OUR VALUABLE TEAM MEMBERS
Derek Wall
Executive Director
- 919.459.4045
- [email protected]
Derek Wall, a local entrepreneur, re-joined the Triangle Aquatic Center in the fourth quarter of 2022. Derek has spent
the past decade building a local pool management and staffing company, which he recently has sold in order to oversee the TAC TITANS and TAC business operations. Prior to his stint in pool management, Derek served as the Operations Director of
TAC and was instrumental in the founding of the TAC TITANS USA Swimming team program. Derek graduated from Campbell University with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Marketing.
Derek lives in Apex, NC with his wife, Ashley Twichell, who is a multiple time world champion open water swimmer. When
Ashley qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she became the oldest rookie swimmer to do so since the early 1900s.
Ashley and Derek have recently welcomed their first child, Lochlan William Wall.
Derek’s “Gold Medal Promise” is sure to find its way into the hearts of all TAC employees, TITANS coaches and our
numerous aquatic constituents. Please stop by and say hello; there is always time to hear form our customers when in the
pursuit of excellence!
Derek Wall
Executive Director
- 919.459.4045 x226
- [email protected]
Derek Wall, a local entrepreneur, re-joined the Triangle Aquatic Center in the fourth quarter of 2022. Derek has spent
the past decade building a local pool management and staffing company, which he recently has sold in order to oversee
all programming and operations at TAC. Prior to his stint in pool management, Derek served as the Operations Director of
TAC and was instrumental in the founding of the TAC TITANS USA Swimming team program. Derek graduated from Campbell
University with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Marketing.
Derek lives in Apex, NC with his wife, Ashley Twichell, who is a multiple time world champion open water swimmer. When
Ashley qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she became the oldest rookie swimmer to do so since the early 1900s.
Ashley and Derek have recently welcomed their first child, Lochlan William Wall.
Derek’s “Gold Medal Promise” is sure to find its way into the hearts of all TAC employees, TITANS coaches and our
numerous aquatic constituents. Please stop by and say hello; there is always time to hear form our customers when in the
pursuit of excellence!
Mark Frank
Director of Operations
- 919.459.4045 x234
- [email protected]
Tiffany Miller
Finance Director
- 919.459.4045 x233
- [email protected]
Tiffany joined the TAC in September 2018. She is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in North Carolina and comes to
us from the service industry where she oversaw all accounting, financial and HR functions of several commonly owned
businesses.
Tiffany graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelors degree in Economics and a
Masters degree in Accounting. She is a native North Carolinian living in Raleigh with her children and yellow lab,
Hazel. She enjoys staying active and has aspirations of joining the TITANS Masters team. Stay tuned!!
Bruce Marchionda
TITANS Swim Team / Head Coach
Bruce begins his first season with the TAC Titans. He brings with him over twenty-nine of coaching experience at the
collegiate, prep school, and club levels. He has already had a major impact on the Titan swim program including creating
a 15:1 swimmer to coach ratio and creating an environment that is conducive to great swimming.
Some of Bruce’s recent accomplishments include; qualifying two swimmers for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio Brazil,
qualifying two swimmers for the 2015 World University Games, produced 2014 American Record holder, 2013 World Record
Holder, 2013 SC USA National Champion, and 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist. Bruce was on the USA coaching staff for both the
2012 and 2014 SC World Championships. He was recognized by the American Swimming Coaches Association as a Coach of
Excellence for the past eight years. He has received Coach of the Year honors eight times from the Atlantic Coast
Conference, Conference USA, and the Sun Belt Conference.
Bruce’s strength is the rapport that he establishes with his student-athletes. This relationship is based on mutual
respect and a coaching philosophy that focuses on the whole person. This approach enables the student-athlete to be
successful in all areas of their lives.
Bruce’s Head Coaching experience began at Norfolk Academy in Norfolk Virginia where his teams won fifteen Virginia
Independent School State Championships. As Head Coach at Clemson University from 1994 – 2002 his team’s set 34 Clemson
University school records, swimmers qualifying for the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, and won the 1997 Women’s Atlantic
Coast Conference Championships. His tenure at Western Kentucky University included placing Claire Donahue on the 2012
USA Olympic Team, establishing 107 Western Kentucky University school records, and an over-all dual meet record of
2018-30-1.
John Payne
TITANS Swim Team / Associate Head Coach / TITANS Masters Head Coach
John “JP” Payne has over 25 years of coaching experience at all levels of competition from the youngest beginner to
elite professional athletes. JP began his coaching career at the Raleigh YMCA in 1988 working with Brooks Teal as an
Assistant Senior Coach and saw immediate success with the team winning the YMCA Men’s National Championship, a team
which included 1996 Olympic gold medalist, David Fox. From there he assumed the Head Senior Coach duties with the Durham
Aquatic Club producing a USA Swimming Junior National Qualifier in his first year. His next coaching step took him to
the New Wave Swim Team, where he served as Head Age Group Coach leading the top 12 and Under group that consisted of
multiple state champions, NC Swimming state record holders, and Top-16 age-group swimmers including future Olympic gold
medalist, Charlie Houchin. John returned to coaching at the Capital Area YMCA as a lead senior coach in 1996, helping
the team win the 1997 Women’s Long Course YMCA National Championship. Following a period of employment in the technology
industry, JP returned to the New Wave Coaching staff in 2009, serving as Head Age Group Coach and site coordinator for
the Optimist site.
