Cantor’s Driving School’s Instructors

Experienced, Knowledgeable, Professional

Cantor’s Driving School instructors are among the best in southern California. All instructors know how teens, adults and seniors learn to drive, so they customize their teaching approaches to their students. All Cantor’s Driving School instructors have clean driving records, child abuse clearances, have passed criminal background checks and been fingerprinted.

Employment for Driving Instructors

Cantor’s Driving School is always looking for good driving instructors. Call us at 310-910-9070 to inquire about current opportunities, or send an email with your resume to cantorsdrivingca@gmail.com.

All Instructors Are California State-Certified

Every Cantor’s Driving School instructor is certified by the State of California after completing a rigorous process, including:

  • Complete and submit various CA DMV forms including Driving School Instructor Occupational Licensing Application and Physician’s Health Report
  • Take and complete a California DMV-approved driving instructor course that includes 40 classroom hours and 20 behind-the-wheel hours
  • Take and pass the California DMV Driving School Instructor Written Examination
  • Fingerprinting – applicants must be fingerprinted by a Department of Justice approved Live Scan electronic fingerprinting service
  • Physician’s Health Report
  • Proof of high school graduation or equivalent

Meet Our Driving Instructors

Hale Gammill, III – Director Of Operations

Hale is a second generation driving school professional. He worked in the family business, Arizona School of Driving (later Sears Arizona School of Driving), based in Phoenix, AZ from 1966-1975. He moved to New Jersey in late 1975 to accept a management position with Taggarts Driving School in New York City. Soon he was promoted to Vice-President of Operations for all of Taggarts Driving Schools in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington DC, West Virginia with franchises in Atlanta and Boston.

In 1978, Hale left Taggarts to purchase Safe-Way School of Driving in the greater Los Angeles, CA area. He acquired Sear Driving/Traffic Schools for Southern California in 1980 and Sears Driving/Traffic Schools for Northern California in 1982. Hale owned and operated the largest driving school in California. He sold his driving school interests in 1996 and was semi-retired until 2007, he was offered Director of Operations, Behind the Wheel Division for DriversEd.com in Southern California. Under his management DriversEd.com become the largest driving school in California by 2010 with offices Northern California, Georgia and later Texas. By 2016, DriversEd.com was the largest driving school in the USA; with over 200 instructors, and 120 cars nationwide.

Hale is also a Past-President of the Driving School Association of California, Vice-President of the Driving School Association of the Americas, Former Executive Director of the Driving School Association of the Americas. Former member of the American Society of Safety Engineers and active in several Community Service Clubs.

Riverside / San Bernardino County Driving Instructors

Shannon Payfer (Speaks English)

Shannon is a retired police officer from the Oceanside Police Department. Shannon started her career in law enforcement with the San Diego County Probation Department working as a Deputy Probation Officer in Juvenile hall. She then was hired as a Correctional Officer with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department working at Las Colinas Woman’s facility. Shannon was then hired by the Oceanside Police Department as a police officer. She has 20 years in law enforcement and over 25 years of driving experience. Shannon is married, a mother of 2 sons, and has many animals.

Lysset Castellanos (Speaks English and Spanish)

Lysset is a former Master Instructor at DriversEd.com with almost 10 years of experience. Working under the direction and guidance of Director of Operations Hale Gammill, III, she helped hundreds of students learn to drive. Every student experience is different and she finds great reward in seeing each one accomplish their goals. Lysset resides in the Inland Empire area with her husband and three children. Her favorite pastimes include baking for friends and family and decorating her home for the holidays.

Greg Hargis (Speaks English)

Greg is a former Master Instructor at DriversED.com and was personally trained by Director of Operations Hale Gammill III ten years ago. He has helped many hundreds of students to be the safest drivers they can be. He has a great love for teaching. Every student is different, so adaptability is the key in his driving instruction methods. Greg resides in the Inland Empire with his wife. His main hobby is making music, as he plays several instruments.

