The Team
The staff at PersonnelPlus is comprised of highly capable and nationally recognized individuals who combined serve the Athens County Board of DD in assisting individuals in securing employment in the Athens area. It is their mission to diversify the business community and enhance the lives of the individuals they serve.
Douglas Mitchell, Director
Mitchell was promoted to program director in 2002 after serving as Job Developer for PersonnelPlus, an affiliate of Atco. In 2003 he was recognized nationally as well as statewide by the Association for Persons in Supportive Employment (APSE) as Professional of the Year. Mitchell has been instrumental in reorganizing the program to better serve the needs of the Athens area business community. The program earned the prestigious title of Best Practices for all 88 counties in the state of Ohio in 2004.
Steven Koch, Habilitation Specialist
Koch started working for the Athens County Board of MR/DD in April of 1987 as a Job Coach teaching individuals with disabilities lawn maintenance skills. He has also worked as a Workshop Specialist assisting individuals in the workshop with work and social skills. Since 1991, Koch has been working as a Plan Coordinator/Habilitation Specialist. He coordinates services and supports for individuals receiving adult services through community employment, human awareness, community inclusion and transportation. Koch is one of two staff members who work with the PersonnelPlus Consumer Advisory Council. He also facilitates the Peer-to-Peer sub-committee on Self-Determination. Koch was honored by APSE in 2005 as the State of Ohio recipient for Professional of the Year.
Craig Browne, Habilitation Specialist
Craig Browne has been with ATCO for 26 years as a Vocational Evaluator, Production Supervisor and now as a member of the ATCO Adult Services team. His role involves assisting individuals in discovering, trying out and adjusting to all types of Community Employment. Brown was part of the original ATCO Job Placement Services and now works daily with PersonnelPlus to ensure the best community based employment services to all individuals served.
Michael Beaver, Job Developer
Mike has 25 years experience working with people with disabilities in a variety of positions. As a QMRP, Mike was involved in case management activities for people with disabilities, as Assistant Program Director Mike was responsible for residential, recreational, medical and workshop oversight, as Operations Director Mike was responsible for a $32 million dollar budget that included the supervision of business office, payroll, transportation, grounds keeping, laundry, food service, medical records, maintenance, police department and MUI investigation.
Stephanie Howell, Training Coordinator
Stephanie Sharp-Howell came to PersonnelPlus as the Training Coordinator in 2008 after more than fifteen years experience in corporate training, quality assurance and management. As Quality Manager for Baxter Healthcare, Stephanie performed audits and prepared medical facilities for FDA and EMEA (European Medicines Evaluation Agency) audits while developing corrective and preventative plans of action. As Corporate Trainer for McBee Systems, Inc., Stephanie designed training programs for McBee and its parent company, Deluxe Corporation. She facilitated five-week training courses in call centers and sales offices across the U.S. Stephanie has adapted her experiences from the private sector and applied new and innovative programs at PersonnelPlus. As a result, Stephanie was awarded the Ohio Professional of the Year Award by APSE (Association of Persons in Supported Employment) in 2009.
Lavonna Laughlin, Sampling Coordinator 
Lavonna’s previous work experience includes Athens County Children Services in the Family Support Unit, Tri-County Adult Career Center as an Assessment Coordinator and McBee Systems as a Project Manager. She has 25 years of customer service experience and is looking forward to working with individuals and area businesses. “My desire is to maintain and create relationships that will enable us to continually assist individuals with community employment.”
Lavonna lives in Stewart with her husband, Jack, and two children, Faith and Adam.
Chris Stewart, Transition Coordinator 
Chris has experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities from serving in a variety of occupations. Chris holds a BA from the Kentucky Christian University in Christian Education with an emphasis on Communication. Chris has been a youth pastor, young adult pastor and has assisted and pioneered the start of new church plants. Chris has done public speaking at youth conferences nationwide and taught in public schools as a tutor for at-risk students. Chris has also worked as a high school intervention specialist.
Chris is married and the father of two children. He is very involved in the Athens community, serving on the Athens Sandlot Board, and coaching baseball, basketball and football.
Celeste Salzman, Lead Job Trainer
Salzman has been with the Atco community employment program for 15 years. In 2000 Celeste received the APSE Professional of the Year award for the state of Ohio as well as nationally. Salzman works as a PersonnelPlus Job Trainer, and is exceptional at adaptive measures in the workplace for individuals with disabilities.
Karen Hynes, Secretary
Karen joined the PersonnelPlus team at the end of July 2008, having previously worked for Athens County Children Services for more than 12 years as an Ongoing Services Secretary. Karen has an extensive background in customer services and in working with people from diverse backgrounds. Karen is an Athens County native, having graduated from Athens High School and attended Hocking College.
Missy Payne, Job Trainer
Missy has worked in a variety of capacities, including customer service and sales for employers such as Big Bear, Walmart and Family Works. Missy served as Parent Coordinator at Athens County Children Services and worked as a receptionist for SEPAN. She was a member of CHEERS for four years and belonged to ACTIVE, which was a group working towards making Athens more accessible for the developmentally disabled. Missy has three children. Adam is a sophomore at Ohio State majoring in Political Science. Garet is a freshman at Athens High School and Dru is a 6th-grader at West Elementary. Missy’s two youngest boys are autistic. They attended and benefited greatly from Beacon’s integrated pre-school and Early Intervention programs. She has been invited to speak to OU student groups regarding the nature of her sons’ disabilities. Missy brings a tremendous amount of experience to the Job Trainer position.
Amanda Bice, Job Trainer
Amanda is a 2005 graduate of Miller High School and a 2008 graduate of Ohio University with Bachelor of Arts in Social Work with a Minor in Psychology.
Amanda has been employed with PersonnelPlus since June 2009. She is also the site supervisor for three workers with disabilities at Appalachian Behavioral Health.
Amanda Currently lives in New Straitsville with husband Ryan and son Zander – with baby on the way!
Kelly Shaw, Job Trainer
Kelly is a graduate of Ohio University with a Bachelors in Specialized Studies. Kelly has expanded education in sign language and has taught classes in Sign Language and Deaf Culture. Kelly has also participated in many conferences and workshops regarding Autism and support groups of parents of children with Autism.
Kelly states her passion is working with those with developmental disabilities and helping them excel.