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Industry Advisory Council

Meet the SkillsUSA RCAT team.

The RCAT Industry Advisory Council is dedicated to the Residential & Commercial Appliance Technology program. It’s members all have more than 20 to over 40 years experience in the appliance and refrigeration technology service industry. Consistency and keeping up with today’s changing technology in the Major Appliance Industry is a top priority.

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Mark Pollitz

National Chairman of Residential & Commercial Appliance Technology

Nationwide Marketing Group
National Director of Service
P: 386-290-9449
M: 386-290-9449
mark.pollitz@yahoo.com

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Greg Doster

Consultant & Immediate Past Chairman

Professional Service Association
Board of Directors Member
P: (954) 812-9695
M: (954) 812-9695
gdoster6@gmail.com

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Besor Fayas

Council Member

ServiceWorks
VP of Revenue
P: 636-220-4363
besor.fayas@service.works

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Brannon Harris

Council Member

Dependable Repair Services
Owner/Operator
P: 770-577-5770
M: 770-480-0550
brannon@dependableservices.com

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Christina Kraker

Council Member

ServicersWeb
COO/Co-Founder
P: 530-520-4799
christina@servicersweb.com

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Dan Reese

Council Member

Commercial Food Equipment Service Association
Director of Training
P: 336-346-4700
M: 813-426-6499
dreese@cfesa.com

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Dan Wood

Council Member

LG Electronics
Senior Technical Support Engineer REF
P: 256-774-4086
dan.wood@lge.com

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Don Harris

Council Member

Service Success Group
Founder, Consultant
don@servicesuccessgroup.com

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James Drew

Council Member

Electrolux Home Appliances
Technical Trainer
P: 706-469-4791
M: 706-627-0344
james.drew@electrolux.com

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John Ybara

Council Member

Whirlpool Corporation
Senior Analyst/Field Service Training
P: 626-297-8908
john_ybarra@whirlpool.com

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Mike Basich

Council Member

Michaelson’s Appliance Repair Inc.
Former Owner
Volunteer Industry Consultant
M: 813-917-4372
i2mboss@hotmail.com

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Mike Callahan

Council Member

Professional Service Association
President
P: 888-319-8311
mike@callahansappliance.com

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Mike Yelo

Council Member

Fisher & Paykel
Operations Manager Field Service
P: 609-664-8828
M: 732-266-8261
michael.yelo@fisherpaykel.com

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Stuart Pyburn

Council Member

Mr. Appliance
Stuart Pyburn
Franchise Business Coach
P: 254-759-5806
M: 254-854-2471
stuart.pyburn@nbly.com

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Tim Burdick

Council Member

Hisense USA Corporation
Technical Training Lead & Technical Content Creation
P: 623-252-0924
M: 480-254-8252
tim.burdick@hisense.com

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Mark is the Director of the Service Leaders Network, a division of Nationwide Marketing Group, the nation’s largest buying and marketing organization.

Mark has been in the appliance service industry for over 40 years working for several manufacturers, large and small service companies and as an Appliance Service Professional.

Mark has been a member of the SkillsUSA RCAT National Technical Committee for more than 15 Years. He also serves on the State of Florida SkillsUSA RCAT and is on the Educational Committee of the Professional Servicers Association.

Greg is retired from Whirlpool Corporation after 18 years of service.

Greg has been in the appliance service industry for over 50 years working for Sears, Maytag, Whirlpool and owning his own business.

Greg has been a member of the SkillsUSA MART National Technical Committee for more than 20 years.

Greg also serves on the Miami/Dade County MART Advisory Committee and State of Florida SkillsUSA MART Technical Committee.

Besor Fayas is the Vice President of Sales for Reliable Parts Ltd., responsible for the strategic growth, vision, and performance of the many appliance manufacturers, Reliable Parts represents.

As a seasoned professional with more than 15 years of industry experience, Besor is known for driving brand awareness, sales leadership, and delivering financial performance. He started with Appliance Parts Depot as a Sales Support Manager and has been promoted through the company to Director of Sales and ultimately when APD was purchased by Reliable Parts, to VP of Sales. Prior to this Besor worked in several operations roles within the appliance wholesale distribution business as well as operating an appliance service company for several years. Upon graduating from high school, he served in the US Army Infantry for 6 years where he attended several leadership courses. His continued focus on leadership excellence, team building, and continuing education has helped propel him through the ranks throughout his career.

Besor studied business management with focus on entrepreneurial aspirations at Southern Methodist University. As well he has obtained certificates from US Army Primary Leadership and Development Course & University of Texas Arlington Business Management. He is currently based at Reliable’ s corporate Headquarters in Dallas, Texas.

Brannon is the owner of Dependable Repair Services since 2015 and has spent the last 15 years in the Family business.

Brannon has been a member of the SkillsUSA RCAT National Technical Committee since 2013.

Christina is the COO, Co-Founder of ServicersWeb, a digital marketing agency that provides search engine optimization, website design, digital advertising, social media management, and other brand management services for in-home service companies.

