GBTC TEAM
Steve Kozak
Executive Director for the GBTC
stevek@gbtechcouncil.org
Steve is the Executive Director of the GBTC, or as many in the office like to refer to him, Chief Coffee Maker. He is also the driving force behind the GBTC strategy and is the key pusher of member happiness. In order to keep our members happy, he regularly meets with them, you guessed it – over coffee, to hear what is happening in their exciting and dynamic worlds. And if you meet with him, don't be surprised if he asks you – “what's keeping you up at night?” – it’s his favorite question. He's always taking this information and thinking of potential programs, new ways to serve our members and of course, new projects to assign to all of us – his team.
Steve actually joined the Tech Council in 2001 and before his current role as Chief Coffee Maker he was the Assistant Director. In his prior life, Steve worked at an ad agency, PHH, Wallace Computer Services and Encyclopedia Britannica. Yes, that's right, Steve was an encyclopedia salesman – yes it’s true!
He's come a long way and in 2006, he was recognized by SmartCEO magazine as one of the "20 Most Admired Leaders" and in 2005, the Baltimore Business Journal named him a recipient of their "40 Under 40" award.
In his spare time, he teaches Services Marketing at Towson University and coaches his son's baseball and soccer teams. Did we mention that he has a wonderful wife (Jennifer) and two beautiful kids who thankfully look like his wife. So in a nutshell, that's our Steve - golfer, coffee drinker, thinker, husband, father, animal impersonator (horse, goat and monkey are his best ones), coach, teacher...and actually a good guy.
Alecia Farley
Director of Professional Develoment
aleciaf@gbtechcouncil.org
Alecia is the newbie at the GBTC. She is responsible for several GBTC programs which include GBTechNet Groups, Annual Golf Classic, Beakers and Beers, Wine Tastings and Voices of Bio, as well as vacuuming, stock orders and recycling…..this is what happens when you’re the newest person on the team.
Before joining the GBTC, Alecia was with M&T Bank where she held a variety of positions in sales, management and marketing, the majority of which were targeted towards small businesses. She also happily sits on the Board of the Franciscan Youth Center where she chairs their Development Committee.
When not in the GBTC office, Alecia can often be found on the volleyball court, stuffing one of her opponents, (look – she’s almost 6” tall, it just happens) or at the beach with her husband (who is also “not” height challenged) and their two labs.
Jennifer Gunner
Director – Marketing & Communications
jenniferg@gbtechcouncil.org
Since joining the Greater Baltimore Technology Council (GBTC) in 2007, Jen has been responsible for the strategy and implementation of the marketing and communications activities. Her former experience in marketing roles with a national football sports franchise (note – intern who would do any job), domain name registration, compression technology, website hosting (all at one company – what can we say, it was the dot com boom), wireless technology (where it turned to a dot com bust), and then with a F500 corporation in the financial sector focusing on commercial, business and investment segments (note – needed a stable position after dot com bust) provides her with an extensive background of proven marketing communication practices.
Jen received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Frostburg State University and her Executive MBA from Loyola College. She is a board member of the Loyola MBA alumni association and a member of the American Management Association and American Marketing Association. For her previous work, she has been highlighted in business publications such as the Baltimore Business Journal and Professional Marketing Forum.
Jen spends her free time as an affiliate associate professor of Marketing at Loyola College and Villa Julie College. When not teaching you can usually find Jen on the soccer field with one of her five teams (yes, she still truly believes she is 21 years old). Jen has also actively participated in the community by offering her time and marketing experience to Banking on our Future, Casey Cares and the Bea Gaddy Foundation. She is currently focusing much of her extra curricular activities with Saint Frances Academy and Loyola College.
Melanie Kelleher
Director, Programs for the GBTC
melaniek@gbtechcouncil.org
Melanie is the Director of Programs of the GBTC. She is responsible for the strategy, coordination (she’s so super organized, it’s kind of scary) and promotion of large events to smaller peer to peer forums. From selecting panels to recruiting members to participate in Roundtables, it is her job to create forums that educate, inform and provide value to members. She puts these programs together by listening and finding out what’s keeping them up at night (her Rain Man memory helps her with this as well).
2008 marks her 10 year anniversary with the GBTC (yes, she’s also been labeled as our national historian). Right after graduating from college Melanie was hired and essentially “grew up” within the GBTC. Her history with the organization has given her a strong institutional knowledge and nicknames such as, you guessed it, Rain Man and Freaky Brain.
While spending her formative college years at Loyola, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History, she honed her core skills of making lists, checking them many, many, many times and making sure no detail ever went uncovered. Feeling the need to improve upon her already maniacal need for detail orientation, Melanie went back to school and received a Masters of Science in Marketing from the JHU’s Carey School of Business.
She’s married to her incredible and understanding (there are a lot of late nights and early mornings at the GBTC) husband Brendan and they have one wonderful and very active son and one adorable daughter.
Erica Barry
Membership & Marketing Manager
ericab@gbtechcouncil.org
Erica is our NKOTB (New Kid on the Block-pun intended). We are slowly but surely teaching her "step-by-step" the ropes of the GBTC and so far she is "hangin' tough" (Feel free to ask her about the "pun" if you run into her. Better yet, ask Steve) Aside from taking over vacuuming and stock orders from Alecia, Erica will spearhead our membership recruitment efforts, manage current programs, and provide assistance for our marketing and communications initiatives.
Like Jen and Alecia, we "stole" Erica from, you guessed it, a bank! Before crossing over to dark side (the GBTC), Erica started developing her skills with 1st Mariner Bank (one of our partner members) where she worked in the Corporate Communications department. Before that she served as the Marketing and Communications Specialist for the Maryland Business Council (MBC).
Prior to that, Erica was in the final five of the Associate program at Towson University where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Marketing. The Associate program is Towson's version of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice". That's right, final five means our Erica heard the words..."You're Fired!" She did not get to say "I'm going to Disney World!" (Erica is one of the rare individuals that really believes Disney World is the happiest place on earth) Thank goodness she did because we probably wouldn't have found her if it happened any other way. She is currently pursing her Master of Business Administration from the University of Baltimore/Towson University MBA program.
During the off-season, Erica can be found going for runs, playing soccer, and increasing her endless and sometimes worthless knowledge about nutrition. We'd also like to note that if Erica could ever live on the "Biggest Loser" Ranch she would (how sick is that?)
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