Kristen Holloway, President & Founder
Kristen grew up in Coatesville, Pennsylvania about an hour outside Philadelphia. In 1997, she graduated from Juniata College with dual degree in International Business and German. She also spent a year abroad at the Fachhochschule Muenster in Germany studying business, and studied Mandarin Chinese for 8 years before working for a summer in Taiwan.
Kristen currently works for PPG Industries, Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she has been building a career in Corporate Finance and Marketing. She is currently the Sales Development Manager in Corporate Growth Initiatives. She recently graduated with her MBA from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.
Aside from traveling, Kristen loves in-line skating, biking, and playing tennis. She likes to relax by tending to her gardens or reading a good thick book.
Monica Orluk, Vice President and Board Member
A Pittsburgh Pennsylvania native, Monica Orluk serves as Vice President and works primarily to promote Operation Troop Appreciation, organize and coordinate fund raising events; and as a media spokesperson.
Monica has witnessed first-hand how deployment can affect a family, and discovered that Operation Troop Appreciation provided a way to show her support of our troops as well as making a solid contribution to helping them. She believes that regardless of political affiliation, the opportunity to support soldiers who are away from their families is one every American should take advantage of and she has been an integral part of the organization since its inception.
Monica is currently employed as an Executive Consultant for Fiserv Lending Solutions. Her role is to provide marketing and sales support of technology products to the financial services industry. She feels that her career experience provided the perfect skillset to apply to her OTA work and enjoys the best of both worlds - a profession she loves and a cause she is passionate about. To quote Monica, "It doesn't get any better than this!"
In her free time, Monica enjoys golf, biking, karaoke and spending time with her son Adam and the rest of her family.
Captain Bill Ault, Company Commander 1-110th Infantry Battalion and OTA Board Member
Bill, a native of New Brighton, PA, holds a Bachelors Degree from Robert Morris University and is currently working on his Masters at American Military University. He is employed by Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney, PC in Pittsburgh as a Network Engineer.
Bill has been serving in the reserve component of the U.S. Army since 1987 and is currently the Headquarters Company Commander for the 1-110th Infantry Battalion located in Mount Pleasant, PA. He has deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) with the PA Army National Guard.
Having to balance school, work and military commitments is a challenge and we’re grateful for the support and dedication Bill is giving to OTA.
Lt. Col John Dowling, U.S. Army Reserve and OTA Board Member
Lt. Col. John Dowling is the most recent addition ot the OTA Board of Directors. John comes from the 316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) in Moon Township, PA where he has served as the public affairs officer for the past 18 months, managing all aspects of community and media relations for the Army Reserve command that encompasses the 13-state Northeastern United States. John brings more than 24 years of experience in the Army Reserve to OTA, including two stateside active duty tours and a deployment to Bosnia.
As a civilian, John has worked in the communications career field in the Pittsburgh area for the past decade. He is currently the director/military liaison of the Combat Stress Intervention Program (CSIP) at Washington & Jefferson College (www.washjeff.edu). CSIP is a three-year DOD research program to investigate combat stress related and barriers to healthcare in OIF/OEF guard and Reserve troops in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Prior to this position, he advocated on behalf of veterans and their families as a managing editor for Victory Media Inc. (www.victorymediainc.com), a veteran-owned publishing company in Coraopolis, PA. A resident of Canonsburg, he is a graduate of West Virginia and Carnegie Mellon Universities.
Michael Fisher, Combat Veteran (Army) and OTA Board Member
Michael grew up in eastern Pennsylvania in the small town of Kutztown. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Special Education and Elementary Education from Kutztown University of PA.
Prior to moving to Pittsburgh, Michael lived in San Diego and Chicago. Michael enlisted in the infantry with the Illinois Army National Guard shortly after September 11, 2001. Michael is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF 2004-2005) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF 2008-2009), most recently returning from Iraq with the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team (PA Army National Guard).
Married with a two year old son, Michael is happy to be home with his family yet saddened to end his seven year military service. It has been a great honor to proudly wear the uniform of a United States Soldier. Continuing to stand with his brothers and sisters in arms, Michael is eagerly supporting his fellow servicemen through Operation Troop Appreciation. Having seen the effects of Operation Troop Appreciation on the giving and receiving end has given him a new “appreciation” of the work of the dedicated volunteers. It is a great pleasure to return to the board of Operation Troop Appreciation and continue the commitment to our courageous!
Stacy Norman, OTA Board Member
Stacy, a native of Washington, PA, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Robert Morris University in 2005 with an undergraduate degree in Information Systems Management. She currently works for Guru.com in Pittsburgh, PA, where she is Manager of Support Operations and plans to continue to build an Operations career with Guru for a long time to come. In 2010, she will graduate from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper Graduate School of Business with an MBA.
Having had friends and family members serve in WWII, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, Stacy has always been a passionate supporter of the men and woman serving to protect her country. She was excited to learn of OTA and has since been working to help market OTA through traditional channels as well as through emerging social networking channels such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
Stacy likes to split her free time between the gym, her garden and her Harley.
