Continuant Leadership  

Continuant founder and CEO Doug Graham, an Oregon native, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a degree in Engineering. After graduation from West Point, Doug entered flight school, graduating in 1982. He served in the U.S. Army for eight years, attaining the rank of Captain. In late 1989, Doug started and operated a small interstate trucking company, which he sold in 1993. He then served as Executive Pastor for a small independent church in Olympia, Washington, for two years. 

In 1996 he started Continuant, then called Telecom Labs, Inc. (TLI), with a mere four people. Since then, it’s grown into a company with more 300 fulltime employees and has broadened its scope beyond the telecom industry. Doug’s leadership has successfully led the company through several paradigm shifts in the everchanging Unified Communications market. 

With a degree in History from the University of Oregon along with a degree in Biblical Studies from Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Oregon, Bruce Shelby began his career in the telecom industry in 1984, holding various positions in sales and sales management. In 1996, Shelby joined Doug Graham in founding the company that would later be known as Continuant: Telecom Labs, Inc. (TLI).   

For the last four decades Bruce has applied his industry experience to propel his sales team to success and is excited about the current direction of his sales team.  By working with clients to design Unified Communications and Pro AV solutions, Bruce feels that his sales team can make the biggest impact he’s seen in his time in our industry.    

Along with heading the Sales Department at Continuant, Bruce is currently a member of the NCU Board of Trustees, the Horizon Christian Schools Advisory Team and the Upward Sports Foundation Advisory Council. 

Rhonda Parmiter is the Chief Customer Officer at Continuant and loves helping people learn, grow, and succeed. She has spent the majority of her career building teams who are focused on creating and delivering a perfect Customer Experience.  Under her leadership, Continuant has earned an 87% Net Promoter score, one of the highest in the industry.   

Prior to joining Continuant in 2000, she held various positions of increasing responsibility for some of the largest retail brands, including Jordache Inc.; Vanity (sportswear); and Natural Wonders, a high-volume retail gift and science store chain—where she held the position of District Manager and ran the highest volume district within the company. 

When she isn't running Continuant’s customer service center, Rhonda also enjoys searching Europe for ancient castles and the perfect glass of wine. 

For the last decade, Debra L. (Debi) Lorge has worked in upper management at Continuant, first as Director of Finance (a position she held for eight years) before becoming the Vice President of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition. Now as Continuant's CFO, she oversees all financial operations throughout Continuant’s various departments. 

Prior to joining Continuant, Debi worked for National Mobile Television, Inc., where she held the position of Chief Financial Officer and Human Resources Capital Director. She also worked at Seattle’s King Broadcasting Company as Business Manager for one of the branches that later became National Mobile Television. 

Debi earned a master's degree in Leadership from the City University Master’s Program and holds degrees in Accounting from Seattle Pacific University. A committed community volunteer, Debi is a sought-after speaker to high school students on the topic of avoiding drug use, and she also volunteers her time and skills to Pierce County Emergency Support and shelter for abused women and children. 

After attending Oregon State University in Corvallis, where he earned a degree in Industrial Engineering and a master's degree in Business Administration, Scott Graham became one of the original four employees of Continuant’s predecessor company, Telecom Labs Inc. (TLI), joining in 1996 as Operations Manager. Prior to joining TLI, Scott was an industrial engineer at Cascade Corporation in Portland, Oregon; and worked for Frametech Inc. of Honolulu as an industrial engineer.  

Today, Scott is part of our leadership team and oversees Design, IT, Architecture and Corporate Systems. A visionary with a proactive yet positive outlook on the future, he represents the kind of person we look to sell our solutions to. Always looking for new systems and technology to make our business better, he’s the kind of leader a CTO should aspire to be. 

As Vice President of Business Development at Continuant, Jon Shelby is responsible for providing executive sales support for large and complex solutions and services as well as building strategic partnerships with large OEM partners and network integrators. Jon is also a part of our product development team in building strategies related to new solutions and services.  Recognizing the importance of Continuant’s reputation for delivering an exceptional customer experience, Jon helps the company’s customer-facing teams understand the competitive landscape. 

Jon Shelby has the distinction of being the first employee hired by Continuant. In his various roles selling products and services, Jon not only helped the company grow, but was also named Account Executive of the Year 12 times and Employee of the Year in 2012. 

Prior to joining Continuant, Jon spent three and a half years in the U.S. Army, serving with the 6th Infantry Division in Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He is also an active volunteer in his community, having spent 15 years with the Albany, Oregon, Boys & Girls Club and 12 years coaching AAU basketball. 

For over a decade, David Ellis has been working to help clients harness the power of creative technology to facilitate communication. From handling complete full-solution discovery for audio, video, and lighting systems to implementation and post-installation support, David and his team have established a global reputation for handling any AVL need from concept to implementation and beyond. 

