Meet the trainers

Abel Baños is an international Trainer at Amped Software and collaborates with law enforcement for the restoration and enhancement of videos and images. He joined Amped Software in 2017.

He has a degree in Ing. Multimedia, with 30 years of experience in professional video and audio. As a trainer, he has taught hundreds of professionals and members of Police forces in Spain and LATAM on photo and video editing software. He was a speaker at the SIPDO congress at the University of Salamanca. He has also provided testimony in court as an expert witness. Moreover, he is an author and content producer for LinkedIn Learning. 

He spends his free time in his carpentry workshop creating small furniture.

Andrea is currently a Trainer and a Technical Support Specialist at Amped Software.

Within Amped, Andrea delivers training, both in English and Italian, to Law Enforcement Agencies all over the world. Furthermore, as coordinator of the Technical Support group, he makes sure that users and clients worldwide receive help with the usage of the software and get technical assistance in their forensic cases that involve digital videos and images.

Before joining the Amped Team, he worked for several ICT companies always in technical support, technical sales and sysadmin roles, both in Italy and abroad. He joined the Amped team in 2019.
He is currently enrolled in a B.Sc. in Physics at the University of Trieste.

A keen photographer, he’s always been passionate about this discipline, and particularly interested in all the technical aspects of photography, from optics to image processing.

Blake joined Amped Software in 2019 when the Amped US branch was established. Before he worked for the Plano Police Department, establishing the digital media unit of their Crime Scene Unit. As Amped’s US Operations Director, he ensures users in the US and Canada get the best help and service on a daily basis. 

He is certified as a LEVA Forensic Video Analyst and an IAI Certified Forensic Video Examiner. Before joining Amped, he taught courses with LEVA (Law Enforcement and Emergency Services Video Association) and served on their board. As part of his priority in helping video examiners better understand the scientific workflow of Video Forensics, he currently participates on the Video subcommittee for SWGDE (Scientific Working Group for Digital Evidence) as well as the Video subcommittee at OSAC (Organization of Scientific Area Committees). 

When he isn't working, he is most often found in the garage building a rocket powered by an old arcade machine to save the world from Space Invaders or driving his kids from one practice to another. 
 

Emi is an international Trainer at Amped Software and continues to assist Police forces, the CPS and criminal defense firms with the interpretation of video and audio evidence in court. He joined the Amped team in 2021. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of media and imagery and his CV also includes 10 years of employment as a technical director and senior video editor and engineer for a major international broadcaster based in London. 

He is a LEVA Certified Forensic Video Analyst and a CCTV recovery, enhancement and analysis expert. He has worked as a forensic video/audio analyst and ISO17025 CCTV technical lead for a number of Police forces and leading forensic providers and has also provided testimony in court as an expert witness on several occasions in the southeastern region of the UK. 

When he is not decoding proprietary video or conducting imagery analysis, you will find Emi on a tennis court attempting to be half as good at the sport as his teenage kid. He is also a keen guitar player with a passion for bush flying (and a few PPL hours under his belt).

John Barahona is a Trainer and Technical Support Specialist for the Amped Software US branch and joined the team in 2023. He has a bachelor's degree from DeVry University in Computer Information Systems.

He was a detective with over 27 years in law enforcement having served in the United States Air Force Security Forces, Mesa Arizona Police Department, and retiring with the Arizona Department of Public Safety in 2023. John’s video forensic role started in 2017 when he was selected as the sole video and audio forensic detective for the AZ Department of Public Safety Computer Forensics Unit. He is certified as a LEVA Forensic Video Technician and a GIAC (Global Information Assurance Certification) Certified Forensic Examiner.

When John is not working you can usually find him either enjoying the outdoors with his family as an avid hunter and fisherman or as a BSA (Boy Scouts of America) Scout Leader with his Eagle Scout son.

Massimo Iuliani has been a member of the Amped Software team as a Forensic Analyst and Trainer since September 2023. In 2017, Massimo achieved a Ph.D. in Mathematics focused on image and video authentication topics. Before coming to Amped, he had worked for ten years within the Dept. of Information Engineering of the University of Florence, on research projects funded by the European Commission and DARPA. All projects were related to the authentication and reverse engineering of multimedia content.

He co-authored over 20 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences on multimedia forensics topics.
He has also provided testimony in court as an expert witness in Italy for the analysis and interpretation of image, video, and audio evidence.

Outside the forensic environment, Massimo is a music lover and producer. He is always looking for new links between sounds and feelings.
He supports musicians and songwriters in finding their true sound and bringing their music to light.

Melissa Kimbrell has been a member of the Amped Software team as a Trainer and Technical Support Specialist since May 2022. Before coming to Amped Software, she worked as a Forensic Scientist focusing on Audio/Video Forensics and Photography at The Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory in Austin, Texas, where she still lives.

She has taught the Main FIVE class, both online and in-person, and is always available to help users understand a proper workflow to process their video evidence. Melissa is a member of the Video and Imaging Technology and Analysis Subcommittee of the Digital Multimedia Scientific Area Committee (OSAC). 

In the summer you can find her floating a river or whitewater rafting; in the winter, you can find her on the ski slopes. When she isn't in one of those places, she's doing a Peloton workout or cuddled up with her dogs and her firefighter husband.

Stefano holds a Master's Degree in Computer Engineering from Trieste University following his Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering from Padua University. Stefano joined Amped Software in 2013 and has accumulated ten years of valuable experience at the company. During that time he was active as a Trainer and also contributed as part of the Technical Support team.

He oversees all training-related activities and processes, emphasizing the importance we place on education. His primary responsibility is to ensure that our product training sessions maintain the highest quality standards. Additionally, he recently supervised the launch of the Amped FIVE Certified Examiner certification, leveraging his eight years of experience in delivering training sessions globally to diverse users of all Amped products.

Before taking on this role, Stefano was a software developer with expertise in DVR video decoding and conversion. He was instrumental in managing the conversion engine feature within Amped products, which subsequently evolved into Amped Engine.

When he is not at his desk hacking or coding, he is always occupied with DIY projects, riding his motorcycle, or tinkering with it and other mechanical and electronic objects.