Northern Virginia Technology Council names president, CEO

Jennifer Taylor to succeed Bobbie Kilberg

Published August 18, 2020 by Sydney Lake

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) announced Tuesday that Jennifer Taylor has been named as president and CEO, effective Sept. 10.

In late June, Brad Schwartz was named as acting president and CEO, filling the vacancy left by the June 30 retirement of Bobbie Kilberg, who led the membership and trade association for the region’s tech industry for 22 years.

Taylor most recently served as vice president of industry affairs with the Arlington-based Consumer Technology Association (CTA), where she worked with member companies including Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc., Google LLC, IBM, Microsoft Corp., Alarm.com, BOSCH, The Hewlett-Packard Co., Samsung, Sprint Corp., Sony Electronics, Toyota Motor Corp., Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. During her time there, she launched the CTA’s 21st Century Workforce Council and Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, which works with more than 200 technology company members. She also launched the CTA Apprenticeship Coalition in partnership with IBM, which helps tech companies create and expand apprenticeship programs.

Taylor also previously served as executive vice president of sales and marketing for Caring Village (a Segue Technologies Inc. subsidiary) as well as vice president of corporate relations and business development for AARP Services Inc.

“Jennifer’s background in the technology industry, combined with her experience with leading membership organizations, is perfectly suited for NVTC’s needs,” Kilberg said in a statement. “I’m confident she will build on what we’ve established and work to take NVTC to the next level.” 

During Kilberg’s leadership at NVTC, the association (which represents the technology community in Northern Virginia and the greater Washington, D.C., area) grew to represent approximately 1,000 Northern Virginia tech firms, representing more than 350,000 employees. 

“As one of the largest and most influential technology councils in the U.S., NVTC is poised for its next phase,” NVTC Chairman Greg Baroni, Attain LLC chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Jennifer brings the right mix of policy, technology, business development and marketing leadership to NVTC. She is a forward-thinking leader who will build on the foundation that Bobbie established and advance NVTC’s position as the leading regional voice of the technology community.”

A longtime Republican White House appointee, Kilberg worked in the Nixon and Ford administrations and served as director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs under President George H.W. Bush. She also was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

“I am honored to serve as NVTC’s new president and CEO and to expand on Bobbie’s legacy that turned this region into the tech powerhouse it is today,” Taylor said in a statement. “I’m incredibly excited about NVTC’s future and the impactful role the organization will play to help grow and sustain an innovation community anchored by tech companies of all sizes, policy makers, venture capitalists and academia.” 

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