The Center for Professional Development was founded in 1984 by Dr. Marlene Caroselli, who is an internationally recognized author and trainer in communication and leadership growth. Dr. Caroselli is the author of 55 business books (see Amazon.com) and is an international keynote speaker and corporate trainer for Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, educational institutions, and professional organizations. She contributes frequently to a number of well-known publications (among them Stephen Covey's Excellence publications and the National Business Employment Weekly).

The director of the Center for Professional Development is Bruno Petrauskas, who is an experienced technical communicator and trainer in a variety of communication disciplines. For the past 25 years, Bruno has written product user manuals, software reference guides, and quick-start guides, and developed on-line Help systems and technical training materials. He is the author of articles published in Perspectives in Software Documentation and online publications. During this period he has also presented papers at Society for Technical Communication conferences, developed and conducted training classes, made sales presentations for software products, and taught German in high school.

Bruno has a Masters Degree in Counselor Education from the State University of New York. He has served in corporate management roles and held the offices of Vice-President and President of the Rochester chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. Recently he completed 10 years of service on the Board of Directors of a community-development federal credit union.