Richard Tharp is a founding partner at Serensoft. He is the ultimate big picture guy. He comes with a broad, yet detailed knowledge of fundamental higher education processes that gives him an unmatched ability to predict how a decision in one area will impact another. When we encounter challenges in a meeting, it is not uncommon to hear, “Let’s ask Richard.” He is a problem solver, bringing the freight of his finance background and experience to all of his work. Some of his coding projects are still being used by schools today after 15-20 years. Although Richard has earned a respected reputation in the higher education domain, he is not one rest on his laurels. Richard has completed a doctoral degree in Leadership. If you have a problem, Dr. Tharp has the prescription. You might think such a seasoned professional would be unattainable, but Richard’s ability to patiently train and help end users means that there are many clients across the years who consider Richard their friend as well as their expert. Richard lives in North Hampton, New Hampshire with his wife Brenda. They have four adult children.
Will Trillich is a founding partner of Serensoft. If there is a way to automate and script a process, he can find it. Will’s brain works in algorithms and his breadth of experience in the world of computing and higher education are always a welcome addition to any team. Will has the ability to easily pivot to meet the demands of a current project. Whether it’s Perl, Python, Pentaho, or PDP11, Will can make it work. He has been a key player in several open source database and learning management system projects and his graphic design background ensures that the user experience is always at the forefront of every project. In an age of best-in-class computing, Will has made a name for himself in the arena of custom interfaces between external systems. Don’t be surprised when your vendor starts asking Will questions they are not able to answer. Will hails from the heartland, currently living in Evansville, Indiana with his wife Karen.
Kelly Marie joins the Serensoft team with over 30 years of industry experience. Kelly started her career in the marketing realm and quickly learned she had an affinity for coding and data analysis. She is a versatile, team-oriented business systems professional experienced in the areas of higher education, data management and analytical reporting. Kelly is uniquely skilled in working with data consumers to extract their real business information needs while presenting the data with insightful, useful formats. Kelly first worked on the Jenzabar CX system with Cognos BI tools at Endicott College and is always learning new things as evidenced by her forthcoming Master’s Degree in Business Intelligence. A native New Englander, Kelly was a high school basketball and field hockey star. She graduated from Boston College, has been married to Rob for over 25 years and they have two adult sons.
Laurie Van Pelt began her illustrious career answering phones in the Admissions office. It turns out her excellent phone answering skills did not go unnoticed and she was trained in filing cabinet organization as well. Then finally, one day she logged into a terminal that was serially connected to a UNIX server and the world changed. The continuous hunger to know more and learn more about whatever the computer was doing has not stopped for the last 30 years. This hungry journey has taken Laurie on several stops through many databases, operating systems, ERPs, LMSs, CRMs, virtual reality, and data conversions. Whatever the next thing you might need someone to learn for the success of a project happens to be, Laurie is ready. Laurie lives in Jackson, Mississippi with her husband Miles. They have four children and two grandchildren. However, she would like it known that she is really a native Californian who left her heart in the northeast.