Monica Cichowlas

Chairman and Founding Member, Jacksonville, FL

Monica Cichowlas leads an award-winning team in Jacksonville’s customer service center, 630-CITY. The main point of contact for city government, 630-CITY serves more than a million customers annually with a high approval rating. She is a servant leader, passionate about the customer experience and contact center guru.  

Susan Pontarelli

Executive Vice Chairman, Evanston, IL

Sue Pontarelli has worked for the City of Evanston Police Department since 1984 in numerous positions, including Service Desk Officer, Crime Prevention Specialist, 911 Operator and most currently the Supervisor of the 311 Center and Police Service Desk.

On March 1, 2011 the City of Evanston 311 Center was launched. Sue was part of the team that built the Center from the ground up. Sue’s true passion is comedy and loves to do stand-up and performs with several improvisation groups in the Chicago land area. Sue is very excited to be a board member of the AGCCP. Sue is married and lives in Chicago with her husband.

Jenny Jaqua

Vice Chairman, Toledo, OH

Jenny Jaqua has served as the Customer Service Manager for the City of Toledo Public Utilities since 2011. Subscribing to the philosophy that customer service is not the responsibility of a particular unit, rather everyone who comes into contact with a customer, Jennifer has worked diligently to change the culture and level of service provided to customers.

In 2015, she facilitated the merging of the public utilities customer service center with the mayor’s action center for a unified contact center concept. She also administered an aggressive re-branding campaign. In just eight weeks; the two call centers merged, and the Engage Toledo Initiative was launched. The results were a seamless transition to the customer, and a built-in redundancy with triple the workforce available to service the customer. The Engage Toledo Call Center offers citizens a 24/7/365 operation to improve the collection, management, completion and follow-up on citizens’ request for city services. Under her leadership, the City of Toledo launched the Inaugural Engage Toledo Ambassador Academy, earned national recognition for citizen-engagement as the 2017 recipient of the Association of Government Contact Center Professionals (AGCCP) Award of Distinction, and the Public Technology Institute’s Citizen-Engaged Community designation for 2016-2018.

Debra Hudson

Executive Director, Minneapolis, MN

Debra Hudson was hired as a 311 supervisor for the City of Minneapolis in October, 2005. Debra was instrumental in the final preparations required for the launch of Minneapolis 311 in January, 2006. The 311 Call Center is an inbound, single access point for City of Minneapolis information and services via the telephone, email and the web. To 311, Debra has brought her skills in the areas of strategic & organizational planning, process improvement, systems development & deployment and an unwavering focus on quality and on-time deliverables. Before retiring, Debra served as the 311 Operations Manager, responsible for managing daily call center operations with a support staff of three supervisors, two Operations Desk Agents and twenty two call center agents, which has handled over 3 million calls to date. Debra has previously worked with contact centers for Marshall Fields and CIGNA Insurance in the private sector. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and a former longtime Minneapolis resident currently residing in Las Vegas.

Shannon Spivey

Treasurer, Baldwin County, AL

Shannon has worked with the Baldwin County Commission since 2006. She earned her B.S in Marketing from the University of South Alabama after which time, she and her husband were stationed in Germany where she worked for Army Community Service in their Information and Referral Division and in the Relocation Division. Upon returning home, she worked in the funeral service industry for 10 years before deciding to once again join the public service arena. As assistant to the Mayor of Daphne, much of her time was spent helping citizens who had tired of trying to figure out whom to call for help. It was this love of trying to figure out “who does what” that led her to apply for the position of Customer Relationship Manager for the Baldwin County Commission in 2006. As such, she manages their service center, which currently averages 28,000 calls per month and she still spends much of her day gathering information and referring citizens to the appropriate agency or finding an answer to that impossible question. Baldwin County currently uses Lagan CRM software and Siemens OpenScape Contact Center for call routing. She currently manages a staff of 6 fulltime Customer Service Representative and a Knowledgebase/Website coordinator all of whom are working to grow the contact center and the services offered to the citizens of Baldwin County and the 14 municipalities within her borders.

Derek Frizzell

Assistant Treasurer - Chattanooga, TN

Derek currently serves as the Director of 311 Operations for the City of Chattanooga's 311-service center (CHATT311). The City of Chattanooga was one of the first mid size cities to implement a 311 center. CHATT311 opened in 2003 with five employees and currently has twenty employees working over 200K citizen interactions a year.

Derek has been employed with the City of Chattanooga since 2016 working in the Treasury office prior to moving to the 311 center in 2018. He has over twenty years of service center experience with a focus on customer service, billing and finance. Derek previously worked with the Cooperative Response Center in the electric cooperative industry and Unum in the insurance/finance industry prior to coming to the City of Chattanooga. He currently lives in Chattanooga with his wife and two daughters. 

Wendy Urbanic

Communication Specialist, Pittsburgh, PA

Wendy Urbanic started with the City of Pittsburgh in 1999 and was selected to manage the City of Pittsburgh’s 311 Response Center since its inception in 2006. With an acute focus on stellar customer service the center has grown from 3 FT operators to a crew of eleven who have worked in tandem with the Emergency Operations Center when necessary. Pittsburgh’s robust twitter account (@Pgh311) has inspired her interest in social media. Wendy has been a member of the Association of Government Contact Center Professionals since 2007 and has served on the AGCCP board since May of 2012. She has over 25 years of customer service experience in a variety of capacities, including being a utility services advocate for a non-profit, developing and managing a quality assurance center for a Fortune 500 Company, running her own business and serving as an employment services coordinator.