LA County Driving Instructors

Juan Diaz (Speaks English and Spanish)

Juan is a long time Angelino resident. He has a background in the auto industry, with knowledge about automotive systems from his work as a manual transmissions technician, and experience in the auto insurance industry for several years, where he helped people navigate their insurance coverage, surpassing their expectations with his dedication to customer service. He aspires to work towards getting his real estate license, as well as finish his Finance degree, in the fcoming years. Since 2013 he has been well equipped with the knowledge as a first responder, training to be prepared in case of emergencies. His hobbies include art, fitness, computers, and studying linguistics. Over the years he has picked up a few other skills such as professional dog training. With an open mind and a willingness to better himself everyday, Juan understands that we all learn differently. He is patient and has the aptitude to adapt and make sure his students learn the laws of the road.

Mike Roberts (Speaks English)

Mike is University of Kentucky graduate where he earned a bachelors degree in telecommunications and minored in music. In 2008 he moved to Los Angeles California to pursue a career in music. That pursuit landed him numerous performances with bands all over California and many other locations. Over the years he’s also taught private music instruction to students of all ages and skill sets. That experience would prove valuable to him in landing another teaching job. In 2016 Mike added driving instructor to his resume when Kris Kluis recruited him to work for DriversEd.com. There he honed his skills and gained vital experience that helped shape his calm and sensible approach to behind the wheel instruction. Outside of teaching, Mike maintains a busy schedule as a gigging musician. He’s married, has a daughter, and enjoys spending time with his family.

Ed Hovhannisyan (Speaks English, Armenian and Russian)

Ed was born and raised in Armenia, where he served two years in the military. Afterwards, he attended Yerevan State University to major in genetics. Upon moving to America, however, his passion for cars and desire to teach others motivated him to work as a driving instructor. Ed previously worked for DriversEd.com. He is a calm and collected instructor who incorporates a positive attitude and light-hearted humor into his teaching sessions. Further, Ed is both patient and understanding. He prioritizes his students’ learning by tailoring sessions to meet the educational needs of the individual. On top of this, Ed has 34 years of driving experience himself, making him a master in the art of driving. Outside of his work, Ed enjoys spending time with his three children and one dog. His hobbies include fishing, playing the bass, sculpting, and making barbecue.

Elia Perez (Speaks English and Spanish)

Elia was born and raised in the city of Long Beach, graduated high school in 2013, and is currently a part time college student. For the past 4 years she as been in the auto insurance business, working with customers to respond to questions regarding claims, policies, and insurance coverage. She has also worked training new co-workers, as well as performing manager duties. She has previous experience in waitressing and volunteering at an animal hospital. In her free time she loves to spend time with husband, family and dog. She aspire to learn from every opportunity and teach with patience and a great attitude.

Veronica Rueda (Speaks English)

Veronica was born and raised in East Los Angeles and now lives in Monterey Park CA. She started her career in the mental health field where she worked for over 25 years. She also worked for LA City Parks and Rec and ran a teen internship program in educational and survival skills to help prepare youth for adulthood. She’s also an exercise instructor for the City of Commerce Senior Program and a cooking instructor for two middle schools in Hollywood CA. This is her “jam” and she says “keeping active is very essential and it has nothing to do with age”. Veronica is very much a people person and is extremely passionate about working with young people. She loves to travel and live life to its fullest.

Candice Sluyter (Speaks English)

Candice has been in the driving industry for over 16 years. She currently works as a professional driver with a large corporation and has received an award for the past 13 years of safe driving. Driving brings her joy and she’s excited to teach students how to be safe on the road. Her calm and patient demeanor behind the wheel is her specialty. She’s confident that her driving instruction style will put anyone at ease. She’s married with 2 children. In her free time she enjoys watching her son play baseball and watching her daughter’s dance competitions.

Orange County Driving Instructors

Mani Namazi (Speaks English)

Mani has been in the driving school industry for 11 years. For the past 7 years, he was a master driving instructor for DriversEd.com, trained and guided by Cantor’s Driving School Director of Operations Hale Gammill. He has trained thousands of driving students in Southern California, trained other instructors, and done marketing at school assemblies too. Mani is a former owner/operator and instructor for Safety 1st Driving School. He’s a very patient and detailed instructor, trained to help adults, teenagers, senior citizens to become safe, defensive drivers. He has been attending the Driving School Association of California (DSAC) continuing education programs for the past 11 years, making sure he has the latest information and keeping his instructor skills sharp.

