Board Member Directory

Elected members

Lauren Libitz, President - Lauren has been a Yankee IABC member for seven years, serving as President-Elect in 2008/09. Her volunteer involvement began with co-coordinating the Special Interest Group for internal communicators from 2005-2007, and then in 2007/08 she became the Vice President of Membership. She attended IABC’s 2008 and 2009 Leadership Institutes, gaining valuable skills and knowledge to guide her in her role as President. Lauren is an experienced employee communications professional and works at MITRE Corporation in Bedford, MA. She previously held employee communication and sales/marketing roles with Nuance Communications, Genzyme Corporation and Fidelity Investments.

Jake George, President-Elect - Jake has been a member of Yankee IABC since 2006. This past year he served as Vice President of Finance, overseeing the chapter’s budget, increasing the robustness of financial reporting mechanisms, and helping to strengthen the chapter’s brand awareness through its growing corporate sponsorship program. He remains an active participant in the Downtown Boston SIG. He has spent 10+ years in a variety of communications roles, the last 6+ with NERA Economic Consulting, a global professional services firm. As the Senior Manager of Marketing & Communications, he oversees the firm’s global website, manages its internal communications function, and works with internal clients to develop and execute highly targeted marketing programs and campaigns to a variety of business and legal audiences.

Tom Roux, Past President – Tom joined Yankee IABC in 2001 and served as President in 2008/09. His prior chapter roles include serving as President-Elect in 2007/08, volunteering on the 2004/05 Membership Committee, and serving as the Vice President of Membership from 2005-2007, which resulted in an Award of Merit for Membership Marketing at the 2007 IABC Chapter Management Awards and an invitation to co-present at the 2008 IABC Leadership Institute. Tom is a 500 Club member, holds a Master’s degree in organizational communication, and has 8+ years of experience directing employee communications, mostly in the pharmaceutical industry.

Courtney English, Vice President, Administration - Courtney joined Yankee IABC in 2006. She currently manages the internal communications program at New Balance Athletic Shoe. In this role she is responsible for the development and execution of the company’s strategic internal communication plan and associate engagement for the global audience of more than 4,000 employees. Prior to joining New Balance she worked at a full-service agency as an account executive on both public relations and advertising clients accounts in the healthcare, finance and consumer goods industries.

Linda Sanders, Vice President, Communication – Linda joined Yankee IABC in 2007. In 2007/08 she volunteered to proofread and write articles for Yankee IABC’s newsletter EDIT and to help at events. In 2008/09 she became the Director of Internal Communication, responsible for EDIT’s redesign and expanded coverage. She has 15 years of publications experience—writing newsletters, copyediting books, and managing projects and multimedia conferencing. She will complete her Master of Science degree in Organizational Communication from Northeastern University in August 2009.

Jeannie Brown, Vice President, Membership Development – Jeanne attended her first IABC conference in Orlando in 1999, joined Yankee IABC in January 2000, and served as the Vice President of Membership in 2008/09. She attended IABC’s 2009 Leadership Institute, gaining valuable insights to ensure continued growth in her role. She has spent more than 14 years in various marketing and communications roles for global corporations, including Accenture and State Street Global Advisors. Most recently Jeannie was the Executive and Internal Communications Lead for Accenture’s Financial Services practice, where she developed an overall internal communications strategy and implemented a communications program for a global audience of more than 6,000 people.

John Klingenstein, Vice President, Learning Opportunities – John has been a Yankee IABC member since 2008 and became an Event Director in 2008/09, successfully organizing the Career Development Forum with Mark Schumann, the 20090/10 chair of IABC International. John is the Employee Communications Manager for Dynamics Research Corporation and has more than 20 years of communications experience in both private industry and public and private education. Before joining DRC he served as Director of Internal Communications for PFPC. John received his Bachelor of Science degree in communication studies from the University of Tulsa and a Master of Science degree in communications from Shippensburg University.

Evan Kuhlman, Vice President, Finance – Evan has been a member of Yankee IABC since 2006. Right away Evan joined the YIABC board of directors as an event volunteer and then served as the Assistant Director of Networking and the Assistant Editor of EDIT in 2008/09, taking on additional roles to meet the chapter’s changing needs. As a Marketing Communications Specialist at Teradyne, she is responsible for a wide range of the company’s internal and external communications activities, including graphic design, event planning, public relations, employee communications, and producing the company’s award-winning newsletter.

Manya Chylinski, Vice President, Networking – Manya was the Director of Networking for Yankee IABC in 2008-09 and prior to that served as editor of EDIT, the chapter newsletter. Manya is an independent copywriter and owner of Alley424 Communications. She writes content–such as articles, reports, and marketing materials–for businesses in many industries including financial services, technology, and higher education. Before starting Alley424, Manya was an editor at Thomson Course Technology; and a business researcher at Ernst & Young, where she provided in-depth research and analysis for the corporate finance, tax, and consulting practices. Manya has just completed the manuscript for her second book.

Non-elected members

Communications team

Carl Zangerl, Director, Communications
Renee Robertie, Director, EDIT
Jennifer Scupi, Assistant Director, EDIT
Zack Beyer, Web Manager

Membership Development team

Carrie Griffiths, Director, Member Outreach
Pat Masterson, Director, Volunteers
Julie Pierce, Director, Mentoring

Learning Opportunities/Event team

Scott Michel, Event Director
Sarah McArdle, Event Director
Mindy Ollenborger, Event Director

Networking team

Jessica Faulkner, Director, College Relations

Extended Resources:

Vicki Staveacre, Director of Research
Carol Grabowski, Facilitator – Downtown Boston SIG
Keith Moore and Erin Ruddick, Facilitators – MetroProv SIG