Our Leaders

Tom Reidy is Avalon's Founder and President. He has over 25 years of experience in Computing Services, Software Development and Enterprise Consulting and is a company Principal responsible for establishing company strategy, oversight for technology selection, and management of services operations. Reidy's career roles have spanned hands-on programming, design and architecture, project management, operations management, business management, and executive leadership & planning. Before starting Avalon Consulting, Reidy was Partner and Vice President of Emerging Solutions and Technologies for Plano (TX)-based eVerge Group and also previously worked in technology implementation and management capacities as a Partner at CSC and EDS. Reidy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering cum laude from the University of Southern California. He also sits on the Board of Directors of ManeGait Therapeutic Horsemanship.


Casey Green is Avalon's Executive Vice President of Business Development and a company Principal. He has over 23 years of software industry experience and is responsible for overall management of Avalon’s partner selection and relationships, marketing, sales and business development. Under Green’s leadership, Avalon was named Partner of the Year in the America’s for Vignette on three consecutive occasions and Partner of the Year in Avalon’s first year as a MarkLogic partner. Before joining Avalon, Green was a key member of Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) licensing operations at Summit Software, serving as a Territory Sales Executive and ultimately directing all VBA sales activities for the N. American region. Prior to that, Green served as Product Manager at Antares Alliance Group and was responsible for the 1997 rollout of the EdgeworX web application development product which was awarded Best of Comdex. While at Electronic Data Systems from 1988 through 1994, Green held advanced engineer and architect roles in the delivery of enterprise-scale mainframe and client/server implementations. Green graduated with honors in 1988 from the University of Illinois earning a BS in Computer Science Engineering and a minor in Speech Communications.


Tony Jewitt is Avalon's Vice President of Big Data Solutions. He has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, sales and business development within the information technology industry. Prior to joining Avalon, Jewitt was CEO of The Hive Group, a leading data visualization software company, where he led the firm from its start-up phase with three pilot projects to profitability with over 100 major customers. Prior to Hive Group, Jewitt was Senior Vice President of Marketing at InStranet (acquired by Salesforce.com) where he oversaw all areas of product strategy, corporate and product positioning, and managed all corporate-level marketing functions including InStranet's customer advisory board. Prior to InStranet, Jewitt was Group Vice President of Extranet Business Development at Business Objects where he led the company's pioneering work in extranets and e-business. During his tenure with Business Objects, Jewitt grew the extranet division from start-up to over $40m in annual revenues in three years. Before joining Business Objects, he served as Director of Business Development for Oracle Corporation's Education Division and worked as a consultant and systems engineer at EDS. Jewitt holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.


Jeff Nicklas is Director of Finance and Administration for Avalon. He has over 25 years of financial and operational management experience and is responsible for balancing the strategic aspects of Avalon’s growth with tactical operations. Throughout his career, Nicklas has focused on customer operations, financial management, and sales support activity. Before joining Avalon, Nicklas served as vice president of finance and operations of RCL Enterprise Inc, a family-owned a printing and publishing company in the DFW metroplex. With experience serving in a variety of senior management roles, Nicklas is accustomed to optimizing company assets and human resources for high performance results. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Augustana College and an MBA from New Hampshire College.


Scott Blackman manages Avalon’s eLearning Practice. He is responsible for driving Avalon’s software product end user training initiatives. Blackman is focused on enhancing the quality and capabilities of Avalon’s end user training development teams, in addition to developing new business opportunities in the end user training arena. Prior to joining Avalon in 2007, Blackman spent 23 years with JCPenney. His experience in the training arena began as a field trainer with JCPenney, where he provided valuable training and knowledge sharing on corporate-wide buying systems. In addition, Blackman has served as a key member of a team that administered a major corporate initiative to update operations and HR systems, policies and procedures. He has also led a team to develop a HR Communications organization. Blackman has held roles and responsibilities ranging from corporate distance learning instructor to senior project manager for corporate LMS and other HR systems implementations. Blackman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Psychology from George Williams College.


Joe Hilger co-manges Avalon’s Washington DC Practice. He is widely regarded as an expert in implementing Enterprise Content Management and Enterprise Search products. Hilger consults with organizations around the country and has spoken on the effective use of search as well as complex portal implementations at numerous industry conferences. Hilger’s interest in Enterprise Search and Content Management comes from a desire to show his clients how to use both unstructured and semi-structured information to solve complex business problems. Hilger is passionate about helping clients bridge the gap between business needs and technical implementation. He has led numerous high performance professional teams to deliver integrated enterprise application and content management solutions.


Niels Nielsen co-manages Avalon's Washington DC Practice. Nielsen leads delivery to clients in the telecommunications, media, hospitality, government and non-profit sectors, helping enterprises create, secure, manage, find, measure, and use structured and unstructured content. Before joining Avalon, Nielsen was a Managing Consultant at EDS and previously held product management and marketing positions in the publishing industry. He is an honors graduate of Cornell University and holds an MBA from Georgetown University.


Mike Green manages Avalon's Dallas/National Practice. Green has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry and is responsible for managing the daily operations and growth of Avalon’s nationwide team of consultants focused on Search, Content Management and Big Data solutions. Green has experience defining and implementing IT transformation strategies for public and private enterprises in industries including Health Care, Transportation, Manufacturing and Financial Services. He applies his expertise in project leadership and business analysis to ensure that technical projects satisfy business needs. Prior to Avalon, Green was a Principal Consultant with EDS and managed development teams at multiple IT start-ups. Green holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Systems from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the University of North Texas.


Deneena Lanius is Avalon's Enterprise Learning Strategist. She has over 17 years of experience in the analysis, design, development and implementation of corporate training and e-Learning solutions and is responsible for the positioning of the Applied Dynamic e-Learning Processes & Tools (ADEPT) model and other key e-Learning models within Avalon. Lanius' expertise spans a wide range of e-Learning technologies from Learning Management Systems to hands-on practical experience with Web-based Training development tools. Prior to joining Avalon, Lanius held a Senior e-Learning Development role at EDS University. She is a thought leader in the area of e-Learning, having co-authored the Avalon ADEPT model. Lanius has managed implementations and has written governance standards for various organizations who seek to improve their training programs and implement e-Learning technologies. Lanius’s field of study is in Computer Science. She holds multiple certifications, primarily in the discipline of technical training, and is also a member of the ASTD organization.


Sam Mefford is Avalon's Chief Architect, Big Data Solutions. While he primarily helps ensure solid architecture and technical implementation for our most complicated Big Data projects, Mefford is also a passionate advocate for end users and loves creating innovative user experiences such as our Unified Search Platform and mobile faceted search. With over 15 years of experience implementing high-traffic Internet applications, Mefford is responsible for technology direction and enablement within Avalon. Prior to his focus on Big Data, Mefford led Avalon's Enterprise Search Practice, and remains a recognized expert on Enterprise Search technologies. Before joining Avalon, Mefford was a Senior Java Developer and Search Team Lead for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where he architected and implemented the best in modern search capabilities for the international religious institution’s gospel study portal. Prior to that Mefford served as a Chief Architect and Senior Java Consultant at iCentris, Inc. where he used his extensive development skills to create the architecture and all core systems for iCentris’ core product, Esuite. Mefford holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems Management from Brigham Young University. His latest thoughts are often shared on his blog, twitter, and various LinkedIn groups.