Teaching Faculty

Craig Easley—our President & Dean of Academic Affairs, has been a long-term contributor to MEF within the Technical, Marketing and Certification Committees, and has served ten terms on the MEF Board of Directors, as well as Co-Chair of the Marketing and Professional Certification Committees. He has over 20 years of experience in the information technology and telecommunications industries with a number of leading Carrier Ethernet equipment providers, combined with years of classroom training experience formerly running Network General’s “Sniffer University. Craig has been consistently recognized for his many contributions to the work of the MEF, and is recipient of the MEF Outstanding Contributor Award.

David Stewart – CEA Professor graduated from The University of Texas at Austin College of Engineering with a B.S.E.E. in 1983 and has been engaged in networking and telecommunications for over 30 years.  Along the way, he has attained certifications from Novell (CNE), Juniper (JNCIA), VMware (VSP), Bluelock (RaaS Level 1), Cisco (Routing and Switching CCIE# 8912), MEF (CECP 2.0), and Professional Engineering (TX PE# 77985).

Much of Dave’s work experience has been in System and Sales Engineering where he specialized in Ethernet Networking and IP Routing products.  After working for companies such as The University of Texas System, Motorola Inc., Cisco Systems, TW Telecom, and Level 3 Communications.

Tamara (Tammy) Famularo – CEA Professor graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a B.S. in Business in 1986 and an MBA in Technology Management in 2000.  Tammy has 40 years in the telecommunications industry.  Her career has expanded the ILEC, (GTE and Verizon), CLEC, (TW Telecom/Level 3). and the Cable Industry, (Time Warner/Charter).  Tammy’s experience includes hands on cable splicing, line-work and substructure, as well as Central Office and outside plant engineering.  The last 20 years of her career have been spent as a National Engineer supporting companies such as Google, Disney, ESPN and NBC Universal. Tammy’s industry certifications include, Bluelock (Raas), VM ware, SIP School, as well as various Cisco Certifications.

Dana Tarlescu – CEA Professor is involved with the work of the MEF technical committee since 2010. Throughout her 20+ year career in the telecommunications industry, Dana held various positions in equipment design engineering, system engineering and product management, working for Marconi Telecommunications, Tellabs, Simpler Networks and Accedian Networks.

Holding a B.Eng in Computer Engineering, a M.Sc. in Computer Science and an MBA, Dana has always been passionate about teaching. Since joining the CEA in 2013, she has shared her in-depth knowledge of the MEF specifications and her practical experience in implementing them with more than 750 CEA students.

Without a doubt, as a Carrier Ethernet Academy student, you’ll have the unique opportunity to leverage the experience and expertise of these Carrier Ethernet ‘gurus’. To date, the Carrier Ethernet Academy has graduated over 75% of all worldwide MEF-CECPs and our Alumni  include professionals from both equipment vendor and service provider companies.

FACULTY SUPPORT – And at your service!

Marlene Kovac is our Director of Marketing, Administration & Admissions, and has been with CEA since it’s early days. She’s a consistent contributor to MEF and has received MEF’s Active Contributor Award each year since 2013. In her role at CEA, she handles all the administrative, sales, marketing and scheduling activities, and is CEA’s point of contact for all our customers and alumni.

With a 25+ year career in Corporate Marketing, Marlene does not have a technical background, but earned her MEF-CECP certification nonetheless in 2012, shortly after joining CEA. She had no choice. It was a condition for continued employment by CEA! If you ask her, she’ll say no regrets. It was a very proud moment for her, and all of CEA.