Personalized support
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Download a full staff phone list or see staff details below, including bios (click name).
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Leadership
Andy Melick
Chief Information Officer
Andy Melick is an accomplished IT professional with over two decades of experience in the education technology industry. Having served most recently as the Executive Director at NCOCC (North Central Ohio Computer Cooperative) for the last two years, Andy demonstrated exceptional leadership and managerial skills. In this role, Andy spearheaded the organization's IT operations, overseeing the implementation of innovative technologies and ensuring efficient service delivery. Andy has held several roles at NCOCC throughout his time with the organization. He was employed with NCOCC from 2002-2023 until they merged with NEOnet.
In addition to Andy's professional achievements, he also has a passion for travel and fishing. Andy has embarked on extensive journeys, exploring a remarkable 29 countries around the world with his wife Jennifer. This exposure to diverse cultures, landscapes, and people has enriched his global perspective and appreciation for different ways of life
Michele Baker
Director of Human Resources
2012 to Present
Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Advertising, Pennsylvania State University
Michele Baker is the Personnel and Communications Coordinator for NEOnet along with responsibilities to the DASL Student Information system and acting as the lead on Roster Verification.
After graduating from Pennsylvania State University in 2008, Michele joined the Smart Solutions team in Beachwood as an Account Manager. Michele worked on educating school districts on the benefits of technology in the schools by performing technology audits, meeting with district Superintendents, Technology Coordinators, and other District Administrators, along with developing content and designs of marketing materials targeting existing and potential clients.
In her spare time, Michele enjoys spending time with her family, especially her husband, Larry, son, Fulton, and daughter, Madison. She also enjoys cheering on her favorite football teams, the Penn State Nittany Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers!
Bonnie Manchester
Fiscal Officer
Bonnie joins the NEONET team bringing over 15 years of ITC experience with her. Prior to that, she worked in the school districts as an EMIS coordinator. The district experience provided the understanding needed to transition to ACCESS as a Student Support Liaison. After five years of providing student support and two complete SIS conversions, she moved over to the Fiscal Services Department. During her time in the fiscal department, she provided support to the districts and was involved in the successful conversion of all ACCESS districts from State Software to the Redesign.
Bonnie grew up in Southington, OH and graduated from Chalker High School. She attended Kent State University for her undergraduate work while raising her family. She continues to reside in Southington with her husband and her family nearby.
Cody Lyons
District Technology Services Coordinator
Cody graduated from The University of Akron with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems. He brings over 10 years of experience in the IT field to NEOnet. Cody is responsible for coordinating and leading the District Technology Services department. He is committed to assisting our customers to ensure they can deliver the educational experience that their students deserve.
Jason Smith
Business Manager
2017 to Present
Jason Smith is the Business Manager for NEOnet. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the facility, and its upkeep. Jason is also responsible for future modifications to the physical building, landscape, and grounds.
Prior to his position as Business Manager, Jason worked with Stow-Munroe Falls City School District as the Director of Buildings and Grounds for 18 years. He also worked at American Greetings WHQ in Cleveland for 4 years as a Building Service Team Leader.
Jason enjoys helping out wherever he can while on the job and loves working in the team oriented culture that NEOnet embodies.
While not at work, Jason likes spending time with family and friends, and listening to music.
Receptionists
Financial Services
Alyssa Green
Accounts Payable Specialist
Alyssa is the Accounts Payable Specialist at NEOnet, and she has a background in customer relationship management. She lives in Harville with her husband, Josh, and their son, Warren. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hosting friends for game nights, and spending time with her family.
Roxanna Bennett
February 2017 - Present
Roxanna Bennett is a Payroll Specialist at NEOnet. Prior to her position, she worked at Nordonia Hills City Schools where she was the Payroll Coordinator. Roxanna has experience in USPS - Uniform School Payroll System, Aesop and Veritime. Roxanna's primary role is to assist with State Software Payroll support.
In her free time, Roxanna enjoys spending time with her family, church, and crafting.
Educational Technology - Ext. 601160
Tamra Dugan
Coordinator of Educational Technology
2015 to Present
B.A. English, Heidelberg College
Tamra Dugan came to NEOnet after spending 13 years in collegiate and school libraries, including Case Western Reserve University, Copley High School, and Twinsburg Middle and High Schools. She has a strong cataloging background and extensive hands-on experience with day to day library operation. Tamra is also passionate about staying on the cutting edge of educational technology from Google to Makerspaces.
