President

Audra Whitelock

Audra is a cabi Stylist. cabi is an innovative boutique fashion brand that brings style and beauty to women through personalized styling experiences. She works with women 1 to 1 or in small groups helping them find their perfect style within the cabi brand. She has a Bachelor’s from the University of Maryland, College Park in Fashion Merchandising and joined the cabi team in 2015.

She also works as Finance Manager for Frisco Tap House and Reckless Shepherd Brewing Company located in Columbia, MD. She has been a resident of Ellicott City for 17 years where she lives with her husband Keith. She has two sons, Sean who lives in Baltimore working for CMS and Chad who lives in Mountain View, CA working for Tesla. www.audrawhitelock.cabionline.com

Treasurer

Laura Betz

Laura has been helping small businesses with their bookkeeping and accounting needs for over 20 years, branching out on her own in 2016, with her remote bookkeeping business, Breakaway Bookkeeping Services.  She thoroughly enjoys helping business owners organize and understand their numbers, and ultimately, increase their profit margin.  “Bookkeeping is an area that so many business owners dislike or don’t understand so end up putting it off as long as possible or doing it incorrectly.  With my degree and experience, and desire to help business owners succeed, I genuinely love what I do.”

When not crunching numbers, Laura can be found face painting at birthday parties and festivals, singing off key to her favorite bands songs, or cheering on the Boston Bruins.

Secretary

Linda Ostovitz

Linda Ostovitz is a Principal attorney with the law firm Offit Kurman. Having recently engaged in Executive Management at the firm, Linda oversaw the capacity, skills, and financial management of 280 attorneys in 10 states and 19 offices in all areas of practice.

For 20 years before joining Offit Kurman, Linda was a partner at Silverstein & Ostovitz, a boutique firm that handled exclusively Family Law matters, and for 10 years prior, she ran her own law firm. Linda’s 43-year legal career began at the State’s Attorney’s Office for Howard County. While attending law school at The University of Baltimore, she became the first Director of a newly created Victim Witness Program. Following graduation, Linda was hired as an Assistant State’s Attorney, working mostly in the district courts. She was then promoted to Senior Assistant State’s Attorney, prosecuting serious felonies in the circuit court.

Linda is certified in divorce mediation, collaborative law, arbitration, and is a graduate of the Rotary Leadership Institute and the Chesapeake Basic Economic Development Course. She has been affiliated with the Professionalism Commission of the Court of Appeals, the Judicial Nominating Commission, the Maryland State and Howard County Bar Associations, the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association, and the Howard County Collaborative Professionals. Linda has regularly spoken to a number of professional groups, including the Maryland State Police, National Family Resiliency Center, Seminars on Divorce Options in Maryland, Financial Professionals Association, and now hosts a monthly Breakfast Bar Series providing valuable information on many legal
subject matters.

She actively engages with her community, holding the position of Immediate Past Chair of the Board of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce and serving as President of the Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Additionally, Linda contributes her time and expertise to various organizations, including the Rotary Club of Columbia Patuxent and Respite Retreats at which she serves on the boards. Moreover, Linda is a dedicated advocate for Gilchrist Hospice, offering her steadfast support. She was formerly the president of the Business Women’s Network of Howard County (twice!)

Past President

Marci Brand

In 1990, Marci founded Creative Marketing Concepts, Inc., an outsource marketing department for owners, developers and managers of apartment communities. The company soon became a “go to” resource for anyone needing marketing consulting, trouble shooting, training and marketing assistance (both print and digital). In 2020, Marci and her all female team of talented marketing warriors celebrated the company’s 30th anniversary by starting a division dedicated to assisting small to mid size businesses to grow and thrive, Creative Solutions CMC.

Passionate about helping women achieve their goals, Marci was named an Emerging Leader by the SBA and was nominated for the Forbes 50 over 50, celebrating women who have taken on new challenges and new directions after the age of 50. In 2023, she was named to the Leadership Council of the National Small Business Association.

Marketing & Communications Chair

Katie Turner

Tired of feeling invisible despite doing great work? Struggling to keep your pipeline full? You know what you SHOULD be doing to market your business, but the reality is you’re inconsistent and haphazard… so you’re relying on referrals and hoping that clients renew contracts.

