Staff Bloggers
AMS has a dedicated team of staff bloggers, all with different areas of expertise, who are on the leading-edge of topics and conversation related to the industries we touch. We’ve compiled a team of customer service, industry relations, engineering, legislative liaisons, and public information specialists who are continuously scouring the internet for issues, trends, studies, and topics of interest to our readers. In addition to staff bloggers, we’re pleased to provide a forum for guest contributors.
Kathleen Brown
Kathleen Brown has 20 year of experience as a communications professional, including 11 marketing to the corrections and law enforcement industries. Brown first joined AMS in 2000 as an independent consultant to help the board of directors build private equity to fund final R&D and product launch of the first generation of SCRAM, then joined the staff full-time in 2004. She has worked extensively with the news media as a resource for data, studies, and top experts on issues related to community corrections, monitoring technologies, drunk driving, and other alcohol-related crime. Today she heads up the public relations efforts for AMS. Brown’s previous industry experience includes healthcare and veterinary medicine, toxicology and environmental health, association management, and magazine publishing. Brown is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree in Communications and minors in Journalism and Music Education. A Colorado native, she currently lives with her husband and son in Tucson, Arizona.
Michael Day
Michael Day, MPA, is currently a National Account Manager for AMS, focusing on business in the Western Region. Day holds both a BA in Criminal Justice and an MPA from Seton Hall Univeristy, with a concentration in Public Policy, Leadership, and Governance. Mike held positions in municipal law enforcement in New Jersey prior to receiving his MPA, at which time he joined the Department of Defense. Day joined AMS in 2006 as a data analyst before joining the field team. A native of new Jersey, Day currently resides in Colorado with his wife and daughter.
AJ Gigler
AJ Gigler is director of Product Marketing for Alcohol Monitoring Systems. Gigler has been providing offender supervision solutions to the criminal justice industry for the last ten years. With a background based in the rehabilitative side of offender addiction and recovery, Gigler began his government-focused career in field operations, working directly with offenders, then transitioned to the electronic monitoring and technology components of offender management. A Chicago native, Gigler went on to run one of the country’s largest state level EM service programs, managing sales and marketing of EM and Offender Reentry programs in the Western U.S.
Gigler joined the AMS family in 2009, driving strategic business development programs. Gigler holds a Bachelor of Science in education, with an emphasis in family and individual development, from Northern Illinois University. A recreational musician, he now resides with his wife and daughter in Denver.
Jeff Hawthorne
Jeff Hawthorne is the chief technology officer for AMS, and most importantly, is the founder of our company and the co-inventor of SCRAM transdermal alcohol monitoring technology. Hawthorne has more than 20 years of experience in electrical design and project management, with a special emphasis in microprocessor and digital control systems. Formerly director of Engineering at TransLogic, a multinational remote vehicle design firm, he oversaw the development, manufacture, and installation of $65 million in products annually. Hawthorne has participated in several US and foreign patents. Hawthorne has made AMS a family affair. His wife, Liz, and son, Jason, both work as part of our extensive customer service team. Hawthorne has four children and resides outside Denver, Colorado.
John Hennessey
John Hennessey is vice president of Strategic Accounts for Alcohol Monitoring Systems. Hennessey has 15 years of experience working within the criminal justice system, specializing in working closely with county, state, and federal agencies to identify their needs and deliver technology-based solutions to help meet those needs. John has extensive experience in marketing and promoting advanced technologies and supervision solutions for accounts around the world.
Mindy Huddleston
Mindy Huddleston joined AMS as part of the Industry Relations team in 2012. Previously, she was the president of Crux Consulting Group, a Washington, D.C.-based agency specializing in government relations, marketing, and project management. Huddleston’s career spans work with several notable organizations, including the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, the National Crime Prevention Council, the International Institute for Alcohol Awareness, and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. Huddleston earned her MBA with a marketing concentration from The George Washington University and a BS in International Business/Marketing with a minor in Psychology from The American University. She contributes On the Hill and other special interest, legislative, and government interest content for Sobering Up.
