Our Team
RMK Productions is a team of event logistics experts skilled in executing all types of special events.
Reggie M. Kouba, President & Founder
RMK Productions is led by principal and founder Reggie M. Kouba. With nearly 20 years of event and professional services experience, Reggie has a proven track record delivering success for RMK’s clients. She built her reputation and success around the ability to see the big picture while focusing on the little details that truly make a difference. She has handled every aspect of event planning and execution from front desk registration to food selection. Her strong background coupled with the knowledge learned from “hands on” experience provide the driving force behind RMK Productions.
Prior to launching RMK Productions, Reggie was Senior Vice President for SpeakerBox PR where she created and managed the company’s marketing/event programs for customers such as the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Arlington Economic Development, and NOVA Medical Group. During her more than eight years with the agency, she advised clients in all areas of their programs including grand openings, corporate parties, annual meetings, and strategic planning retreats.
In addition to her client facing roles at SpeakerBox, Reggie also served as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer overseeing finance, HR and IT systems management. She earned her MA in Public Communications from American University and a BA in Political Science from The Catholic University of America.
Beth Ellis, Finance Leader
Beth has been working in the finance field for almost three decades. Her experience includes working with large corporations, small and medium-sized non-profits, government contractors and small start-ups. Beth understands that not all minds think in monetary terms. Her straight-forward approach and attention to consistency ensures clarity and clean financials.
Beth holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from James Madison University. Upon graduating, she began work at a small non-profit company as Assistant to the Comptroller where she worked for three years learning the ropes. She then moved on to work at Corporate Headquarters for the former Telecommunications giant MCI, preparing monthly financial reports, and then transitioned into the Marketing branch where she helped plan and budget for various products, including 1-800-COLLECT.
After six years in the corporate world, Beth took time off from outside work to stay home and raise her family of four children. During this time, she volunteered as Treasurer of her children’s elementary school PTA. It is there that she honed her bookkeeping skills. She then secured a position at a small bookkeeping company doing accounting, payroll, and monthly financial reporting for several clients.
Jennifer Colwell, Senior Manager
Jennifer brings a rare mix of skills and experience suited to unlocking the potential of volunteers, teams and events for her RMK clients. First – and foremost – her experience as a project management professional means she knows exactly how to leverage the systems, processes and tools of project management to deliver greater operational efficiencies. Second, Jennifer brings an innate understanding of how to evaluate and deploy technology to improve internal processes and create customer delight. Third, her decades of event planning and production experience makes her one of the best event planners in the DMV. Lastly, she knows how to bring the right mix of her skills to enhance any situation from building and deploying new association management systems (AMS) and running a smooth board meeting, to producing flawless, multi-day, thousand-plus attendee conferences.
In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of several associations and simultaneously producing a broad range of events for RMK clients, Jennifer has become a master at new technology implementations. Recently she has led several new AMS implementations on the Naylor and Club Express platforms. She also serves as the RMK in-house expert for several event focused platforms including Cvent, OpenWater and ON24.
Prior to joining RMK, Jennifer served as the Director of Continuing Education and Events at the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACOS) where she handled program planning and management of conferences, as well as continuing medical education (CME) accreditation compliance. Earlier in her career, Jennifer was a project manager for an association management firm and held management positions in operations for the Ritz Carlton. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from James Madison University in Hotel and Restaurant Management.
Julia Nelson, Senior Manager
Julia is a master project and risk manager. With more than 20 years of experience in senior operations roles, Julia can assess a project or event and build out the full project plan including costs, schedule and risks. Julia also has strong communication skills and builds a relationship with her clients and teams to ensure everyone is working effectively and efficiently. These skills allow her to better assess risks, avoid pitfalls, stay on schedule and budget and problem solve quickly. Behind every successfully executed event, project and team is someone like Julia who can orchestrate these critical projects seamlessly.
