The Marketing Working Group (MWG) is pleased to announce the addition of a new team member. We welcome Mike Veeckmans on board the Marketing team!
Mike Veeckmans will collaborate with the other members of the Marketing Working Group in the role of communications manager, taking care of the successful planning, initiation and execution of projects. Mike has proved his management skills in many occasions, like Grace Hopper and the launch of Joomla! 3.4 campaign. We felt he was the perfect piece to match our team.
The primary focus of the Marketing Working Group (MWG) is to raise awareness of the Joomla Content Management System (CMS) and Framework within the international Joomla community, as well as the general open source community.
Mike Veeckmans - Marketing Communications Manager
Mike is the founder of Joombiz , where Joomla! is one of the main focusses. He graduated in Public Relations and Marketing. After managingan IT company for 12 years , Mike started Joombiz in 2013.
He has been using Joomla! since the fork and been active in the community since 2012. Next to MWG , Mike is also part of the Capital Committee Team, Social Media Team and the Update Working Group. Next to the Joomla! Community , he’s also helping out in some local communities in the town he lives.
When he’s not working (wait, does that even happen?) you can find him in the company of his 2 beautiful daughters, travelling or capturing pictures with his camera. You can follow Mike on Twitter : @MVeeckmans
Currently besides Mike, the team is composed of the following members:
Jess Dunbar - Team Leader/PLT Liaison
Jess coordinates and delegates the responsibilities of the Marketing working group team.
She will oversee the day-to-day functions of the Marketing Team. She will focus on motivating the marketing team and maintain a comfortable and productive team environment.
Currently Jess is the System Administrator at Trivera
In her free time, she can be found either on the volleyball court or softball diamond. She also enjoys watching the Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packers with her family and friends.
You can follow her tech, sports-related or internet happenings on twitter @jessicadunbar or Google+
Chiara Aliotta - Brand Manager
Chiara will be responsible for ensuring that the Joomla! brands are communicated clearly and consistently by Joomla, our contributors and our partners.
Chiara is the founder of the creative agency, Until Sunday. She is an Italian designer with many years of experience in art direction, brand development, graphics, illustration and web design.
She has created innovative designs for brands like Vodafone, Nivea, Persol, NH Hotel, Catalano, N.6 Selection Top, Osram, and many others.
Her debut in the Joomla! world started in 2009, when she was a web and graphic designer for Nuevvo/Joomlaworks. Today she works as a freelancer for wonderful clients that love Joomla! and she speaks at different Joomla! conferences, spreading her love for typography and good design throughout the Joomla! community. She is also involved in the development of the identity and communication materials of the acclaimed JAB Conference.
When she is not busy designing creative Joomla! templates, you can find her waiting for her next flight to a sunny destination, swimming in the Aegean Sea, in the street capturing typography with her camera, or at home spending her free time snuggling with her cat, Kissa.
You can follow Chiara on Twitter @ChiaraAliotta
Parth Lawate - Strategic Marketing Manager
Parth will collaborate on development and short and long term marketing strategies for Joomla. He will also collaborate with new Joomla development, Planning, and Market Research.
Parth is the co founder & CEO of Techjoomla & Tekdi Web Solutions where Joomla is one of the main focus areas. Techjoomla is behind several popular Joomla products & is heavily involved in Joomla based development.
Involved with Joomla since the Mambo days, Parth is an avid open source evangelist & is one of the founders of the Joomla working group in Pune & Joomla Day India. He is a regular speaker at Joomla events worldwide & loves to foster open source adoption & collaboration.
When not in the office, you will find Parth in the mountains hiking or cycling, reading a book , tinkering with electronics & computers, cooking or gardening.
You can follow Parth on Twitter @parthlawate
Joe Sonne - Open Source Matters Representative
Joe got involved with Joomla! in 2005 and in 2009 started his own marketing company. The web division of Joe’s company, JoeJoomla, uses Joomla! exclusively. JoeJoomla manages projects for clients and Joe is hands on with website strategies, site integration and design.
In the Joomla! community Joe is a well known speaker, trainer, and writer about all things Joomla. He contributes to the Joomla! community by sharing knowledge at various Joomla events.
Joe co-founded two Joomla! User Groups in Canada. He has written articles for the Joomla! Magazine and also has a popular blog about Joomla.
You can follow Joe on Twitter @JoeJoomla
Ruth Cheesley - Community Leadership Team Representative
Ruth has always been a passionate supporter of free and open source software, and came across Joomla! in the early days when asked to design a website during her time as IT Technician at a school, and the rest, as they say, is history!
She now runs a business - Virya Technologies and Virya Software - which specialises in Open Source technologies, with the web development team focusing solely on Joomla. Her personal area of interest lies within search engine optimisation and helping websites to recover from poor SEO practices. Ruth also founded Joomla! User Group Suffolk, regularly contributes to the Joomla Community Magazine, and is on the team for Joomla!Day UK events.
Ruth joined the Community Leadership Team in March 2013 and works closely with the Joomla User Group team promoting Joomla in local communities around the world. Her interest in marketing and promoting Joomla worldwide led her to getting involved with the Marketing Working Group.
You can follow Ruth on Twitter @RCheesley and Google+ at google.com/+RuthCheesley