Stick, TDCJ #227733
Served almost 12 years on a 45, Stick was released on Mandatory Supervision until he proved to the Texas Parole Board that he was worthy enough to be on regular supervision. He grew up in the oilfield and worked many jobs in the patch, from roustabout, roughneck, driller, and eventually company man for an oil company. Like so many before him, once in prison his wife moved on and divorced him, taking their kids and remarrying.
Paroled in 2002, Stick began the journey back to becoming a normal citizen after the hard goodbye that society had given him upon entering the Texas Prison system. Stick has moved forward and helped many people who have experienced trouble with the law. It has been his understanding that if you help someone it always ends up helping you. With the deck stacked against him by society, Stick, worked and became a successful business owner which helped his community grow. He does not regret his life in the prison system. Instead he looks at it as a series of learning skills helpful in his development as a good citizen.
Mark Treston, MA
Mark Treston has over fifteen years of experience in education management, marketing and regulatory compliance. Having served as department chair for both secondary and postsecondary institutions, he has also been employed as director of a vocational college and CAO of two institutions of higher learning.
Mark has travelled the United States and the world as an education marketing specialists while also volunteering his time in local youth-based after school education facilities. A talented start-up manager, Mark successfully established several colleges and education-based firms, from developing the initial business plans, through navigating the complex requirements of state and federal regulatory bodies. As a regulatory consultant, Mark led numerous schools, colleges, and universities to successful outcomes with a variety of national, regional, and programmatic accreditation agencies.
Mark holds graduates degrees in Political Economy and Education, and serves as a consultant for Education Career Services and Cambridge University Press.
Danny Huffman, MA, CEIP, CPRW, CPCC
An experienced college instructor, program chair, and dean of academic affairs offering over 15 years in the field as an executive in retail/corporate human capital management. His area of expertise within the career management industry has been shared to audiences ranging from 5 to 500 throughout multiple arenas across the United States, including the NCDA, NACE, APSCU, MWACE, SOACE, EACE, and the MPACE Conference as well as having the honor of being a featured guest speaker/trainer at Yale University, Workforce Central Florida, and The Florida Diversity Group, just to name a few.
Danny’s ability to build courses, curriculum, and training guides based upon diverse populations and programs is a commodity academic institutions, non-profits, and communities across the United States are taking advantage of.
Founder and business manager for Education Career Services (ECS), Career Breakout, and 2nd Chance University, Danny bridges the corporate and educational world with one driving force: reducing recidivism through empowerment and employment.
Danny is a professionally certified resume writer, certified employment interview professional, and a certified career coach. He is an active member with the National Resume Writers Association, the Professional Resume Writers Association, and the Career Thought Leaders Group.
Duck
After serving 13 years on a 40, Duck was released on mandatory supervision. His many contributions to the making of our books, workshops, and collateral for Career Breakout and 2nd Chance University was instrumental. Through each page and workshop, his voice will live on.
On parole, Duck passed away prematurely in February, 2015 to an empty room. Though released in 1999, Duck took full advantage of his freedom by earning a college degree and building a new family. He never lived a life in regret; he simply lived each moment of each day eager to make the world a better place and to give the invisible (ex-felon) the tools to succumb beyond their stumble.
A friend for many years, his journey is no different than the thousands of invisible individuals struggling reintegration only to find “walls, bars, and razor wire” are not limited to the inside of prison.
Kelly Byrne, MA
Experienced Entrepreneur who starts companies at grassroots level, hands on initially and develops them into lucrative enterprises in which he initially sells for profit. His 42 years in the business world helped him develop a series of skills, abilities, and business activities; in which critical thinking, complex problem solving, inductive and deductive reasoning, analyzing data, organizing, planning and prioritizing have helped him format the best solutions in order to solve problems in order to become a productive worker, manager, owner, and run successful companies.
His area of expertise in the business world involves a diversification of start-up companies from landscaping, which he started with one client and eventually built his customer base, of residential and commercial properties to over four hundred customers in five years. He also initiated a publishing company in which he wrote technical programs for schools based on the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act. He in time was marketing and selling his books to thousands of schools in Texas. He was brought up in the oilfield and started a rental tool company with one tool and eventually became the biggest distributor/owner of these tools with over six locations in the world. There are many more companies he has started and sold out, just like the ones above, for millions of dollars.
Kelly has a background in market development, communication, and writing. He graduated from the University of Houston Magna Cum Laude and received his Masters Degree in Education. The associations he is currently with are Sigma Tau Delta, Phi Kappa Phi, and Texas Master Gardeners. His published works have been featured in schools across Texas, as well as other publications like the Jewish Voice, Bayou Sphere, Frontier Literary Journal of Fiction, Insiders Anthology of Fiction, Insiders Anthology of Poetry, Goal Post, Louisiana & Texas Gourmet Magazine, and Exegesis Publishing.