Our Team

Our team embodies a deep commitment to social change and an unprecedented blend of teaching and programming expertise.

Abdul Redd

Abdul Redd

Instructor (Back End)

From the moment he got his hands on his first computer in the early 90s and listened to it wail as it connected to the internet, Abdul was hooked. His passion for tech and software development naturally led him to work as a full-stack developer for a Florida-based startup where he got the chance to work with various big-name brands and cutting-edge technologies before later transitioning into instruction to satisfy his other passion for teaching. With previous experience in management and hospitality, coupled with his love of people and an innate skill for simplifying complex problems, he uses all of these attributes to help students in their journey to learn to program. When he’s not coding, you can find Abdul enjoying the outdoors, working out at the gym, or leveling up in the latest video game.

Chris Simmons

Chris Simmons

Instructor (Back End)

Chris started his professional career as a music teacher and band director. After 5 years, he was ready to make a long-term change, so he attended a coding bootcamp and started a tech career. Chris brings a confluence of industry experience and teaching experience to Turing. He missed teaching and mentoring full-time while working in the tech industry and is glad to be back in a role that uses both of his careers. He believes that the power of working with technology lies in the possibility to affect change on a large scale. When he isn't teaching, he likes to hang out with his kittens - Charlie and Zoey, watch "The West Wing", and play Mario Kart with friends. Chris is also the lead singer of a funk band in Columbus, where he lives.

Erin Pintozzi

Erin Pintozzi

Instructor (Back End)

Hailing from just outside of Chicago, Erin hates failed integration tests almost as much as she hates snow. Always one to seek out new adventures, she found herself more excited by the work the software developers were doing on the projects she managed, and decided to move her family out to Colorado to attend Turing. After graduating in 2017, she took off to LA where she worked at a startup that was acquired by the largest legal software firm in Canada. After years of mentoring Turing students, she found her way back to Turing as an instructor. She’s fueled by the love of helping others learn new things, and has proven time and time again that she’s comfortable with challenges that others may balk at. Like how she used to race boats even though she doesn’t know how to swim.

Heather Faerber

Heather Faerber

Instructor (Front End)

Heather graduated from the 1908 Front End cohort. In the time between graduating and weaseling her way back into Turing as an instructor, she had a blast as a Salesforce Developer at Slalom Consulting, alongside several other talented Turing grads. Pre-Turing, Heather briefly taught high school Spanish before spending 10ish years teaching adulting, job, and communication skills as a manager in downtown Denver hotels. She is thrilled to use her time and talents to help Turing live out its mission by helping the students build their futures as capable, confident developers. She is very nice but does feel compelled to confess that she doesn't really like dogs that much, or cats. Please don't hold that against her.

Jamison Ordway

Jamison Ordway

Instructor (Back End)

Before joining Turing, Jamison was a full stack software engineer at User Interviews, whose mission is to help teams discover and embrace user insights. In the role prior to that they focused on Back End development, and have a strong background in Ruby on Rails and JavaScript. Jamison chose coding as a career because they want to influence the ways tech shapes our society. Their experience as a music instructor also helps with teaching code. Finding creative ways to demonstrate technical concepts is one of their focus areas. Outside of work, Jamison enjoys playing music, gardening, and playing both video and tabletop games.

Jeff Casimir

Jeff Casimir

Executive Director

Jeff is an experienced educator who now focuses on helping the Turing staff and students do their best work, see possibilities they might have missed, and become the people they want to be.

Jeremiah Black

Jeremiah Black

Associate Instructor (Front End)

Jeremiah graduated from Turing with the 2003 Front End cohort in September, 2020. He was born and raised on Denver's East Side, and graduated from Denver East High School. Before Turing, he worked in hospitality, which consisted of a little bit of everything "front of house" in restaurants and bars. In college he studied English at Adams State University - and maintains creative writing as his most favorite hobby. His goal is to help his students become amazing and confident developers.

