The best writing program developed by our team of experts

Pam Hurley, PhD, is the founder and president of Hurley Write, Inc., a certified women-owned small business. Pam started the business for one simple reason: as an academic, she saw her students struggle with their writing. In fact, many of them simply had the attitude that they “couldn’t” write. She knew this wasn’t true but was unsure of how to teach these students anything that would help them, as the textbooks she used certainly weren’t promising.

While in graduate school, Pam was introduced to the concept of readability studies and a lightbulb went off! She knew that these concepts could help her students. And they did. When she started teaching these concepts, students’ writing began to improve, they seemed to struggle less with their writing, and many of them commented on how much easier it was to write.

Pam has been perfecting this notion of readability and applying problem-solving skills to writing and she’s developed a technique that helps professionals solve their writing problems: they write better documents in less time.

MJ Hurley earned his degree in Professional Writing from Virginia Tech, which he attended on a baseball scholarship. He excelled academically while at VT, maintaining a high GPA and making both the Dean’s List and the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. He has a master’s certificate in Strategic Leadership from Michigan State and graduated magna cum laude from VT with a master’s in Instructional Technologies.

In addition to his work with Hurley Write, MJ worked with the Department of Defense where he served as a Human Resources Specialist; during his tenure there, he also worked as an analyst and trainer.

Geoffrey Mazullo is an advisor, analyst, trainer and writer covering environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, focusing on emerging markets. He publishes widely on corporate governance, ESG issues, investor relations and sustainable finance. In addition, he is a trainer for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and United States Department of State.

Elizabeth Pardo is an educator and tutor from southern California. She earned her Master's degree from Long Beach State University in English, with an emphasis on Rhetoric, Writing, and Composition.  

Her approach to education is using effective, simple instructions and examples, so that everyone become better critical thinkers and thereby improve their writing skills.    

Joe Thornton holds a master’s degree in English from Miami University of Ohio. He has taught courses in composition, literature, ESL, and creative writing, with special focus areas in multimodal writing and graphic literature, to students at the collegiate level to as young as five.

John has spent his career in leadership roles in Consumer Insights/Market Research at Bayer Consumer Health and American Express, after starting on the advertising agency side with Publicis (formerly DMB&B).

During his corporate career, John created and led training sessions on Marketing Excellence, Insights Development, Market Research for Marketers, and Coaching and Developing Others. He has also lectured on marketing and marketing research at the University of Virginia, Columbia University, and NYU.

Bob Wiltfong is the lead instructor for Hurley Write's Presentation Skills curriculum. There's a joke by the comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, that really sums up why we teach what we teach in this field. And the joke is that at a funeral, most people would prefer to be the person in the casket than the one giving the eulogy. It's a funny joke in part, because it's true.

For over 20 years, Bob has worked with business executives around the world helping them perfect their speaking skills and become more comfortable and dynamic speakers. You may recognize Bob from The Daily Show or as the national spokesman for Nationwide Insurance.

Jennifer Torkelson, PhD is a published writer and writing, language, and literature instructor with 15 years of teaching experience. She earned her PhD in French and Critical Theory from the University of California, Davis. She has taught courses in business writing, technical writing, research manuscript writing, public speaking, and presentation skills to mid-career professionals. An award-winning lecturer, she also has extensive experience teaching critical thinking, argumentation, and ESL.

Jessica Santina is a freelance writer and editor who has been teaching English, writing, and communications since 2001 in corporate/professional and academic settings. With expertise in commercial, academic, and literary writing, Jessica approaches her instruction with an emphasis on writing that is engaging, precise, clear, and has real-world relevance.

Jessica earned her BA in English from Emory University and her MA in English/Writing from the University of Nevada. Her publishing credits include ghostwritten books and local and regional publications. She is a managing editor with Lucky Bat Books, an independent publishing company managing editor for various magazines. She lives with her family in Nevada.

Jesse Waters brings over 20 years of writing teaching experience to Hurley Write, and believes that careful, precise exploration of writing and communication brings out the best critical thinking skills. Focused upon a student-centered process, Jesse's courses ensure participants learn new strategies to approach their writing tasks.

Jesse’s work, which has appeared nationally and internationally in various journals, has won numerous awards and has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes.