About Debt.com

Howard Dvorkin

Founder and Chairman

Howard is a CPA, serial entrepreneur, a two-time author, personal finance contributor to Forbes and Entrepreneur.com, and is the Chairman of Debt.com. His success has allowed him to be interviewed by media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, and virtually every newspaper and TV network in the country. Howard has played an instrumental role in drafting both State and Federal Legislation and is a former consultant to the Board of Directors for the Association of Credit Counseling Professionals as well as the past president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies.

Howard’s passion for entrepreneurial enterprise is only matched by his dedication to giving back to the community. His commitment hit a pinnacle following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in his hometown of Parkland, FL. In response he created Parkland Cares, which provides funding to non-profit mental health organizations as well as serves as a centralized resource to help people get connected with crisis counseling, intervention services, short- and long-term therapy, trauma counseling and more.

Howard graduated from the University of Miami with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from American University. He is currently listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in the Finance Industry and is part of the premier group of CPAs that are recognized with the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation.

Don Silvestri

President

Don has two decades of experience as a senior executive overseeing all areas of marketing, sales, strategic planning, business and product development.

Don ensures that Debt.com is fulfilling its mission of assisting consumers in managing and resolving their debts, providing education and advocacy, and promoting fair and ethical practices within the industry. One main objective is to build alliances and partnerships for Debt.com. He is a passionate and committed leader who is dedicated to helping consumers manage their finances and achieve financial stability. He works tirelessly to promote fair and ethical practices within the industry, and advocates for policies and programs that support the needs of consumers.

Prior to his business life, Don played for NFL teams including the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks. He holds dual degrees in Marketing and Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was an Academic All-American. The Pitt Varsity Letter Club named Don a 2021 Awardee of Distinction, and he was recognized as a Foster Care/Social Services Hero in September 2021 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Patrick Devine

Chief Financial Officer

Patrick is a CPA and finance executive with a proven track record of productive cross functional partnerships delivering results by helping companies transform and grow. He’s worked with 'big four' public accounting firms and private equity firms, as well as family-owned agencies. Some of his more recent accomplishments include bringing TTC Healthcare from a private company to a publicly traded corporation and developing the strategic foundation which helped them grow annual revenue by more than 50 percent post COVID.

He uses his 20 years of experience analyzing companies to evaluate the people behind them and grow companies starting with culture and operational structure. Patrick has delivered winning corporate strategies since the days when he began his career at the auditing group, Price Waterhouse Coopers. It’s Patrick’s goal to bring that kind of growth and efficiency to Debt.com. Understanding the people within the company is his favorite part of the job. It gives him a greater understanding of the moving parts within each department. “To succeed, it’s really looking at the people within the company and saying, ‘these people embody what Debt.com is.’ What qualities do those people have that makes them special? We want to unify them across the board.” Patrick says.

Patrick is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.

Jon Noble

Chief Marketing Officer

Jon is a seasoned marketing executive focusing on the personal finance and debt industries. He oversees all marketing activities throughout Debt.com. His strong understanding of brand development, sales management, and customer service has allowed Debt.com to become one of the leading organizations in the debt relief industry.

Jon is a Veteran of the United States Air Force and after his service ended, he worked in the bankruptcy industry. He counseled hundreds of Californians in the “bankruptcy capital of the world.” One of his clients was a couple who were both doctors in Malibu and they charged up more than $100,000 on credit cards.

In the 1990’s there were only two debt solution options: bankruptcy and credit counseling. The major problem Jon saw was this couple earned and owned too much for either solution to make sense. That’s when he started making calls to the client’s credit card companies asking them to settle for less than they owed. Jon became one of the first proponents of a new industry called debt settlement.

He felt there was a real need for consumers where it mathematically made sense for the debt they owe and amount they could pay. But like many other financial services, there was many of what he calls “opportunistic posers.”

Jon has always felt it was best to help his clients get the services they actually need.

“I come across advertisers, who promise people services they don’t deliver on. That’s not us,” he says. “These are real people who need real help. This is impacting them financially. It’s better when we give them what’s in their best interest.”

Guillermo Wolf

Marketing Director

Guillermo oversees Debt.com’s digital advertising efforts to drive sales and build brand awareness. This includes developing marketing plans for both the English and Spanish U.S. markets. He has worked in digital marketing for over twenty years.

Before this, Guillermo opened a digital marketing agency in his home country of Venezuela, where he was a pioneer in the industry. Guillermo had some big clients like Bridgestone-Firestone and Chrysler in Venezuela, and helped other non-profit organizations.