Juliet Eyraud

Juliet Eyraud

Associate Instructor (Back End)

Juliet discovered her love for teaching programming at an adult education center in Portland, ME. She taught introductory coding classes to refugees from all over the world, which helped her learn how to say “algorithm” in several different languages. Since then, she has worked in refugee resettlement, elementary & higher education, and software consulting. Before joining Turing, Juliet was a trainer in a global training program for new technologists at a software consultancy, where she taught folks all over the US and Latin America. She loves working with students to help them overcome their imposter syndrome and begin to define their identities as technologists. Outside of Turing, Juliet enjoys biking, tap dancing and learning languages.

Justin Domingus

Justin Domingus

Technical Systems Administrator

Justin has spent most of his career as a DevOps Engineer and has always had a passion for helping people with technology. He has worked at small startups, large enterprises, and published a book on building and running cloud-native applications. Before working in the software industry Justin served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay working with beekeepers and farmers. Before that he worked in TV and Radio Broadcasting. Justin lives in a wetland forest in Washington state with his wife, best friend, and Turing alum Adrienne, along with a cat, several chickens, and a few beehives. They enjoy growing food, learning about plants and trees, and sharing meals with friends and family.

Kat Brandt

Kat Brandt

Assistant Instructor (Back End)

Kat worked as a financial aid officer in various colleges around Colorado before attending the backend program at Turing in 2018. After graduation, she went to work for the Nordstrom engineering department as a Full Stack Developer. Soon after, she made the move into teaching software development where she could combine her love for coding with her passion for helping students. In addition to teaching software, Kat ran a health coaching practice for two years, helping others improve their lives through nutrition and self-care programs. When not teaching, she loves hanging out with her three kids, coaching soccer, and taking tap dance classes.

Kayla Gordon

Kayla Gordon

Senior Instructor (Front End)

Prior to attending Turing as a student, Kayla was an educator in Denver Public Schools. After completing Turing, she worked as a Product Support Engineer. Her experience teaching people to conquer intimidating topics, like high school math, helps Kayla in her job as an instructor. She believes that everyone is capable of learning, and is passionate about empowering people with skills that they thought were unattainable. She views programming as a creative outlet, and also enjoys expressing her creativity through all kinds of craft projects, including cross-stitching, sewing, and weaving.

Launa Gardner

Launa Gardner

Growth Recruitment Coordinator

Having cultivated a decade of experience in various higher education functions, Launa is thrilled to engage with prospective students at Turing School. Her wide experience in academics and operations will lend Turing a genuine perspective in assisting the needs of its learners. She strives for positive outcomes and measurable results. In her downtime, you can usually find Launa creating art and spending time with loved ones, especially her Boston Terrier named Jimmy!

Megan McMahon

Megan McMahon

Instructor (Back End)

Before Turing, Megan worked for Elsmere Education, where she recruited students into an online Master of Legal Studies program for the University of Oklahoma. Prior to that, she worked in implementation and account management for a SaaS startup providing a Student Information System to small colleges around the country. She ended up choosing programming because she loves solving puzzles and figuring out the most efficient way to achieve a goal. She believes the power of programming is its constantly changing nature, as there are always new tools and conventions coming out to solve ever more challenging problems. When she's not at Turing, she's a summer cyclist, winter skier, and year-round knitter.

Nick Teets

Nick Teets

Instructor (Front End)

Nick Teets is a software developer and musician from Denver, CO. His love for technology stems from his experience creating a multimedia documentary turned non-profit focusing on the underrepresented communities of the Nebraska Sandhills, and would eventually lead him to enroll in the Front End Engineering program at Turing in 2017. After half a decade building software for large corporations and startups alike, he's excited to blend his technical and communications skills and share his experiences with the next generation of software developers.

