SPEAKERS & INstructors

Coffee Technicians Guild Summit | Lewisville, Texas, USA 2024

Ann Halsne

**Co-owner, Sproparts, LLC.**
Ann is a longtime resident of Seattle, Washington. Growing up in Iowa was amazing, but the mountains and beauty of the PNW called to her. She began her coffee career at ESI in Ballard (as an accountant). Once established in the ESI family, the office job changed into hands-on Bench Test Management and Logistics. ESI was acquired by Franke Coffee Systems, so she took the opportunity to help grow Synesso in the global role of Salesperson, Parts guru, Logistics, and Customer Service. Currently, Ann is the co-owner and GM of Sproparts, the exclusive distributor of Nuova Ricambi SRL. She enjoys the daily task of finding solutions for technicians and the equipment they are maintaining.
IG: @sproparts_espresso_parts

Maciej Ostrowski

**Product Manager, Rancilio Group**
Maciej Ostrowski is the Product Manager at Rancilio's North American office focusing on market integration and technical education. With over a decade working in the coffee industry, he is still searching for the perfect cup of coffee. IG: @life_of_maciej

Nate Hull

Director of Customer Operations, Bellwether Coffee

I started in coffee like a lot of folks have. Was hired into work in production, warehouse, and roasted coffee deliveries. My boss saw I could ""Turn a wrench"" and asked if I wanted to be a technician. A few months later I was promoted to Tech Manager, thrown right into the fire as I suspect a lot of technicians have experienced.

Fonte Coffee Production/Technician/Tech manager from 2009-2017

Technical Manager / Trainer at Slayer from 2017 - 2021

Lead Technician/ Technical Manager/ Director of Customer Operations Bellwether 2021-present.

I love teaching and encouraging young techs in the industry. Lets make Technicians Better. IG: @Hull_lot_of_life

Brady Butler

**Founder, Trail Blaze Coffee**
Brady Butler is an Authorized SCA Trainer who has been leading barista, brewing, and coffee technician training classes since 2009. Over his coffee career, Brady has also worked as a barista, a coffee equipment technician, and in wholesale customer support. He was co-lead for the SCA's Brewing Content Creator Group, Lead Author for the Coffee Technicians Program, and currently serves on the Coffee Technicians Guild Leadership Council. He owns Trail Blaze Coffee Academy, an independent training company based in North Carolina, USA. IG: @trail_blaze_coffee

Anastasia Chovan

**Director of Sales Vivreau Professional Filter, Vivreau Advanced Water Systems**
Anastasia Chovan has 25 years experience in the specialty beverage industry. From barista to equipment expert, she has been involved in the development of quality coffee, tea, and water products. Anastasia is a certified water sommelier for Vivreau North America who advises the specialty beverage industry on how water impacts food and beverage. Her latest article on water chemistry was published in the Winter 2022 Campus Dining Today magazine. IG: @coffee_mermaid_

Jay Kitsner

**Technician, Dolce Neve**
Jay Kistner originally comes from a culinary background ground where he was a chef in the Sonoma county wine country for 9 years. In 1994 Jay founded Dolce Neve where he manufactured an organic granita mix that he sold whole sale to the local cafes. Jay then found him self working on the granita machines he had been selling with his whole sale granita program. He was then asked by many of his customers to work on their espresso machines. His first encounter with an espresso machine was a request to rebuild a four group Rancilio AT. Jay had mounted it on the back of his 1978 Alfa Romeo spider to bring back to his garage in order to give him self a self guided lesson on espresso machines. This turned into a full rebuild along with acid bath, powder coating of the frame and panels.
This process paved the way for a general understanding of the hydraulic flow and the heating circuit of an espresso machine. He then learned the personalities of all the machines in his service area over the years and forged a good working knowledge of being an espresso machine technician.
Dolce Neve is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and is very excited to continue their pursuit in building partnerships with service companies, Roasters and manufactures across the country.

Shad Baiz

**Sales Director Southwest Region,** **La Marzocco**
Bio Coming Soon!

Alexandra Littlejohn

**Specialty Sales Director , Eversys**
Alexandra LittleJohn is the Specialty Sales Director for Eversys USA. She currently resides in Denver, CO and has worked with some of the best specialty coffee roasters in the country throughout her career as a barista, coffee trainer, sales director, and operations director where she managed many wholesale and technician teams. Alexandra has dedicated over 10 years to volunteer leadership through the Specialty Coffee Association, with the Barista Guild of America, as well as mentoring career minded baristas through the Go Fund Bean mentorship program. In her free time she enjoys, live music (bluegrass is her jam), karaoke, travel, cocktails and 90’s arcade games. IG: @alexandraclittlejohn @eversys.usa

Ryan “DF” Wolfrum

Senior Technical Support Advisor, Marco Beverage Systems

After working for more than 10 years in the field, DF began working for manufacturers in the Specialty Coffee space 5 years ago.

When he's not trying to learn how to be a better tech, DF can be found riding motorcycles and walking his dog without a leash.

Speakers & Instructors

SPEAKERS & INstructors

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