Consultants

Ali, Zain

Zain Ali s founder of Azvantage, and and managing partner for Sunbonn, both internationally recognized professional service providers in areas including learning, consulting and technology for positive impact and measurable results.

Baird, Danny

Program Consultant Dr. Danny Baird, DDS, has a Doctorate in Dental Surgery from Baylor College of Dentistry. He began his dental practice in 1986 and is the founder of PDI’s Dental Assisting program.

Baird, Scott

Scott Baird is a retired firefighter/emergency medical technician, an instructor trainer for the American Heart Association and a hearing and vision screener certified by the Texas State Department of Health Services.

Barrax Moore, S

Shani Barrax Moore is the new Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of North Texas. She also oversees the diversity curriculum at PDI.

Bates, Jana

Jana Bates, SPHR®, has extensive experience in all areas of Human Resource Management including Federal and Labor Law compliance, employee relations, benefits management, wage and salary administration, and training. In her career she has worked in safety and OSHA compliance, quality systems administration, continuous improvement programs, and in project management. She is recently retired from Texas Woman’s University. Jana was voted North Texas Human Resource Professional of the year six times in the last ten years. She was awarded President Emeritus status by North Texas Society of Human Resources.

Belcher, Sanya

Sanya Belcher, bringx with her more than 12 years of multi-specialty experience. She is very knowledgeable in most all medical specialties including Rheumatology, Infusion, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Dermatology, Radiology, Laboratory, Pulmonology and Geriatrics. She has been the Billing and Coding Coordinator for a large physician practice that also includes Internal Medicine for the past ten years. She has also been an Associate Instructor for UNT/PDI for five years. She holds certifications with both PMI and AAPC and is a certified ICD-10 trainer. She is currently training in Risk Adjustment.

Belshaw, Scott

Dr. Scott H Belshaw, Professional Private Investigations Program Executive Director, holds a Ph.D. in Juvenile Criminal Justice and is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of North Texas. He owned a private investigations firm licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety. His primary investigative experience is in criminal investigations. He is an expert in the field of criminal mitigation and investigations.

Bomba, Michael

Michael Bomba currently serves as a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and Logistics at UNT. Over the past two decades, he has led or contributed to approximately 120 funded research or consulting projects, which has included serving as PI or Co-PI on more than $2 million of externally-funded research at UNT.

Edward Ramirez

Edward Ramirez has more than 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and has experience in large and small company settings. For the last 11 years Mr. Ramirez has worked as an Independent Consultant, as Principal/Partner at International Hydrocarbon Ventures, LLC, an Oil Industry management consulting firm representing US and foreign based companies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and a Master of Science in Geophysics from the University of Miami, Florida and is fluent in Spanish and French.

Fite, Jonathon

Jonathon Fite, President of PDI, is also Lecturer at the University of North Texas. He is working with the Dean and others at UNT’s College of Business to develop an Executive Education portfolio focused on operational excellence. He and others with UNT’s College of Public Affairs and Community Service are developing programs for Criminal Justice, Government and Community leaders. Prior to Jonathon’s roles with PDI and UNT, he was a strategy consultant at Accenture. In 2008 he launched a pure pay-for-performance hedge fund which he still manages today. He serves as a Director for the UNT Foundation and for TransAtlantic Petroleum, a NYSE listed oil and gas exploration company based in Dallas.

Hernandez, Rebecca

Rebecca Hernandez holds a Medical Assistant Certification from C-Tech Vocational School in Yuba, CA. She works for Texas Health MedSynergies, LLC, as a medical assistant. She has worked for several other healthcare offices in Texas and California and is proficient in several different scheduling softwares and MS Office. She also has a background in medical record management, phlebotomy, EKG and other administrative skills.

Hewitt, Karen

Karen Hewitt is a UNT graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, and is a Texas Licensed Private Investigator. She spend years as a criminal investigator and as a staff investigator with a civil law firm. She graduated from East Texas Police Academy and has her Basic and Intermediate Peace Officer certificates. She served as President and Chairman of the Board of Texas Association of Licensed Investigators, is a member of the Public Affairs and Community Service board of UNT. She obtained the distinction of Texas Certified Investigator.

Hoffman, Jim

Jim Hoffman is the National Sales Director and Business Development Director for PDI. Jim is author of four programs that he teaches regularly around the US: “Intro to Upstream”,” Land for Non-Landmen”, “Production Operations” and “Oil & Gas Finance – Getting the Non-Financial to the Bottom Line”. His articles have appeared in various industry publications including The Oil & Gas Investor and The Petroleum Accounting and Financial Management Journal. He previously has been Regional Manager, Director and VP of Sales for several oil and gas software and consulting organizations, including Oracle Energy, PwC and Artesia Data Systems, all of whom were recognized as leaders in energy business software.

Hurtado Ramos, T

Teresita Hurtado Ramos is the Assistant Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at UNT, and works with similar programs at PDI.

Jarih, Jafri

Jarih Jafri is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Operational Excellence Leader and instructor at the University of North Texas.

Looney, Don

Don Looney brings over 30 years Supervisory experience in all phases of Finance and Accounting for the Oil and Gas Industry. He is a CPA registered in both Oklahoma and Texas and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Don teaches Petroleum Revenue/Royalty Accounting, Producer Balancing , Gas Plant Accounting and SMOG Analysis and Calculation Workshop PDI’s public National Oil and Gas Revenue Accounting School. He has taught Petroleum Accounting in different countries around the world. Don spent 25 years with Amerada Hess Corporation in several capacities. While managing the Revenue Accounting Department he was responsible for recording all gas, gas plant and oil revenue as well as for the reconciliation and payment of all royalties and the calculation and reporting of lease and well level oil and gas production. Before joining Amerada Hess, Don was an auditor for Cities Service Corporation.