Nik Seif

Nik Seif

Instructor (Front End)

Before joining Turing, Nik was a full-stack developer at a Silicon Valley startup, where her team created a product for inventors to publish their inventions. She has also volunteered to mentor career changers and women from under-represented communities in San Francisco and Durham. Before joining the tech industry, she worked in the field of architecture. Her design experience paired with her technical skills make her feel like she has unlimited possibilities for creative expression. Nik is passionate about creating learning systems that are accessible to all. In her free time, she loves learning anything new and mentoring women in tech, as well as camping, hiking, reading, and listening to podcasts.

Nikki Diminich

Nikki Diminich

Director of Business Operations

Nikki has spent her career focusing on marketing and media within the food industry. Stepping out of the industry, she is bringing along her passion for collecting data and creating processes for scalable marketing to Turing. Most recently, Nikki spent 5 years helping a local Colorado tea brand grow within the state and beyond. Previously, Nikki managed a video production company in NYC that developed content for media outlets and national brands including The Food Network, Unilever, Tabasco, and Costco. She has a passion for creating the perfect assets, no matter what it takes and is excited to help make sure the world knows about Turing.

Tamika Shipp

Tamika Shipp

Financial Aid Coordinator

Before joining the team at Turing, Tamika worked as an Academic Advisor at a public college in southern Florida. There, she helped students decide which career path they would like to pursue, then develop a plan to reach their academic and career goals. At Turing, she helps students plan for their time at Turing so they can graduate successfully and launch careers in tech. Tamika views technology as one of the most important components of daily life and knows that people who can generate and produce new technologies possess some of the most powerful skills a person can have. Tamika is a military veteran and loves to travel, spend time with her family, and binge Netflix shows. She is a self-proclaimed tomboy and is always down for a game of football or a ride on an ATV.

Travis Rollins

Travis Rollins

Senior Instructor (Front End)

Before Turing, Travis worked as a junior engineer at Spruce Labs, where he was responsible for software scalability, development architecture, dependency management, and cross-browser compatibility issues. Whether it is streamlining a process for a user or giving a user the ability to do something they've never had access to, Travis believes programming is made by people for people. He loves solving problems and creating experiences that provide a better experience for others, and as a result, programming is a natural fit for him. His skills in team building, organization, and software development help build the community at Turing. When he's not at Turing, he enjoys producing hip-hop beats, eating great food, and playing video games.

Zoe Farrell

Zoe Farrell

Associate Instructor, Launch

Zoe discovered her love of coding in college where she studied computer science, statistics, and educational studies. She then began her career as a full-stack software engineer and worked at two different start-ups in New York City. While working as an engineer, Zoe sought out any opportunity to teach! This led her to volunteer with 10 different organizations including Girls Who Code, Break Through Tech, and Code.org. Eventually, the pull to teaching became too strong and she transitioned to teaching full-time, first at General Assembly and now at Turing. Zoe strives to empower her students with the right amount of support so they can come to their own conclusions and light bulb moments. When not teaching, Zoe can be found biking, playing pickleball, dork dancing, or trying out a new craft!

Board Team

Our Board is made up of recognized leaders in software development, business and education.

Kareem Grant

Kareem Grant

Treasurer

A former management consultant and investment banker, Kareem began his software development career after completing a software development program in 2013. Kareem is passionate about building software and sharing his knowledge of programming. In the past, he served as the lead instructor for CodeNow; a non-profit focused on introducing underrepresented youth to coding. His specialties include product development, strategy, data analysis, and team-building. Kareem is currently a lead product manager for a blockchain startup in NYC.

Neal Sales-Griffin

Neal Sales-Griffin

Vice Chairman of the Board

Neal works as the CEO of CodeNow, a nationally recognized non-profit organization working to expose high school students to programming. Neal was a part of launching the accelerated software training industry, co-founding The Starter League in 2011 and running the organization through acquisition in 2016. For Turing, Neal leverages his deep connections to the tech education industry along with the perspective of an entrepreneur to help our continued growth.

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