Team Bios
W. Brant Howard, Founder, Chairman
W Brant Howard founded CompassTools as a self-funded startup in 1994 (originally named CompassCom) and has grown it into three successful businesses based on GIS, GPS and wireless technology.
Prior to being an entrepreneur, Howard was a hydrogeologist with the United States Geological Survey, Water Resources Division. He supervised well drilling and completion, pump tests and field inventory efforts.
Howard holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Geology with a specialty in hydrology from Indiana University, Bloomington. Howard has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver, teaching in the GIS certificate and Masters program.
Howard makes numerous presentations for seminars and conferences around the world and has authored articles for technical journals on Geology, GIS, QA/QC and fleet management topics. Memberships include GITA, ASPRS, CSIA, APWA, APCO and MAPPS.
Steve Chiles, CEO
Steve Chiles was named CEO of CompassTools in 2004. He has been with the company since its inception in 1994. When CompassCom was split into three sister companies, Chiles took over the CompassTools division, which continued the reseller, trainer, and rentals role of the original CompassCom. Under his watch, CompassTools has expanded to the current eight-state territory it now serves: Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, along with parts of west Texas. He holds a bachelors degree from Memphis State University in business. stevec@compasstoolsinc.com
David Siddle
Regional Sales: Colorado and Wyoming
David Siddle joined the GIS industry in 1996. Transitioning to GIS was easy with his background in Water/waste water, Oil and gas pipeline, plus managing open pit mines / sand and gravel operations. Siddle attended the University of Colorado in geology and business. Currently Siddle is a Regional Sales Manager for CompassTools Inc, based in Centennial, Colorado. davids@compasstoolsinc.com
Brandon Tourtelotte
Regional Sales: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska
Brandon has a background in the world of GIS, satellite imagery, and international geospatial datasets. He is born and raised in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in GIS. Early in his GIS career he performed technical production work and custom cartography. For several years, he sold global GIS datasets to customers around the world. He brings to CompassTools a passion for people, GIS, mapping, and excellent customer service for his territories of Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Nebraska. brandont@compasstoolsinc.com
Ian Reed
Regional Sales: Arizona and New Mexico
Ian Reed Joined the GIS/GPS industry in 2000 doing data collections in all 50 United States and also the islands of Jamaica, US Virgin Islands and Guam. In 2004 Ian moved into sales and became the regional sales manager for New Mexico, Arizona and El Paso, TX. With his background in using the equipment in a wide variety of environments, he can provide a seasoned level of expertise for all his customers. ianr@compasstoolsinc.com
Mandie Boyle
Sales Support Manager
Marketing & Trade Show Coordinator
Mandie is the sales support manager for CompassTools, where she works closely with the regional sales managers and provides customer service. Mandie also coordinates and manages all, trade shows, website and marketing efforts. mboyle@compasstoolsinc.com
Aaron Pollock
Inside Sales Manager/GIS Analyst II
Aaron has contributed to the shipment of more than 4 million square kilometers of post-processed GCPs for clients for their use in the orthorectification of imagery, using Pathfinder Office and Trimble Business Center software. Aaron creates and manages Esri® ArcGIS Shapefiles for project organization and processing. He has a BA in Geography with focus on Urban Planning and Development from the University of Colorado at Denver. aaronp@compasstoolsinc.com
Mitch Tweedy
Technical Support
Mitch is a Certified Trimble trainer on all MGIS equipment and the chief trainer for CompassTools. He also works in technical support, helping customers during every phase of their field data collection projects. Mitch trains customers on both hardware and software and stays up to date on all upgrades. support@compasstoolsinc.com
Melanie Zapata
Rental Manager
Training Coordinator
David Benyamin
David is a Trimble Certified repair technician, in charge of the Repair Center at CompassTools. Compasstools is a Trimble Preferred Service provider for repairs. David earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California. Early in his career David worked in the Aerospace industry in the Space Shuttle program, and later he worked in the Telecommunication industry. David has been repairing Trimble MGIS equipment for five years.
Sarah Wolf
Sarah works as an Accounts Receivable Specialist for CompassTools. She has a Bachelor or Science Degree in Business with an Accounting Specialization from International Business College. Sarah has been with CompassTools since 2004 and handles the placement of orders to our vendors, invoicing our customers and various other accounting functions.
Kathy Davis
Kathy joined CompassTools, Inc in 2004 after 15 years prior accounting with Compass Holdings companies. In addition to maintaining Accounts Receivable, Kathy is responsible for processing commissions and a variety of other interoffice operations. She is headquartered in Indianapolis.