Guillermo left for the United States in 2002 and was hired by Debt.com in 2015. He developed online sales and branding strategies for the United States Hispanic market. He also brought with him a critical point of view, that of a debt management client. Guillermo paid off $23,000 of credit card debt with one of Debt.com’s programs.

Guillermo still relishes the feeling of being debt-free. He comes to work every day eager to help clients just like himself. “I identify myself with the purpose of this company,” Wolf says. “The program really works. I recommend it to family members and friends. Everyone deserves financial freedom.”

Dexter Weatherly

Vice President of Business Development

Dexter is uniquely positioned to help Americans get out of debt. That’s because he used to help them get into debt.

Over the last decade, Dexter worked with some of the largest lending companies in the country. The experience gives him the ability to easily distinguish the “good actors from the bad ones.”

As the VP of Business Development, Dexter doesn’t just partner Debt.com with other businesses – he turns down many. Dexter analyzes current trends in the debt industry. He focuses on Debt.com’s customers first and aligns with the right industry players who meet their needs.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad actors in our industry. Many businesses don’t realize that they can be legally liable for referring customers if information is misrepresented,” Dexter says. “When dealing with us, our partners get the best of all worlds. We can handle large volumes while making sure everyone is treated fairly. Our goal is to build long term relationships that allow us and our partners to grow together.”

Before moving to South Florida, Dexter called Georgia the “Peach State” home. Long before going into sales and business development, Dexter worked in the restaurant industry.

As a graduate in culinary arts from the New England Institute of Technology, Dexter turned his focus on opening restaurants and catering businesses. He says those skills have evolved into the career he works in today.

Shannell Martin

Director of Affiliate Marketing

As Director of Affiliate Marketing, Shannell studies market trends and developments in the personal finance sector. She analyzes, plans, executes, and evaluates potential and existing affiliate marketing activities and strategies. Shannell instills in her team that they must be able to communicate the company's message and goals clearly and confidently to affiliates as well as have the ability to think creatively.

With every marketing campaign, you must have the ability to evaluate the results of the strategies that are put in place. This enables you to know what works, and what doesn't and make changes that drive better results. At Debt.com we use various digital tools to monitor, track and optimize our affiliate marketing efforts. A great affiliate marketer must know when to use them and how to effectively evaluate their results. To that end, Shannell works closely with the internal business analyst team to ensure that appropriate metrics are in place to measure performance and progress towards strategic goals. Shannell shared that “the relationships between affiliate marketers and the affiliates matters a great deal. Excellent affiliate marketers must have excellent interpersonal skills, to maintain a good relationship with publishers.”

As a former medical professional and mentor at the Big Brothers Big Sisters Club of Broward County, Shannell brings a remarkable level of empathy and compassion to her work at Debt.com. She wholeheartedly embraces the opportunity to assist people with one of the most crucial aspects of their lives. What she loves about this industry is the ability to make a positive impact on individuals' financial well-being.

After experiencing the world of credit and debt firsthand, Shannell emerged with valuable lessons. Armed with a deep understanding of the importance of finances and credit, she is dedicated to helping others achieve financial freedom. Through her work at Debt.com, Shannell strives to empower individuals and provide them with the tools and knowledge to overcome debt and build a secure financial future.

Michael Koretzky

Editor-in-Chief

Michael is the former editor of Money Talks News and a publisher with the Tribune Media Company. As a professional journalist since 1989, Michael has covered a Democratic and Republican national convention, a couple of Space Shuttle launches, and music festivals in Istanbul and the Cayman Islands. What did they have in common? At some level, they were all about money.

Now he’s a PFE-certified debt management professional who’s cut out the middleman and writes about money for a living. Sometimes this means explaining the difference between DTI and DMP. Other times, it means writing about student loan memes.

Joe Pye

Managing Editor

Joe started writing about debt and personal finance six years ago while attending Florida Atlantic University, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the student-run newspaper, the University Press.

Before graduating with a bachelor's degree in multimedia journalism, Joe placed as a finalist for the Mark of Excellence award by the Society of Professional Journalists Region 3 for feature writing and in-depth reporting. In 2021, Joe earned First Place in the Green Eyeshade awards for “Best Blog” for his side-project BrowardBeer.com.

Joe took a full-time position as an associate editor at Debt.com in 2018 but has since been promoted to Managing Editor.

During his tenure, Joe has become a certified debt management professional who's applied what he's learned to his personal life by paying down more than $22,000 worth of combined credit card, student loan, auto and tax debt in less than two years.