Outside of work Tamra enjoys spending time with her husband, Sam, kiddo, L, French bulldog, Malcolm, and her large extended family. Tamra can also regularly be found starting and occasionally finishing numerous crafting projects, completing home renovations, and of course, reading.
Noah Himes
Media Services Senior Specialist
B.A. The Ohio State University
Noah has spent the majority of his career working with libraries. Having worked in Special Collections, Public, and Academic libraries Noah has been committed to ethos of life long learning that libraries represent. Noah comes to NEOnet from the University of Akron’s University Libraries where he helped maintain the library catalog and provided hardware and software support for the library's students, staff and faculty. Prior to that Noah was employed by the Northeast Ohio Regional Library System as the AfterDark Virtual Reference Service Coordinator. The AfterDark Virtual Reference Service provided librarians to staff the statewide online reference service KnowItNow. KnowItNow was the first 24/7 statewide virtual reference service staffed entirely by in-state librarians. KnowItNow was a very successful service, but funding sources were eliminated and the service ended in 2015.
In his free time Noah enjoys spending time outdoors, enjoying the Cleveland dining scene, and watching English Premier League soccer.
Daniel Niessen
Dan has been living in Parma, Ohio since he was about five years old. He loves cats and dogs, playing guitar, reading Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels, movies, corny TV shows, and playing video games. He had a Rottweiler growing up and can't wait to have one again! Some of his favorite books and movies include the Game of Thrones series, World War II movies like Darkest Hour and Saving Private Ryan, and The Office. He attended Baldwin Wallace University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in History and Education and is currently enrolled in a master's program for Educational Technology at Cleveland State University. Dan started his career with ECOT in their Cleveland Office, then moved on to be one of their High School Social Studies teachers. Most recently, he taught high school Social Studies at Invictus High School East Campus.
Ryan McLaughlin
Ryan McLaughlin began his career as a reference and instruction librarian at institutions including Muskingum University and Kent State University. His additional job roles have been virtual course management, cataloging and collection development, and website design and management. At Fortis College, he was also student services coordinator.
In addition to leading an exciting life in libraries, Ryan has volunteered as a crisis counselor, and is a certified tutor. He shares his Kent home with his wife, niece, and a clowder of cats. His favorite fiction author is Terry Pratchett. He enjoys tabletop games, breakfast food at dinnertime, and garden gnomes.
B.A. Miami University
M.L.I.S. Kent State University
EMIS Services - Ext. 601140
Catherine Wright
EMIS Services Support Specialist
2014 to Present
Stark State College of Technology
Catherine Wright is an EMIS Software Support Specialist for Northeast Ohio Network for Educational Technology. She started with NEOnet in 2014 working with shared services for community schools.
Catherine supports the districts in the NEOnet consortium with reporting their student EMIS data to ODE and is also involved with EMIS shared services. She is an active member of the Ohio Association of EMIS Professionals.
Prior to joining the ITC, Catherine was a Support Specialist for Summa Western Reserve Hospital in the Surgical Services Department.
Emily Roberts
EMIS Services Support Liaison
Kent State University
Emily first gained EMIS experience through working at the Summit ESC. She joined NEOnet in 2017 as an EMIS Services Support Liaison where she has the opportunity to support multiple schools with their EMIS needs.
Mary Dolis
EMIS Services Senior Specialist
1982 to Present
Mary has worked at the ITC level for over 30 years and has specialized in EMIS since the inception in 1989. Prior to working at the ITC, Mary worked with Cuyahoga Falls City Schools as a substitute secretary and the City of Akron payroll and accounting department.
Yvonne Fisher
EMIS Services Support Liaison
Yvonne Fisher joined NEOnet in 2022 as an EMIS Services Support Liaison. Yvonne supports NEOnet districts with reporting their EMIS data to ODE. Prior to joining NEOnet, Yvonne was an elementary school teacher at Crestwood Local Schools and an Extended EMIS Support team member at Connect, ITC. She is a graduate of the University of Akron with degrees in Elementary Education and Psychology. She is an active member of the Ohio Association of EMIS Professionals
Sara Skraba
Sara Skraba graduated from the University of Akron. Prior to joining NEOnet, Sara reported Preschool EMIS data for 10 districts working at the Summit Count ESC. Sara is the youngest of 8 children and is married with 3 wonderful sons. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling in their RV and plans on visiting 50 states during retirement.