As the VP of Audio Video, he and his team of AV professionals share a passion for putting technology to work to deliver powerful solutions. Ellis and his team help Continuant deliver comprehensive AV solutions, installation, and post-installation support. 

After immigrating to the United States from Canada, Ellis studied Business Management at Western Governors University.  He spends his free time with his wife, Julia, and enjoys wake surfing, hosting BBQ’s, and traveling abroad. 

Jim Danna brings to Continuant extensive experience in leadership and operations management gained in the public and private sector. He specializes in leading cross functional teams that deliver complex business communications solutions to support Enterprise customers.  

First joining Continuant as Director of Operations, Jim has significantly impacted the company’s engineering, project management, information technology, and service delivery teams. He received a special recognition award for his work as Director in 2015 and has naturally progressed into his current role as Vice President of Operations and Enterprise Engagements.   

Jim received his undergraduate degree from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He also earned a master's in management form University of Maryland and holds two additional master's degrees in Operational Management and Design from the United States Army Command and General Staff College. Jim is a decorated combat infantryman and a proud veteran of the United States Army. 

As Vice President of Business Operations, Bob is responsible for defining Continuant’s product offerings and integrating functions across the company to successfully deliver the business value of those offerings to customers in a profitable fashion. 

A former partner with Accenture, Bob brings more than 30 years of consulting experience to Continuant.  He has delivered complex projects and enterprise-wide programs for numerous Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Expedia, AT&T, Adient, Telus and Ameritech. He has also provided Executive Coaching and Leadership Development for rising executives, and ran a nonprofit organization for seven years called Gloria’s Angels, which organized over 3,000 volunteers to provide support to families battling cancer. 

Bob earned his MBA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1991, and a BS in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1983.  He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving for six years as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot and aviation operations officer with the rank of captain. 

Bob grew up in Tacoma, WA.  For the past three decades, his wife and seven children have also called it home.  He has been very active in his church throughout, serving on its parish council, Marriage Renewal retreat teams and Youth Ministry for the past 20 years. Along with that, he’s a nationally ranked wrestler, has completed a marathon and several half marathons, wrote a column for the Tacoma News Tribune, and has traveled to all fifty states and 22 different countries. 

Debbie Lainfiesta, director of service delivery at Continuant, followed a career path few others have. Coming from a background in sales and technology, she joined Continuant as a Senior Named Account Manager, eventually shifting to manage Service Delivery. She went from getting customers to sign contracts, to making sure the statements in those contracts became a reality. 

Now in her role as director, Debbie oversees a team of service delivery managers and leads, leading them in operationalizing contracts. She helps customers move from service transition to service operations, handling day 2 support. To hear her tell it, her work at Continuant is “compliance driven, customer focused.” 

When not working closely with customers on operationalization, Debbie spends time with her fiancé and her dog, at home or overseas. She loves to cook, is a fan of the Green Bay Packers, and played flanker in rugby for eight years. Oddly enough, her position in rugby was not unlike her current role in Continuant, requiring her to protect her team while always driving to score at the same time. 

Frank Young brings to Continuant more than 26 years in the telecommunications industry. Back in 2005, he started at Continuant as an Account Manager before becoming a customer service manager and eventually assuming his current position as Director of the Customer Experience. 

He’s passionate about the customer experience and leads a well-balanced life in order to make it the best it can be. “If you take good care of your people,” he says, “your people will take good care of your customers.” 

Prior to joining Continuant, Frank worked as Sales Director at Pacific Network Supply, and held the same position at Repeater Technologies. He also worked for Lucent Technologies as an Account Executive and at AT&T Network Systems as a Technical Consultant. 

He earned his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Nevada, followed by a Master’s in Business Administration from Denver University.  

As the Executive Director of Global Business Assurance at Continuant, Dion Hooks is responsible for global sales engineering and design, as well as global program transition engagements for customers. Dion, a 20+ year veteran of the telecommunications industry, has a proven track record of leading cross-divisional teams that manage project, schedule, business, and end-user goals to deliver right-sized solutions for a variety of customers. 

Dion has held various positions throughout his time in the industry, including Director of Global Program Management, System Engineering Manager, Senior Operations Manager and Advanced Network Services Manager. He has more than 15 years of management experience with large telecom companies such as AT&T Wireless, Cingular, and now Continuant. In 2015, Dion was awarded Employee of the Year for his tremendous impact at Continuant. 

As Dion says, “I am passionate about helping our customers improve their business communications and overall efficiency through Continuant Managed Services.” 

Dion and his wife Terry love to take their RV out to camp around Washington. He also enjoys taking his 1962 Chevy Impala out for a cruise in the summer.