Meet the NK Team

Elsie Kellerman, CFO

Elsie was truly in at the beginning when she and Richard and Paul started the company in 1977. She has mostly been involved in the financial end but did her share of building Cox-Box units in her basement in Webster, NY. Accounting progressed from a big red account ledger, to records kept on computers that would be laughable now, to a home-grown multiuser Fox-Base system to Mas 200. In 2008 semi-retirement will allow her to spend a lot more time with gardening and riding 2 horses and judging dressage.

Alix Kocher, CEO

Alix's first job with Nielsen-Kellerman was soldering CoxBox boards in the Kellerman basement as a senior in high school (founder Richard Kellerman is her step-dad). Since her soldering rarely met Paul Nielsen's standards, she headed off to Yale University where she began rowing, winning the Sprints on the Varsity Crew and participating in development and selection camps as a sculler. Penn Law School, marriage and a move to the West Coast intervened in her rowing career.

After practicing law in California for three years, she stepped off-track for motherhood and returned to working for NK in advertising and marketing. Eighteen years later, she's worked in almost every department at NK and led many facets of the company's growth and is now the CEO. When she's not working or traveling for NK, she can be found at home with her two teenage boys and four dogs, rowing her single or various team boats at Vesper, or on the back of one of her two horses trying to master the intricacies of dressage.

Kate Kelly, Office Manager Extraordinaire and then some

Kate Kelly has been at NK since 2001 and keeps the office running smoothly. She was first lured to NK by her niece (a former NK employee) and since then has handled just about everything this hectic office can dish out.  We’ve yet to stump Kate with a problem she couldn’t solve. Kate likes to garden, go to the movies and has two kids, three cats and a bipolar parakeet.

Rick Plavcan, Senior Electrical Engineer

Rick joined the NK engineering staff in 2004. He has a BS in electrical engineering and computer science from Drexel University. Life before NK included (among other projects) designing high frequency satellite electronics for RCA/GE and developing optical parts recognition hardware for Moore Push-Pin Co. When Rick came on as a Designer Engineer at NK, he took on our most ambitious project to date – the SpeedCoach XL, and two years later it was released to rave reviews. When not working odd hours at NK, Rick and his wife Angela can be found chasing around their houseful of pets.

Michael Naughton, Product Manager

Since Michael’s start at NK in 1995, he’s had many jobs including manufacturing, sales, marketing and product development. He’s finally settled into his current position of Product Manager where he has had a hand in developing just about every product we currently sell.

Raised in Philadelphia, Michael started his rowing career at La Salle College High School, and continued to row at the University of Miami. He took up sculling while pursing his masters from Cal Berkeley, and after graduation moved back to Philadelphia to continue sculling at Undine Barge Club. He picked up a part-time job at NK to fill the time between practice, and had no idea that it would turn into a career! Meanwhile, he raced at Undine for seven years then switched to coaching in 2004. “To say rowing has been good to me would be an understatement. I've had the chance to row on 5 continents, see most of Europe on behalf of NK, and make some very good friends along the way.” Michael and his wife Monika’s family grew in 2006 with the addition of a French bulldog, Morris, and their son, Max. The birth of their son Leo in 2008 made this happy house a full one.

Katie Godfrey, Sales and Marketing Manager

Katie joined the NK team as the Kestrel Sales Manager in 1999 after graduating from Temple University. A four year coxswain for the Temple women’s crew, Katie continued to coach rowing after graduation and through a rowing contact was offered the job at NK. Selling wind meters sounded just odd enough for her, so she joined the NK team.

Katie works with dealers from all over the world and is constantly on the road traveling to trade shows and learning about the many ways our customers use their Kestrels. Through her customers, she’s become a certified Wildland Firefighter (thanks to the Colorado Wildfire Academy); has taken multiple hang gliding flights (thanks to Kitty Hawk Kites); has shot many big guns (thanks to Special Agent Jin Kim); and gone skydiving (thanks to Sky Dive New Jersey) – just to name a few adventures!

In Katie’s spare time she coaches high school rowing and has won medals in three World Championships as a drummer for the USA Dragonboat team. She is constantly being followed closely by Dazey, her SPCA mutt, who gets to come to the office and boathouse everyday. Coxswain, Coach, NK Manager, Wildland Firefighter, World Traveler and fondue fan…In 2008 Katie added another title to her diverse list of roles; wife. Katie Horn became Katie Godfrey after marrying the love of her life, Tim.

Gary Kammerer, Soaring Technical Sales Manager

Gary joined NK in June of ’08. After graduation from Vermont Technical College, Gary worked for IBM in Vermont as a Failure Analyst for 9 years (dissecting fingernail size computer chips to determine the root cause of failure) and then joined Cambridge Aero Instruments in Waitsfield, Vermont. After 5 years in Vermont and another 5 years in Memphis, Tennessee with Cambridge, Gary decided he missed the East Coast and has joined us in our Soaring endeavors. Gary handles Soaring sales along with customer and dealer support. Gary brings with him his treasured 13 year old Chocolate Lab Jazz, Max the adorable mutt, Kiwi the screeching conure and Molly the pampered feline.