Janet B. Nelson

Historian and Founding Member, Charlotte, NC

Janet’s career encompassed 34 years with the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. From 1974 until 2010, she worked in various departments that included Human Resources, Department of Transportation, Neighborhood Development, Public Service & Information, Customer Service & Information and CharMeck 311. She worked in a number of positions throughout her career but one area stood out more than the others, her passion for training and development in the Customer Service & Information Center as well as CharMeck 311 . It was important to have an outline of what would take place from the beginning when a person was hired. She was instrumental in getting the cross reference keywords developed that are still being used now. As one of the founding members of AGCCE, now AGCCP, she did a lot of research in helping to get the the information needed that would allow the AGCCP to exist today.

Janet retired from CharMeck 311 January, 2010.

Stephanie Brown

Corresponding Secretary, Columbia, MO

Stephanie Brown has worked for the City of Columbia since 2006 when she started with the Solid Waste Division before transferring to the Water and Light Department. She was promoted to the position of Manager of the newly developed Contact Center in 2015. Stephanie has over 20 years of customer service experience from a background in retail management, medical administration, banking and finance. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Columbia College and has a passion for customer engagement, solving issues and finding working solutions to enhance operations. Stephanie is also a certified Service with Principles facilitator through EdTrek and a Diversity and Inclusion Facilitrainer. Stephanie is currently a key player in the completion of transitioning the City of Columbia to one central location for information and services under 874-CITY. She is also working on enhancing both employee and customer engagement by focusing her team on developing as customer service professionals and understanding the concept of customer experience. Her team has recently launched live chat and she is working on enhancing the CRM system for a better user experience and configuring it with a new Citizen Self Service platform. Stephanie joined AGCCP in 2015 and was recently elected to the Board in 2017. She has found that this organization provides great support and real-life, relevant information for anyone involved in a governmental contact or call center. Currently, living in Columbia, MO, Stephanie has one son. She loves traveling and reading…and is looking forward to the next AGCCP Conference!

Yvette Hopson

Assistant Corresponding Secretary, Evanston, IL

Yvette is the Assistant Supervisor for the Evanston 311 Center and Police Service Desk. She began her career at the Evanston Police Department in 2005 and held a variety of roles over the past 16 years. The Evanston community has always been special to her; not just because she is a lifelong resident, but because she enjoys sharing information, connecting with others, and offering assistance. Yvette started as a Service Desk Officer II and worked at the Police Service Desk while also working with prisoners, sworn officers, and community members.  The opportunity for change was presented and she transitioned to the 311 Center as a Service Desk Officer I. She learned a great deal about city government structures and how 311 services can be used to support the community and give access to all city departments. Most importantly, she saw great examples of excellent customer service and best practices for creating positive customer experiences. Her dedication earned her the opportunity to be identified as a leader and as a result was promoted to the Assistant Supervisor for the Evanston 311 Center and Police Service Desk. In this role, Yvette supports an amazing group of personnel that continues to provide quality service, access to resources, and information to the Evanston community and beyond. 

Jody Duncan

Recording Secretary, Louisville, KY

Jody has worked for Metro Louisville for 22 years, in many different capacities. She began her career as a dispatcher with Louisville Fire and Rescue, a firefighter with McMahan Fire, and an EMT with Rural Metro Ambulance. Currently, she is the manager of Metro311 and the acting Public Information Officer and supervisor of the Open Records Department. Jody holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications and currently manages the web content and social media accounts for Emergency Services; which includes MetroSafe 911, Metro311, Emergency Management Agency, and Louisville Metro EMS. 

Valerie Davis

Webmaster - Newport News, VA

Valerie Davis is a Business Analyst for the City of Newport News’ 311. She has been employed with the City since 2013 and has over 25 years of customer service experience through her current and previous job roles. During her time with the City, she has served with both 311 and the Police Department. 

In her current role, she completes configuration and troubleshooting for their Motorola system, updates to the City website for their 311 web page, reporting, staff training, and training for City departments. She also serves on the executive committee for their Motorola CRM.

While being employed with the City, Valerie has found great opportunities to help improve her community and the lives of the citizens by attending City events, City Council, Town Hall, and Neighborhood Watch meetings. There, she has educated citizens on their rights and the programs available to them to help improve their quality of life. She has spoken with women at her local domestic violence shelter and enjoys motivating youth and others to pursue and achieve their goals. 

Valerie enjoys volunteering and served with a transitional home for women and children for 5 years, served as Co-Chair for her local “Reducing Homelessness” initiative, served as a mock interviewer for the Youth Career Expo through the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce for many years, served with Project Homeless Connect, and served with the One City Marathon to name a few. Valerie enjoys what she does each and every day and looks forward to discovering creative and innovative ways to assist citizens and collaborate with other call centers nationwide. 

Valerie is married with three children and holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology with a specialization in web design and e-commerce.

Erin Williams

2023 Conference Chair and Host Nashville, TN

Erin has been in the Nashville Mayor’s Office for 19.5 years, serving five Mayors, primarily focusing on constituent service and neighborhood programming such as trainings and conferences. When they initially were tasked with developing a 311 service, she worked with a team that included the Information Technology Services, department representatives, mayoral staff, council representatives and community members to launch hubNashville on the Salesforce platform in 2017, available by phone, on the website or app. The mission of hubNashville is to provide equitable, efficient access to non-emergency Metro services and information while also providing data to Metro leaders to support data-driven decision making in government. Her role as Director of hubNashville is to support the work of the dedicated teams at the hubNashville contact center and hubSupport, guide the expansion of services offered through hubNashville, align with the priorities of the Mayor and Metro departments to ensure that we are purposeful with data collection, and to work with the departments, residents and visitors we serve to adapt and respond to challenges, needs and opportunities.