Christina is a Marine Corps veteran with experience in Electronics Calibration and Repair and worked as an inventory specialist for NAVAIR. She also has a MA in Language and Literacy from CSU Chico.

Daniel L. Reese is a 40-year veteran of the Commercial Foodservice Repair Industry.

He started his career as a service technician and went on to be Co-Owner of a service company in Florida.

His current position allows him to express his true passion of training and educating the next generation of service technician as the Director of Training for the Commercial Food Equipment Service Association (CFESA). To honor Dan’s passion for training CFESA awarded him their Dedication to Training Award in 2019.

Dan is the Senior Technical Support Engineer for Refrigeration with LG Electronics and is responsible for service procedures and technical issues concerning refrigeration.

Dan has been in the appliance service industry since the mid-seventies with a 10-year break while serving in the US Army. During his service he held several Instructor positions including serving as a Drill Sergeant.

After the military he returned to the Appliance Industry working as an independent service technician and then for several manufacturers both as a technician and later as a Trainer. In 2012 he joined LG as the Home Appliance Trainer in Huntsville, AL.

While no longer a Trainer he still gets the opportunity to train 2-3 times a year at ASTI, PSA and sometimes here at Skills. In High School he attended a Vo-Tech High School and took HVAC where he was a member of VICA. This will be his tenth year working with SkillsUSA.

Please check back. Bio coming soon!

James lives in Augusta, Georgia. He has worked for Electrolux since October 2007, first as a Technical Support agent, then Technical Supervisor and now Technical Trainer.

Prior experience includes numerous positions as a field service technician including Maytag since graduating technical school in 1996. James holds a Master technician certification with NASTEC as well as a certified proctor with NASTEC.

James is a retired Navy First Class Petty officer since 2013 and became a certified instructor for the military during his career. James holds a Bachelors in Technical Management from DeVry University 2015 and an Associates of Applied Science HVAC from Augusta Technical College in 1996.

John Ybarra is a Senior Analyst in the Competency Development Department at Whirlpool Corporation.

He has been with Whirlpool and Maytag Heritage since 1993. John has held various positions within the organization, from Technician, Lead Technician, Whirlpool Techline, District Service Manager, and Field Service Trainer.

John has been in the appliance industry for more than 40 years.

Mike entered the appliance industry in Cleveland, Ohio as a delivery helper in 1975. In 1977 he went to work for General Electric as a TV/Appliance shop technician.

After moving to Tampa, Florida in 1986, Mike was hired by DeSears Appliance & TV as a service technician, He then did a short stint with Authorized Service at their Tampa, Florida location. Mike and his wife opened Michaelson’s Appliance Repair in 1988 and then sold their business in 2019. He continues as a consultant and volunteers his time with industry related issues. Mike is also a member of PSA, USA, FPGA & MSA trade associations.

Mike holds personal accreditations as a Universal Technician from NASTeC, Master Certified Appliance Professional & Certified Service Manager from PSA and a M-1 LP Gas Master Qualifier Certification from the Florida Dept. of Agriculture Consumer Services Division. Mike is the Coordinator of the Florida SkillsUSA State RCAT Contest. Mike is also a member of the National SkillsUSA RCAT team.

I grew up in New York and worked with my father’s business.

I started as a technician and helped grow his business, moved to Texas, and started Callahan’s Appliance Inc.

Growing each year, we now have 9 technicians. I try to help the industry from every aspect I can. I started volunteering as a committee member for PSA, Professional Service Association. After a few years, I was voted to be President of the association. I also started volunteering with Skills USA and now am honored to be a judge.

Our industry is lacking qualified technicians. My efforts have been to learn, teach, and grow our industry to fill it with qualified technicians.

Michael has been in the appliance service industry for over 15 years. He started in 2003 with Miele as a Display Installer, Service Technician, Senior Technician, and Technical Service Supervisor.

In 2013, he moved over to Samsung where he was a Technical Trainer until he was promoted to Technical Training Manager. In 2019, he joined Fisher & Paykel as Factory Service Operations Manager, overseeing technicians throughout the United States.

Michael joined the SkillsUSA Mart National Technical Committee in 2018.

Stuart Pyburn is a Financial Business Coach for Mr. Appliance, A Neighborly Company, where he assists franchise business owners with all aspects of their business and making sure they understand and adhere to the systems of the franchise.

He is also the Subject Matter Expert on Appliance Technicians.

Pryor to working for Mr. Appliance he worked for Sears Product Service for 29 years starting as an Appliance Repair Tech and then moved through the ranks of Routing, Inventory, Technical Training, Tech Management, and Loss Prevention and Asset Protection Management.

Tim has been in the appliance service industry for most of his life.

Coming from a family appliance repair business he has been around the industry for over 30 years. He has sat in many seats from technician to service center owner, to parts sales to working for several manufacturers in customer support to technical training positions.

Currently, Tim is with Hisense USA where he is the Lead Technical Trainer and Technical Content Creation Specialist. Tim joined the SkillsUSA National Technical Committee in 2022