Daryl Conner, MPS Meritus, CMCG has been devoted to making dogs and cats more comfortable and beautiful for 40 years. You can find her happily working at FairWinds Grooming Studio with her daughter or typing away at her latest grooming-related article. Daryl was awarded both a Cardinal Crystal Award and Barkleigh Honors Award for journalism. She shares her meadow-hugged antique Maine farmhouse with her practically perfect husband and a lot of animals.
Vice President of Paragon Groomer Education & Training
Lorri Keller started her career as a successful graduate of the Paragon School in 1992. She has a wealth of experience under her belt as a home groomer, grooming for a major corporation where she went on to become a salon manager and later a regional manager where she was responsible for the growth of over a dozen grooming departments in the midwest. Lorri went on to become a lead trainer and personnel director for the Paragon School. She is an IPG Certified Master Groomer and an awarding winning contest stylist. Her specialties are; terrier and sporting dogs styling, breed profile trimming, speed, efficiency, safety, and operational management.
Michelle Knowles, MPAe, ICMG, MAAe, CCe, owner of All Things Paw, and The Herbal Paw Apothecary, has over 34 years of experience as a private and professional pet care provider. Michelle is a Certified Master Groomer and a Master Pet Aesthetician. She has apprenticed, volunteered, worked, owned, and managed salons, kennels, zoos, and veterinary hospitals across the country. Michelle has also trained in Tuscany, Italy in therapeutic work, hand stripping and advanced dermatological care. She was also the North American ISB consultant and rep for a decade. Michelle has broad experience in pet skin and coat care, extensive experience with fear and trauma recovery, elderly pets, and a focus on managing allergic/dermatological disorders. Michelle is certified through NDGAA and IPG, teaches advanced pet aesthetics at The Meditative Grooming Academy, and All Things Paw Academy, mediates on the Master Groomer Council of Best Practices, and is a nationally recognized speaker in her field.
Jennifer Bishop Jenkins has been showing, breeding, and grooming dogs since the early 1980's, while being a career schoolteacher. Jennifer has been a Certified Master Groomer since 1985. In 2014 she opened Love Fur Dogs in Glencoe, Illinois and was soon after named "Best Groomer In Chicagoland" by the Chicago Tribune.
Jennifer's broad background in education, science and history, and the wider world of dogs has given her a strong commitment to making sure each pet is groomed correctly for its natural coat type, often not the case in the unregulated grooming industry. Jennifer has trained hundreds to become groomers, and thousands through her seminars. Groomer Education is her passion and her mission. Learn more at groomersguide.com.
Dave Campanella is a PGC Educator, entertaining seminar speaker, popular podcast guest, and industry columnist. He is Best Shot Pet Products sales and marketing director with over 30 years of pet industry wisdom. He and his wife Tracy co-owned a full-service pet salon and self-wash in Ohio prior to relocating with Best Shot to Kentucky over 17 years ago. Together they enjoy exhibiting at grooming shows, being industry ambassadors, dog breeding and showing Kerry Blue Terriers along with their Samoyed and Lowland Polish Sheepdog at AKC events.
Melissa has over 30 years of experience in the pet industry. Her mastery of grooming techniques has won her numerous awards on a national and international level. She has run multiple businesses, including a fleet of mobile units, a salon that grew into the Paragon School of Pet Grooming, a luxury boarding facility called Whiskers Resort & Pet Spa, and White Dog Enterprises – which created the award-winning books, Notes from the Grooming Table and Theory of 5. She was a member and Team Coordinator of GroomTeam USA and sits on the Board of Directors of that organization. Ms. Verplank is an industry speaker, author, contest grooming judge, and two-time Cardinal Crystal Achievement winner.
Carol has been involved in the pet industry since 1982 in various capacities, including grooming in and owning a busy suburban shop, teaching grooming, working as a product expert for PetEdge, teaching seminars and training dogs. She certified as a Master Groomer with NDGAA in 1990 and as a Certified Pet Dog Trainer in 2007, and she continues to enjoy learning about dogs and grooming on a limited basis in rural Maine.
