Meet Our Staff

Greetings! I am Susan Appenzeller, the owner of Elite Vocational and Tutoring Services. I am a proud mother and wife. We have two fantastic sons—and at times I include my husband in that tally saying I have 3 sons to take care of! Family is very important to me.

I am a Michigan native and went to college at the University of Arizona (Go Wildcats!) to obtain my Bachelor’s Degree. I started my vocational career in 1992 as a Job Developer/Job Coach and developed a passion for this line of work—to assist individuals to obtain their personal goals. I love that every day is different and we also get to work with so many personalities which teaches us something new on a daily basis. Even 30 plus years later, there is always something to learn.

Through the years I was promoted to a Program Director position supervising contracted services with Vocational Rehabilitation, the Division of Developmental Disabilities and the Department of Education. In 2010 I opened my first business continuing to do contracted services with the State of Arizona in the areas of vocational and related contracts, tutoring services as well as non-medical caregiving services. I attempted to retire in early 2022 and then decided/realized that just wasn’t for me, and I opened Elite Vocational and Tutoring Services (EVTS) in the summer of 2022.

EVTS offers state-wide services in Arizona. EVTS takes pride in offering quality services to the clients that we serve. We believe in team work with all parties to enable our clients to reach their identified goals. Please contact myself or members of my team if you have questions, would like more information, would like to set up a meeting, etc, etc. We are here for you!

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Hello, my name is Colton Appenzeller, I am the Director of Operations for Elite Vocational and Tutoring Services. I was born and raised in Arizona. Outside of work some of my hobbies include competing/riding horses with my family, snowboarding, and being a huge football fan.

I've been in this line of work since 2018 where I started off as a VR provider in Flagstaff, Arizona as I attended college and have since moved back to Queen Creek, Az where I now work in the corporate office in Gilbert. It is a privilege to help our community with these programs Elite Vocational and Tutoring services provides and seeing our clients succeed within the program(s) they are in. - Colton Appenzeller

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I am a proud wife and a mother to three beautiful children; my family is my everything. When I am not working you will usually find me at a PTO meeting, more than likely organizing an event, or camping with my family. I am passionate about education, and I love being involved in my children’s school and enjoy being out in my community and helping others in any way that I can, especially when it comes to helping others advocate for their children with disabilities.

I started my journey with Individuals with disabilities in 2010 when my oldest daughter was diagnosed with Autism at the age of two years of age. I did everything I could to educate myself and hep her succeed. I became a stay-at-home mother to ensure that she got early intervention and got the therapies she needed. She is now a teenager and has overcome so much and is thriving. I became passionate about helping other parents because I have felt the way most do when they find out their child has a disability, lost, scared, and helpless. I am passionate about the work I do here at EVTS because I get to be an advocate, a job coach, a cheerleader, and so much more every single day.

No matter what my week throws at me, I can assure you I have a positive outcome somewhere during my week and that to me makes everything worth it.

Office: (928) 583-9494
Mobile: (928) 607-0047
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My name is Tara Guerrero, I am a wife, mother of 3 awesome kids and the Vocational and Tutoring Coordinator for Maricopa and Southern AZ counties. I love spending my free time on the road! As a family we stay busy by traveling for baseball tournaments and any chance possible, fitting in a mini family vacation. I began my professional life as a hairstylist. As much as I loved doing hair, I found my passion with Elite!

I have been with Elite for almost 9 years and have loved the opportunities that I have been blessed with while working here. Beginning in 2013 as a Vocational Provider, I was introduced to the disability community. Struggling with anxiety myself, I related more and more with the client's I supported. Transitioning from Vocational Provider to HCBS Coordinator, my desire to help people with disabilities strengthened even more. As HCBS Coordinator I had the opportunity to expand on the services Elite offered, to individuals with Developmental Disabilities.

In an effort to best support our clients and all individuals with disabilities, I attended multiple trainings/classes and eventually became the trainer. As a certified trainer I taught caregivers, providers, family members and many others within the community in learning the rights of people with disabilities, how to better support individuals through challenging behaviors and learning how to help prevent those behaviors. I also taught caregivers how to care for people with different disabilities or diagnosis’s and all in the importance of focusing on the person as a person and not their disability or diagnosis. My favorite moments within my trainings were seeing the light bulb go on when the class, finally understood the main focus of the training, how to see the individual for their strengths and abilities and NOT their disability. In my current role of Vocational and Tutoring Coordinator I am able to put this into practice on a daily basis, by helping our clients to focus on or finding their strengths, abilities and what they can do for the workforce and not what they can't. As I said above, I have found my passion with Elite and that is to help others!

Office: (928) 783-4069
Fax: (928) 783-4313
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Hello, my name is Wendy Goldenbee, I am the Coordinator for Gila, Coconino and Navajo Counties (Northern AZ). I am a proud mother and enjoy spending my time with my daughter.  My Family and I are active in our community doing extra-curricular activities within the school, church, and girl scouts outside of work and school.

I started my career off by doing EMS/ Firefighting before moving into behavioral health and have been working in this field for about 20 years now in different capacities. I have worked with the vocational community for the last 6 years, supporting individuals dealing with different types of complexities and overcoming limitations. I enjoy watching individuals grow and succeed at their goals. 

Office: (928) 970-2656
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