Mike Iiams
Mike Iiams first became involved as an investor in Alcohol Monitoring Systems in 1998, when AMS was a start-up company in the early R&D stages of SCRAM development. He joined the Board of Directors and became chairman in 1999, then assumed day-to-day operations as CEO of AMS in 2002.
Through his tenure at AMS, Iiams has become a noted expert on issues such as electronic monitoring, alternative sentencing, and the issues facing law enforcement, corrections, and law makers when it comes to dealing with the epidemic issues related to alcohol and crime. He is a frequent presenter for organizations such as the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, the American Probation and Parole Association, the National Law Enforcement Corrections Technology Center (a program of the National Institute of Justice), the Century Council, the National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime, and state Legislatures.
His industry background includes 15 years as a senior executive with JD Edwards & company, a multinational software solutions company, as well as many years in oil and gas. A graduate of the business school at the University of Colorado, Iiams’ has served on the board of a number of organizations, including 10 years on the board, including the role of chairman, at Easter Seals of Colorado. An avid cyclist and skier, he resides in the Denver area with his wife and two daughters.
Matthew Mitchell
Matthew Mitchell is director of Industry Relations for AMS, focusing on working with Federal, state, and local level agencies and organizations on developing strategic relationships and driving awareness of transdermal alcohol monitoring throughout the corrections industry. Mitchell works with legislative bodies on researching and developing new alcohol-and-crime related legislation and building relationships with key stakeholders within the government, academic, research, and special interest organizations that focus on drunk driving, alcohol and crime, and technology solutions.
Mitchell began his career in Cook County, IL, first in the Juvenile Probation Department, then working for seven years as an Intensive Probation Supervision Officer. He also worked as the supervisor of an Electronic Monitoring Unit and ultimately the Training Division. He also worked State of Colorado’s 2nd Judicial District Probation Department as a drug court officer and a drug court program supervisor.
A Chicago native, Mitchell is a graduate of Cornell College of Iowa, with a BA in Sociology and Anthropology, and he holds a Master’s of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati. He is an avid Bears fan, but we don’t hold that against him.
Lou Sugo
Lou Sugo is vice president of Marketing for AMS and has been with the company as a top executive in both sales and marketing since 2004. In addition to driving the company’s product-branding strategy, lead-generation activities, and industry-relations initiatives, Sugo is responsible for working with courts and ancillary agencies to develop criteria-based, alcohol monitoring programs utilizing the SCRAMx technology. Before joining AMS, Sugo had 18 years of experience as a senior marketing manager with J.D. Edwards & Company, a Colorado-based enterprise software company, and other software firms focused on the automotive industry. Sugo lives in Littleton, Colorado, with his wife, Chris, and their three children.
Shea Tuller
Shea Tuller’s background in criminal justice began with his work as an intern, and eventually the Compliance Officer, for the Payne County, Oklahoma, Drug Court Program. With his focus on managing a caseload of drug- and alcohol-dependent offenders, he began working with SCRAMx technology in 2006 as a tool to enforce sobriety. In 2008, AMS asked Tuller to oversee operations for Continuous Alcohol Monitoring of Oklahoma (CAMO), a field office for AMS. Since then he has continued his work as part of the AMS Field Operations Team in a variety of technical and sales roles, including data analyst, corporate instructor, and account manager. In 2012 Shea agreed to jump across the pond and become our chief project officer for the United Kingdom, managing oversight of a number of SCRAMx pilot programs in both Scotland and Great Britain. Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuller has traded his cowboy boots for rain boots, and he’s working closely with UK authorities in order to identify both social and criminal justice opportunities for SCRAMx and to assist with the technical implementation of SCRAMx on an international scale. Tuller graduated Magna Cum Laude from Oklahoma State University with a degree in psychology and criminology.
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