Certified Training Institute

Beginnings

In 1999 Teri Francis started Builders License Training Institute from a desk in her basement. From these humble beginnings, Teri grew a one-woman show into a successful company with over 25 employees.

Certified Training Institute

What We Do

We are dedicated to providing top-quality courses for construction trade professionals across the country. We create courses that fulfill specific licensing requirements and advance the careers of our construction students.

Certified Training Institute

How We Do It

Our in-house licensing experts work with state entities to ensure our courses meet state-requirements and prepare you for exams. Experts from across the country visit our Traverse City office to record courses in our in-house studio.

Meet Our Team

Certified Training Institute

Josh Francis
President/CEO

Josh works with partner universities, industry professionals, and subject matter experts to expand our offerings and maintain our standard of high-quality online training.

Certified Training Institute

Jenny MacDowell
Director of Education

Jenny holds a master’s degree in Education and a Distance Education Certification. She researches, designs, and writes courses for our schools.
Residential Builders License # 2101201664

Certified Training Institute

Sara Chauvette
Director of New Business

Sara holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Marketing. Her primary focuses are looking for new opportunities for growth and managing our marketing, sales, and software development teams.

Certified Training Institute

Kaylee Verhoeven
Customer Service
Real Estate & Pesticide Specialist

Kaylee is one of the charismatic Student Services Representative that you will speak to if you call in with questions on products, services, information on licensing requirements, and suggestions for course selections. Kaylee also leads our real estate school and provides administrative support to our pesticide school.

Certified Training Institute

Cassie Estelle
Education Administrator
Plumbing & Architect Specialist

Cassie is a friendly voice you’ll hear when you call our offices. Aside from providing industry expertise, Cassie is an essential to finding new courses and instructors for our plumbing school. Cassie also leads our construction, plumbing, and architecture schools.

Certified Training Institute

Ellen Musser
Office Administrator
Construction Industry Specialist

Sara holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Marketing. Her primary focuses are looking for new opportunities for growth and managing our marketing, sales, and software development teams.

Certified Training Institute

James Shomin
Director of Sales and Outreach

James handles the day-to-day operations of the sales and registration teams. He develops and distributes new leads, creates quotes for B2B and B2G sales, recruits, hires and trains new employees, and supports the SSR team.

Certified Training Institute

Andrea Lindell
Student Relations Development

Andrea is here to make sure your career stays on track. She can help you determine which license is the best fit for you and ensure that you have the correct training to meet your state’s requirements.

Certified Training Institute

Steve Cerone
Student Relations Development

Steve is here to make sure your career stays on track. He can help you determine which license is the best fit for you and ensure that you have the correct training to meet your state’s requirements.

Certified Training Institute

Heather Eagler
Administration & Submissions

Heather is the person who submits your course results to your state licensing division when necessary. She also answers the phone when you call, helps professionals through the licensing process, answers your emails, and ships your book orders.

Certified Training Institute

Zach Francis
In-House Licensed Builder

Zach provides one-on-one support for contractors across the country. Not sure if you’re quite ready to pass your exam? Sign up for a personalized tutoring session with Zach!

Certified Training Institute

Catherine Paolacci
Video & Audio Editor

Catherine holds a bachelor’s degree in Sound Engineering. Her main focus is editing videos and narrations used in our courses. If you purchase one of our new narrated courses, you may get to hear Catherine’s lovely voice.

Certified Training Institute

Megan Ward
Curriculum Developer

Megan holds a master’s degree in English and Education. She plays an integral part in designing and writing our courses.

Certified Training Institute

Carly Bortz
Writer/Editor

Carly holds a bachelor’s degree of Arts in English. She spends her days designing and writing courses for each of our industries.

Certified Training Institute

Sarah Racine
Horticulture & Pesticide Expert

Sarah holds a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture. She handles the licensing research for the Pesticide Safety school and works with the appropriate state agency to get our courses approved for continuing education credit.

Certified Training Institute

Nate Bortz
Social Media Manager & Content Specialist

Nate is our in-house expert in all things social media. In addition to creating content and posting to our social media pages, Nate answers your questions and writes the majority of the blogs and newsletters we produce.

Certified Training Institute

Nick Walsh
Visual Content Creator

Nick has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in marketing. He influences everything visual about our company. As an integral member of the marketing team, he designs postcards, graphics, and marketing videos.

Certified Training Institute

Alicia Eckert
Analyst & Project Manager

Alicia holds a bachelor’s degree in Arts and Liberal Studies. She helps communication move smoothly between each of our departments and keeps track of all our sales and marketing data. Alicia also has a knack for researching the needs of our students and thinking up new methods, classes, and services to meet those needs.

Certified Training Institute

Cheryl Shomler
Accounts Executive

Cheryl manages our record keeping, accounting, and payroll. She is also responsible for adding products and courses to our web sites and assists us with a variety of assignments, both at home and in the office.

Certified Training Institute

Jason McCaffrey
Senior Web Developer

Jason is our Onsite Web Developer. He is instrumental in keeping our website up and running properly as well as creating new websites for the various industries we serve. He is exceptionally knowledgeable in his field. His past work history with Microsoft has been an invaluable resource for our expanding web presence. He keeps us running like a well-oiled machine!

Certified Training Institute

Ivan Garma
Web Developer

Ivan is responsible for designing, coding, and adding/modifying features to our websites and learning management system, from layout to function and according to specifications based on business requirements. Ivan also performs maintenance of our databases and web servers.