Sandy Sparr
EMIS Services Senior Specialist
Sandy Sparr is an EMIS Services Senior Specialist. She started her 30 year career in 1992, where she has supported and trained in all areas of EMIS services.
Sandy is married to her husband, Danny. She is a mother of two: son Cody and daughter Allie, and a dog mom. Her greatest joy is being a grandparent. She enjoys time spent with family and friends, football (Buckeyes, Kentucky Wildcats, San Francisco 49ers), and diamond painting.
Alexandra Holowatyj
EMIS Services Support Specialist
Alexandra Holowatyj comes from Global Village Academy where she worked as the EMIS Coordinator for 12 years. She also served as the Assistant Superintendent, Food service Director, and Testing Coordinator, gaining experience in multiple domains of school compliance and reporting.
Renee Eckstine
EMIS Services Support Specialist
Renee Eckstine recently joined the NEOnet EMIS team as an EMIS Support Specialist and EMIS Shared Services liaison working with Warrensville Heights City School District where she will support the district with reporting their EMIS data to ODE. Renee has worked as an EMIS Coordinator since 1994. These years were spent as the EMIS Coordinator at Medina City School District followed by Berea City School District. In addition to EMIS, she has spent the past 12+ years using and training others in the Infinite Campus student software. Renee is an active member of the Ohio Association of EMIS Professionals and has earned certification as Master EMIS Professional and Data Manager. When not working, Renee enjoys spending time with her family, reading, gardening, and traveling
Fiscal Services - Ext. 601130
Lisa Nash
July 2012 to Present
Bachelors of Science, Bowling Green State University
Lisa is a Fiscal Systems Support Coordinator at NEOnet. Her strength is in 3rd party software integration with State Accounting Software. As part of the Fiscal Team Lisa assists in fielding questions related to USAS – Uniform School Accounting System, USPS – Uniform School Payroll System, EIS – Equipment Inventory System, Employee HR Kiosk, and various 3rd party time clock software’s.
Lisa worked at Bowling Green State University as a Business Analyst for the Office of the Bursar where she performed maintenance and training on financial, student, and cashiering systems. During her time at Bowling Green State University she worked on two system implementations and three system upgrades, including addressing interface issues.
Lisa’s experience has provided a distinct impact to the eFinancePLUS (eFP) conversion process. Lisa is the team lead on conversion exports from State Software to eFP data. To date Lisa has completed 6 conversions and has 1 in process.
Lisa also participates in the eFinancePLUS Advisory Committee (eFAC) as the chair. The eFAC group meets on a bi-weekly basis to discuss on going issues with PowerSchool.
Michelle Ingersol
2018 to Present
Michelle joined the NEOnet team as a Fiscal Services Support Specialist in 2018. Prior to working with NEOnet, Michelle spent 19 years with FirstMerit Bank N.A., with a focus on financial growth, risk assessment and customer service. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her family, reading and doing logic puzzles.
Susanne Searl
Fiscal Services Support Specialist
Prior to joining NEOnet, Susanne was employed by an engineering/ construction management company, and she brings over 15 years of experience in administrative, project accounting and contracting.
Susanne has two daughters in college who both graduated from Stow-Munroe Falls High School. In her spare time, she volunteers with a local arts and culture newspaper and as a weekly podcaster discussing current local events and news.
Deborah Burrell-Horn
Fiscal Services Support Specialist
Deb Burrell-Horn graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of General Studies. Deb and her family relocated to the area in 2018 and previously worked for Portage County as a Fiscal and Personnel Specialist. In her spare time, she spends time with her family, golfs with her husband Ken, is an avid gardener, and animal lover. When time allows she loves to spend time at their second home in Port Orange, Florida
Rachel Caudill
Fiscal Services Support Specialist
Prior to joining NEOnet, Rachel Caudill worked in a school district as Payroll Administrator for almost 10 years, along with being a Township Fiscal Officer. Besides working with USPS and USAS software, Rachel utilized HR Kiosk, Frontline/Aesop, and SCView. In her spare time, Rachel manages her family farm; is a 4-H Advisor; serves on a local Camp Board of Directors; and serves as a County Fair Board Director.