San Diego County Driving Instructors

Steve Verret (Speaks English)

For the past 25 years, Steve has taught traffic safety in an upbeat, caring and easy-to-understand manner. From 1989 until 2015, he was the lead instructor and trainer for one of America’s most popular traffic schools, the Improv Traffic School, while at the same time performing as a featured comedian at the Improv Comedy Club in Los Angeles. Steve soon became known as, “America’s Favorite Traffic Safety Teacher” and was featured in People magazine, the L.A. Times, the New York Times, Evening at the Improv, and on a PBS series featuring people with unique jobs. In 2008, Steve was selected and contracted by the U.S. Department of Defense to teach safe driving to service members and first responders of the armed forces throughout the United States and Japan. To date, he has trained over 500,000 military personnel and civilians with his 90-minute show, which blends clean humor with a strong emphasis on driving safety topics including distracted driving, driving under the influence, good seeing habits and defensive driving. Steve now lives in San Marcos with his wife and two teen daughters and when he is not traveling to military bases, he spends time volunteering as a youth softball coach, producing family entertainment events called, “Clean Comedy Live!” and compassionately teaching safe driving to Cantor’s Driving School students.

Dave Jacobson (Speaks English)

Dave is originally from the Detroit area and started his law enforcement career as suburban Detroit Police Officer. In 1987, he joined the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and was posted in Detroit, Ottawa Canada and San Diego during his 28-year career. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University and a Master’s Degree from Eastern Michigan University in Police Administration and Communications. During his law enforcement career, Dave was certified four times in Police Pursuit and Precision Driving. Dave is also proud of assisting his two kids in learning to drive. Dave resides in San Diego North County.

Oryan Infinity (Speaks English)

Oryan (pronounced Oh-Ry-En) truly loves teaching driving in his hometown of San Diego. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Youth Theatre from San Diego State University along with various certifications in communication and emotional well-being. Prior to his career with Cantor’s, Oryan traveled the world for many years as a motivational speaker and professional yo-yo entertainer, spreading kindness to over 500,000 children and teens. His primary focus as driving instructor is acceptance and understanding. However, he is also very thorough and passionate, and he will make sure every student learns as much as possible while feeling relaxed and safe along the way. Learning to drive is an exciting, one-of-a-kind journey, and Oryan genuinely looks forward to helping new drivers become safe and confident behind the wheel. Additionally, he has in-depth experience and training with a variety of learning abilities, and he is prepared to adjust to the individual needs and learning styles of his students. Oryan will highlight the positive aspects of driving and help new students with self-confidence by developing the critical driving skills that will last a lifetime.

Peter Hoffas (Speaks English)

For the last 12 years Peter worked as a train operator for San Diego Trolley, Inc. As a public transportation professional he operated and instructed student train operators in defensive, searching & anticipation techniques in OJT (on the job training). Skills practiced included constant alertness and readiness while keeping a composed, cool headed attitude in high stress situations. Previous occupations include employment with AT&T as an underground utility locator, and call center work in operator services. His military service with the United States Navy included training personnel in baking and cash handling techniques, and several years experience transporting passengers to the airport. When not training drivers, Peter enjoys selling historical, collectable and antiques items online. He also has worked as a professional photographer creating portraits and covering social events over the previous 20 years. He graduated from Southwestern Community College in 2009 with an Associate of Art degree in Photography, and is currently a member of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). He enjoys reading to his granddaughter, cooking, playing guitar and chess, historical study and personal photographic projects. Peter is approachable, good-natured, friendly, and willing to impart his knowledge while offering encouragement and support in a gracious manner with patience.

Employment for Driving Instructors

Cantor’s Driving School is always looking for good driving instructors. Call us at 310-910-9070 to inquire about current opportunities, or send an email with your resume to cantorsdrivingca@gmail.com.