, and can expertly demonstrate how UTI can be the conduit connecting them to a successful future.

Jeff Tilley

Manager, National Marketing
Universal Technical Institute

Jeff is the national marketing manager for Universal Technical Institute, responsible for the strategic marketing direction, growth and performance of UTI’s 16 campus locations.

As a seasoned professional (and lifelong Texan) with 25 years of strategic marketing experience, Jeff most recently served in higher education as the director of marketing & communications at The Blinn College District, where he led the marketing efforts to help grow the college into one of the largest in the state with more than 21,000 students. Prior to Blinn, he spent ten years in an executive marketing role at Blue Bell Creameries, where he helped the company expand from 8 to 19 states and grow to the third largest branded ice cream in the U.S.

Marissa Wade

Manager, Product Marketing
Universal Technical Institute

Marissa is an energetic and creative marketing professional with over 5 years of internal-agency experience. Marissa uses data-driven marketing strategies from her experience in the healthcare industry to help drive more student acquisitions.

Jon Lewis

VP, Brand & Content Strategy
Universal Technical Institute

Jon Lewis is Vice President of Brand & Content Strategy at Universal Technical Institute. Prior to UTI, Lewis served as a VP at LaneTerralever, a full service advertising agency. While there, he led strategies for brands like Time Warner Cable, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, GORE-TEX® fabric, Honeywell Aerospace, and many others.

A graduate of Arizona State University, Lewis and his wife have three daughters (22, 18, 14), and two dogs. He has written for DC Comics, has published nine novels through Scholastic, Little Brown, and Thomas Nelson, and he is currently working on his first screenplay.

Pete Schaer

Creative Director
Universal Technical Institute

Pete Schaer is an experienced creative leader with over 20 years at national agencies, global brands, and corporate marketing departments. He is a lifelong learner who believes personal and professional growth are from embracing change and surrounding himself with conceptual teams who thrive on results-based ideas that attract attention and motivate audiences to take action.

Kurt Eddy

VP, Marketing
Universal Technical Institute

Kurt Eddy serves as the VP of Marketing for Universal Technical Institute. He likse the color indigo, and the Indigo Girls. He uses words like “like” because he grew up in the 80’s and… like… yeah. He likes progressive Canadian rock, and even if you don’t understand it, trust him. He uses terms like “Door Rate” and “IPS” that you use as a joke but in the end you need me driving leads. You want me driving leads! And if you don’t I suggest you grab a landing page and stand a post. Did I order BHI? You’re goddamn right I did.