Student Services - Ext. 601140
Jennifer Cottrill
Director of Software Services
May 2007 to Present Associates degree from Central Ohio Technical College Bachelor’s degree from University of Phoenix Jennifer is the Student Software Services Director at NEOnet. When she started at NEOnet in 2007 she supported and trained NEOnet’s districts on the DASL student information system along with a providing backup support to the ProgressBook Gradebook application. In July 2013, Jennifer became the coordinator of the best student services team of all the ITCs in Ohio and still continues to specialize in supporting the DASL application, custom report writing, and helping with third-party vendors. Jennifer is married with two boys and has a West Highland Terrier. Jennifer and her family love being outdoors, have completed numerous Metro Parks hiking sprees, and enjoy watching sports together.
Bethany Ladich
Student Services Senior Specialist
2017 to Present
Bethany Ladich is a Student Services Support Specialist for NEOnet with primary responsibilities to the GradeBook and Special Services software. She came to NEOnet from Green Local Schools where she worked as Data Processing/EMIS. She has over 16 years of education experience including her years at the University of Akron.
She enjoys new challenges, problem solving and working with others.
Lori Conrad
Student Services Support Specialist
April 2021 to Present
Lori received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Heidelberg University/University of Akron. Prior to coming to NEOnet, Lori worked with EMIS, Attendance and Truancy for parochial, online, and community schools. In her spare time, Lori enjoys spending time with he family. She has three children: Chalker, Piper, and Thatcher. An avid hockey fan, her favorite teams are the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Janet Hayes
Student Services Senior Specialist
August 2017 to Present
Associate Degree – Cuyahoga Community College
IT – Applied Science / Computer Information
Prior to her position in Student Services supporting Student Information and DataMap, Janet was employed at Software Answers the development company for the ProgressBook Suite as the Product Specialist for 6 ½ years. Janet lead all activities related to the use and training of ProgressBook solutions, from demonstrations through successful implementations. Before joining Software Answers in 2010, she instructed computer classes to elementary students and supported ProgressBook at the school district level. Prior to working in the school district, she worked as a Systems Analyst at LDA Systems, Inc. and provided software consulting development and analysis services to several companies. Janet began her career as a Programmer Analyst at Agency Rent-A-Car where she developed and maintained eight major systems.
In her spare time, Janet enjoys spending time with her family, which includes her husband, Marc, sons Dalton and Riley, daughters Tricia and Jessica as well as her grandchildren.
Denise Marrali
Student Services Senior Specialist
1999 to Present
Jagiellonian University, John Carroll University
Denise is the Special Services Software Specialist at NEOnet. She was part of the initial team of ITC sites that worked with Software Answers to develop the Special Services software starting in 2003. In March of 2005, she assisted in writing the Special Education Grant funded by the ODE to implement the software in NEOnet's member districts. Under her Guidance, Denise has migrated 24 districts, 1 ESC, 2 Digital Academies and 47 Community Schools over to the software. She also provides backup support for the Gradebook software and Special Services EMIS Reporting.
Denise came to NEOnet originally as part of the Fiscal Team, serving the districts with payroll and accounts payable. Prior to working at NEOnet, she worked at Nordonia Hills City Schools in the Treasurers Department for 2 years and as the General Manager in her family restaurant for 17 years. Denise and her husband Angelo, have two grown children and one grandson. In her spare time, she volunteers in music ministry at her church.
Julie Combs
Student Services Senior Specialist
Julie Combs joins the Student Services Team with 4 years of ITC experience. Prior to coming to Neonet, she worked as a Student/EMIS Support Liaison with a focus on the Infinite Campus SIS. She has a passion for helping others and takes pride in providing high level support & training to each school district. In her spare time, Julie enjoys biking, hiking & kayaking with her golden retrieve
Leslie Wiseman
Student Services Senior Specialist
Prior to the NEOnet merger, Leslie Wiseman began working at NCOCC in the Spring of 1995, the same spring in which she earned her associate degree in computer science from North Central State College in Mansfield. Prior to NCOCC, Leslie worked part-time while she attended classes in the Guidance office at Northmor Local Schools assisting in data entry. Leslie has many years of experience supporting StudentInformation, Gradebook, SpecialServices, SameGoal and has occasionally worked in DataMap.
Leslie has been married to her high school sweetheart, Todd, for 27 years and has a 24- year-old son, Jordan and a 22-year-old daughter, Bailey. Leslie is starting her 28th year coaching cheerleading at Northmor High School and loves cheering for the Golden Knights on Football Friday nights. She also loves traveling to Walt Disney World and Destin, Florida with her family