JP is also the founder of [iX3]sports which provides him the opportunity to expand his influence through the
professional ranks of the swimming world. Currently, through that platform, he coaches two-time Olympian, Chloe Sutton,
2012 Olympic and 2013 World Championship gold medalist, Charlie Houchin, USA Open Water National Team members Ashley
Twichell and Alex Meyer, who is also a member of the 2014 Pan Pacific Games team and 2014 National Open Water 5K
Champion, and Puerto Rican National Team Member, Christian Bayo.
In addition to having developed a successful swim coaching career, in 2004 JP expanded his application and study of
sports coaching to include soccer, cross country, and triathlon. He helped found the St. Timothy’s School Cross Country
program and coached future state and national record holder, Wesley Frazier. He is a certified coach by both USA Track
and Field and US Youth Soccer. He has also worked with World Champion multi-sport athletes, including World Aquathlon
Champion, Andrew Ferrell.
JP is active with both USA Swimming and NC Swimming . He has worked as a staff member of USA Swimming’s National Open
Water Select (2011-2014) and National Select (2012 & 2013) camps. As a member of the NC Swimming Open Water committee,
he helped to develop the NC Open Water Select Camp and has served as its head coach since its inception.
JP was a letter winner at NC State University and was a member of the 1984 ACC Championship team. Prior to his
collegiate career, he was an All-American Swimmer at the Baylor School, located in Chattanooga, TN. He also competed as
a professional triathlete for six years throughout the US and Canada earning Triathlon Today! magazine All-American
honors and gaining sponsorship from Nike. JP has a B.A. in English and a M.S. in Technical Communication from NC State
University. He lives in Raleigh with his wife and three sons.
Katy Davis
Katy Davis, a local aquatics expert, rejoined the TAC mid first quarter in 2023. Katy has spent the last decade as a leader in the local aquatics field focusing on elevated customer experience, staff retention, exceptional programming, and safety.
As a Cary native, Katy grew up in the swimming world of wake county. She started her swimming journey in TSA summer league at Triangle Swim Club where she swam to the top to become their youngest head coach in team history. Cary Magazine did a focus on this major accomplishment and Katy kept on swimming, teaching, and coaching throughout her college career. After college, Katy taught kindergarten and NCPK for 6 years while also working part time in the swimming world. After deciding to make aquatics her full-time career, she knew it had to start in Cary, NC where she fell in love with swimming. Since returning to the triangle, Katy has grown and thrived in the aquatics field as Operations Manager, Aquatics Manager, Aquatics Director, Regional Manager, and Vice President for local aquatic companies such as TAC, Life Time, and TSA.
Kenneth Tackett
Facility Manager
Kenneth joined the Triangle Aquatic Center in 2021. He was promoted to Facility Manager in June 2022. He had owned a
HVAC company for several years and has worked for Lee Air, Allen Kelly, Costal Mechanical, and Axis Technologies. He has
over 18 years of experience in the field of HVAC. He holds certifications in HVAC, EPA universal 601 refrigeration
license, Tracpipe, and many more.
Kenneth has a degree in applied sciences from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a degree in HVAC from
Vance Granville Community College. He is a native to Durham, NC and is currently living in Stem, NC with his 2
Labradoodles Isabel and Annabelle.
Darria Chance
Programs Manager
Darria joined TAC in October 2019 as a swim instructor. She currently manages the Learn to Swim and private lesson
programs. Darria has 8 years of experience in aquatics as a lifeguard, swim instructor and swim coach.
Ryan Dobrzynski
Customer Service Manager
Ryan Dobrzynski. joined the TAC staff in February of 2022 as a customer service desk attendant, and now is the Customer
Service Manager. He grew up in Minnesota, just south of the Twin Cities. Ryan is a graduate of The Ohio State University
with a degree in Sports Management. He currently residing in the Raleigh area.
Ryan has work experience in a variety of fields. He has around a pool as a lifeguard, on a golf course as part of the
course maintenance crew and has worked at an outdoors center running events for kayaking, fishing, and hiking. Ryan
enjoys staying active and going on hikes all around the area.
Matthew Cardenas
Events Coordinator
Kenneth joined the Triangle Aquatic Center in 2021. He was promoted to Facility Manager in June 2022. He had owned a
HVAC company for several years and has worked for Lee Air, Allen Kelly, Costal Mechanical, and Axis Technologies. He has
over 18 years of experience in the field of HVAC. He holds certifications in HVAC, EPA universal 601 refrigeration
license, Tracpipe, and many more.
Kenneth has a degree in applied sciences from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a degree in HVAC from
Vance Granville Community College. He is a native to Durham, NC and is currently living in Stem, NC with his 2
Labradoodles Isabel and Annabelle.