Christy Munding, New Business Development

Christy joined NK in 2004, after doing a summer internship at NK while attending Syracuse University. Christy is responsible for New Business Development and Marketing initiatives. After earning her undergraduate degree in Business and Entrepreneurship from Syracuse, Christy pursued her love of travel and other cultures and spent a year in Shanghai, China teaching English to primary school students.

After a brief stint with Octagon Sports Marketing, driving the new BMW X3 around the country to promote the product, Christy joined the NK team full time. She holds a M.B.A from St. Joseph's University in International Business. When not working the phones or her laptop’s keyboard at the office, Christy is traveling to tradeshows all over speaking with diverse Kestrel customers. Christy has a passion for travel, enjoying friends and family, sustainable business initiatives, and trying to convince anyone and everyone that they need a Kestrel.

Mary Giovanetti, Kestrel Customer Service Representative

Mary joined the NK staff in early 2007 looking for a change of career from her 10 years in Automotive Sales. She handles all Kestrel order processing and customer relations. She’s been married to her husband Joe for 26 years, and they have two children, Joe (25), and Jennifer (22). When not helping customers with their Kestrel purchases, she loves to travel and try new things. (She recently had her first ATV experience in the Hills of Mexico's Baja.) Mary enjoys reading, watching the Philadelphia Eagles, and spending summer weekends at her beach house in Cape May, NJ.  

Monica Devlin, Marketing Coordinator

Monica became an enthusiastic Kestrel girl in 2008 after working in Corporate Communications at Merrill Lynch. Previously, she was a Saturday morning on-air co-anchor for WDEL NewsRadio in Wilmington. In love with language, Monica attended Temple University studying Journalism and English.

After tackling writing and reading during the week, Sunday called for a different game plan…at Lincoln Financial Field. She performed in front of 66,000 Iggles fans as a captain of the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders. During her 4 years, she scored amazing memories including the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, military tours and meeting some of her best friends on the squad. From action packed games to Action News-Monica honed her marketing maven skills while an intern in Creative Services at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia.

Besides being the NK blogger and PR gal, she’s also an NPR groupie, hot salsa obsessed and proud big sister to Deri. Monica enjoys finding new and innovative ways to communicate with NK fans- find her on Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Monica’s love of branding rubs off; her puppy Jack-Chi, Shakespeare, sleeps with his Kestrel when he visits the office. She loves meeting NK customers at regattas, tradeshows, drag races and the shooting range.

Stephanie Dusik, Graphic Designer

Stephanie Dusik graduated from Tyler School of Art, Temple University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in May of '07, Magna Cum Laude. Her major was Graphic and Interactive Design with a minor in Art History.

Stephanie considers herself a conceptually driven designer who thrives on challenges, “I enjoy projects that push me and test my creativity. Everything I do in life is with passion and design is no exception.” Stephanie spent the past year at a package and branding design firm and now works magic on creating great visuals for all of NK’s products. Stephanie’s work has been exhibited at a number of shows. Her designs have appeared in Creative Quarterly Magazine and on greeting cards for the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. She also maintains a personal portfolio site that displays her multifaceted designs.

Stephanie’s hobbies include cooking, photography, working out, reading, a good cup of coffee and singing way too loud while driving. She has an obsession with earrings and Italy. She likes to watch Tim Gunn on Project Runway and anything on the Food Network and Travel Channel. A Philly girl at heart, she loves rooting for the Flyers and Eagles.

Chad Kaufman, Web Designer / Developer

Chad graduated in from the University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2007, majoring in Graphic Design. Before joining NK, Chad worked for a design & strategic communications firm, in Center City Philadelphia, where he was involved in developing brand identities, designing print collateral for educational and corporate clients, and creating usability-conscious websites.

He is responsible for maintaining the seamless changes that occur on the NK website with a focus on our users (any broken links are not his fault, but he should be the first to know if there are). Chad looks forward to injecting his knowledge of usability, brand strategy, and design into all things NK. Chad's dedication to interaction and graphic design continues outside of NK as he is involved in developer & design communities like Refresh Philly and AIGA, is constantly reading and acquiring new design books (his most prized book is his Pentagram Black Book, which is not commercially circulated), and maintains a Blog as an outlet for spurts of writing and a personal portfolio site.

In his free time, little as it may be, Chad can be found in the water surfing, playing soccer or lacrosse, and spending time with his fiancee Jenna and their crazy Golden Retriever, Nala.

Rachel Dubolino, Customer Service Representative

If you call NK, you will likely get a chance to talk to Rachel. A recent 2008 addition to NK, she previously worked for her family business. Rachel is passionate about sports…and crazy about Nascar! Particularly, The Philadelphia Flyers and baseball catch her attention. Like most employees at NK, Rachel is an animal lover. She has 3 crazy & spoiled cats, Goofy, Trooper and Gizmo, and considers them her kids.