Sound familiar?

Everyone is telling agencies “what to do” to market themselves better. No one is actually doing the work.

Until now. I create marketing content for agencies that want to (finally) get consistent about marketing.

Together we will:

>>Uncover your differentiation and position you as an obvious choice
>>Create clear, confident messaging that attracts new business, builds trust, and shortens sales cycles.
>>Develop messaging that educates, nurtures, and converts ideal buyers
>>Support pipeline growth with ongoing content creation and strategic advising

Hospitality Co-chair

Carole Suser

Carole Suser is a local publisher and market manager in Howard County. Her role includes partnering with the best businesses and services in the area, showcasing them and building their brands affinity with community. Her mission is to bring people together through a positive, relevant, family-friendly magazine. In Carole’s 30+ years as an entrepreneurial business owner she has opened new businesses from scratch and grown them to success.

Her success has been rewarded both financially and as recipient of numerous awards from contemporaries and community members. Knowing what it takes to start, nurture and grow your business is the key. Today Carole shares tips with her business partners helping them put the best marketing practices in place easily and effectively. Carole lives in Clarksville with her husband, daughter, two cats and dog Shasta. When she is not working, Carole enjoys the outdoors, taking Shasta on her doggie playdates and her role as chauffeur for her teen daughter.

Hospitality Co-chair

Kristin Jarrell

Kristin Jarrell is the owner of Moments Made Simple, an event planning, design, coordination, and creative event concierge specializing in personalized and custom experiences for business and social events.

She is based out of Ellicott City, Maryland and services the greater DMV area and beyond. Kristin is a certified Wedding and Event Planner and Designer through the Certified Wedding Planner Society. She has years of experience planning a diverse range of events including; meetings, conferences, sporting events, social events, weddings, and more. www.momentsmadesimple.com.

Scholarship Chair

Sue Bullock

Sue Bullock is the owner of Celebrate Awards and Gifts in Ellicott City. She designs and creates recognition awards for organizations, schools, and local businesses, as well as personalized gifts for customers who want to celebrate special occasions. In 2019, Sue retired after 39 years of teaching high school in Howard County. While owning a business was never part of her plan, she is proud to stay connected with the community in a new way.

Sue has been a 4-H volunteer for nearly 30 years and presently serves on the Maryland 4-H Foundation Board of Directors.

Programs Chair

Katherine Picott

Katherine Picott (PIKE-IT) is the CEO and Founder of Professional Organizing Firm, Tidy Milso. She is an Army Wife, Folding Pro, Organizing Expert, and a KonMari Consultant, Certified by Marie Kondo. Katherine is also the first and only Professional Organizer on the Cleaning and Organizing Review Board for The Spruce Magazine.

Katherine has been organized for as long as she can remember. Her mom even keeps her school notebooks so she can show her future grandchildren how immaculate the pages are.

She enjoys helping others transform their lives…and the look on her client’s face at the end of a tidy session, she says, “is avocado on toast for me.”

After Katherine and her husband successfully paid off over $86,000 in debt, she officially launched Tidy Milso in 2020, but her journey began long before that. In 2017 her husband went away to basic training. With motivation from the book, Live More Want Less, and in an effort to stay busy, she reorganized and decluttered their home. The name of her business Tidy Milso is a nod to that experience, as Milso stands for Military Significant Other. Through several phone chats and video calls, they managed to get rid of 20+ bags of clothing and miscellaneous items. In 2019, she stumbled upon “Tidying up with Marie Kondo ” on Netflix and it was time to formally fuse her passion and profession into one.

Katherine has been featured on both local and national TV, media, and press, including Essence, Real Simple, Goop, Southern Living, The Spruce, Realtor.com, Redfin.com, Wives of the Armed Forces, Military Families Magazine, and many more!

Membership Chair

Michelle Dean

Growing up in Maryland, raising four children in the D.C. area and working with my husband in our Commerical & Residential Contracting Company for over 15 years, I have a unique and comprehensive perspective of the real estate market. I will use this knowledge of the building industry and community associations to better serve my clients. With determination and enthusiasm, I will ensure each client’s goals are achieved while guiding them through the buying and selling process. I approach each real estate connection with integrity, strong work ethic and resolve to offer a personal touch to each client.