Lopez-Kidwell, V

Dr. Virginie Lopez-Kidwell is an Assistant Professor in the College of Business at the University of North Texas. She teaches at the undergraduate, MBA, doctoral and executive level and offers workshops on topics including Organizational Behaviors, Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Resolution, Negotiation Skills, Power & Influence, and much more.

Loucks, Dave

Dave teaches courses he developed for PDI, including "Financial Reporting in Up-stream" and "Reserves, SMOG & AROs". He has over 20 years of business experience in public accounting and private industry.

Arvind, Mallik

Arvind Mallik is a founding Partner of KMF Investments, a deep-value based investment partnership. He is also a Business Case / Valuation Modeler for the Professional Development Institute at the University of North Texas Prior to founding the Fund, Arvind was a Senior Manager in the Strategy practice of Accenture LLP where he helped global companies formulate and execute strategies to enter new market segments, develop innovative new services and solutions, and reduce their operating costs. He has advised clients in navigating complex change initiatives, including mergers & acquisitions, and business process outsourcing. He brings a strong background in value analysis and improving returns to shareholders. Arvind obtained a BS in Chemical Engineering and BS in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley, and an MS in Chemical Engineering from MIT. He graduated with highest honors from both institutions.

McCauley, Kathryn

Kathryn McCauley has been a PDI Paralegal instructor since 2005, and has been a licensed attorney in the state of Texas for the past 25 years. Ms. McCauley is experienced in litigation, criminal law, and family law, and for 16 years she advised and represented UNT students as the Director of Student Legal Services before retiring in 2016. Ms. McCauley currently lives in Los Angeles, CA., where she enjoys traveling, good books, and the movies.

Moore, Dick

Dick Moore has more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry including jobs in both regulated and unregulated segments of this industry. He has held senior management positions in oil and gas production companies, interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines, gas and electric utilities as well as natural gas gathering, processing and marketing companies. He serves as faculty for the Utility Executive Course at the University of Idaho as well as the Professional Development Institute at the University of North Texas and has been a speaker on energy topics for the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Nowicki, David

Dr. David Nowicki is an Associate Professor at the University of North Texas (UNT) and serves as the Director of its College of Business’ Logistics Center for Education and Research.

Opitz, Robert

Rob is a tax partner with BKD and has 25 years experience serving clients in various oil and gas verticals.

Purser, Libby

Libby Purser, CPC, CMC, CMIS, CMOM, has worked in the healthcare industry for more than 25 years. For the past twenty of those years she has worked as the Billing and Coding Manager for a clinic which consists of 55 plus multi-specialty physicians. As a Certified Healthcare Instructor, she has been the Senior Instructor at the University of North Texas and Professional Development Institute for their Medical Billing Specialist programs for over fifteen years. She formerly owned her own Billing and Consulting firm where her expertise consisted of keeping her clients abreast of the latest coding updates, and government rules and regulations for maximum reimbursement. She has presented seminars to physician groups on numerous billing and coding topics including E & M, Modifiers and Medicare Reimbursement. Prior to working on the physician billing side, she worked on the payer side for a nationally recognized insurance company. She finds her greatest joy in teaching and passing on her knowledge of the billing and coding industry. She also sits on the advisory board for Practice Management Institute and Everest College. She has also been awarded Outstanding Associate Instructor by Practice Management Institute and serves as their Director of Associate Instructor Faculty.

Ramirez, Reynaldo

Reynaldo Ramirez, Jr., has a BBA, MBA, JD., QL TT University of Oxford - Ox Brooks . Mr. Ramirez has taught law, as an adjunct law professor, at Texas Southern University’s law school for years. He has published numerous law review articles, and presented papers for peer review. He is the author of the “Texas Traffic Ticket Dismissal” book, available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. One of his academic articles was recently cited by the Tennessee Supreme Court, in a published state decision regarding effective assistance of counsel. He has been a Chief Prosecutor, a Chief Public Defender, as well as Chief of the Harris County Public Defenders Mental Health Division. He has held the position of corporate counsel for the Texas Mexican Railway, as well as other transportation and fortune 500 companies. He has also represented investigatory and security entities, during his extensive legal career. He currently practices civil and criminal law in Houston, Texas and holds the position of chief counsel to the Mexican American Sheriffs Association in Harris County, Texas.

Randall, Wesley

Dr. Wesley Randall is Dean of the UNT New College in Frisco.

Tapper, Steve

Steve Tapper, owner and manager at Hewitt and Cowden Investigations, Inc., is an instructor with PDI's Certificate in Professional Private Investigations program.

Webb, Terri

Terri Webb, RDA (Registered Dental Assistant), head instructor of PDI’s Dental Assisting program in Corinth, brings 18 years of experience to the program. She attended Northwestern State University.

Weston, Lisa

Dr. Lisa Weston is a Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Logistics Education and Research at the University of North Texas. She is working with PDI with the logistics curriculum as a population and market demand modeler.

Westwood, Dallin

Dallin founded Upstream Tax Consulting, LLC, in 2013. The practice is focused on exploration and production, midstream, and oilfield service companies.

Wolff, Whitney

Dr. Wolff was valedictorian of her Ennis high school class. She went on to obtain her BBA from Baylor University in Waco with Magna Cum Laude honors. She received a Doctorate of Dental Surgery degree from Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas. She has worked in the North Texas area for the past four years.