Prior to joining RMK, Julia was the Vice President for Mosaic Funds and the Director of Operations for GIT Investment Services, in addition to a volunteer for a long list of personal and professional organizations. Julia graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in General Studies and Humanities.
Amy Steinbicker, Senior Manager
Amy is a creative, decisive and results-driven account manager with expertise in running the day to day operations of small trade associations/foundations. Since joining the RMK Productions Team in 2011, Amy has developed a solid reputation for exhibiting strong communication skills, harvesting attention to detail and offering keen insights into effective association management. Her organizational skills are utilized to help her clients remain on target as they work to achieve desired outcomes.
Prior to joining RMK Productions, Amy was supervisor of the employee assistance program (termed EAS) at US Airways when it was based in Arlington, Virginia. In this role, Amy led headquarters staff, managed contracted services, and directed communications for the efficient delivery of employee assistance services across the corporation. Amy was often called to represent the Human Resources department for participation in special corporate initiatives.
Amy received her Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 1998 with a focus on social work administration and a concentration in occupational social work. Previously, Amy completed her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Journalism from Washington and Lee University in 1992. In her spare time, Amy enjoys spending time with her family, exercising and volunteering to support various church-related ministries.
Jennifer Fortney, Senior Manager
Jennifer combines a passion for process improvement and risk mitigation with an extensive background in event production and membership recruitment and retention. This broad skill set delivers the planning structure and attention to detail that consistently exceed RMK clients’ expectations. Her deep experience producing programs targeted to high school and college age students and their parents makes her an ideal leader for RMK clients with youth-focused outreach programs.
Prior to joining RMK, Jennifer spent over a decade working with health care focused national associations before shifting her focus to college age students at the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. During her tenure on the in-house side of association management, Jennifer managed national awareness campaigns, provided direct support to student chapters, led national programs focused on addressing key societal issues and built a scholarship program.
Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA.
Stephanie MacDonald, Events Leader
Stephanie brings a strategic mindset to her event planning – ensuring behind-the-scenes planning supports an event’s overall objectives. Her proactive approach clears the decks so she and her team are ready for any eventuality that might occur with a live event – whether in-person, virtual or hybrid.
With more than a decade of event production, consulting, and marketing communications experience, Stephanie’s broad range of skills and perspective help clients realize amazing experiences. Her expertise in logistics, event design, vendor selection, contract negotiations, project management and day-of execution ensures clients can rest easy.
Stephanie earned her bachelor’s at Boston University and spent over a decade at professional services firms. She is an animal lover and also currently lends her expertise to support the Fairfax County Animal Shelter and its charitable partner, Friends of the Fairfax County Animal Shelter.
April Vitovsky, Events Leader
April is driven to find the hook that makes every event she leads a not to be missed experience. Whether a workshop for a few dozen attendees or a multi-day event for thousands, April’s team focused approach, grounded in her sports and sports marketing background, keeps the RMK and client teams focused on the goal. An extensive background in B2B marketing brings a solid business focus to her budgeting, contract negotiations and vendor sourcing, delivering “must attend” events with solid ROI.
Jessica Simpkins, Account Leader
Jessica joined RMK as an intern while pursuing her undergraduate degree in marketing in 2013 and immediately established herself as an invaluable member of the team. Today she co-leads major accounts and event planning and production for several clients as well as being the RMK team’s go-to expert for a wide-variety of tech tools and services.
An excellent copy writer, Jessica also brings an innate understanding of content management systems, databases and design software to the table along with strong project management capabilities. Her recent RMK client achievements include the back-end build out of several new websites along with the deployment of multiple plug-ins for event management, membership management and other online tools. This year she is the lead producer for a major awards gala and is working to master budgeting of complex events and venue contract negotiations.
Jessica worked her way through college in sales and front-line retail service positions where she polished her client service skills. She holds a bachelor’s in marketing from George Mason University.
Kathi Lunardi, Account Manager
Kathi believes the key to successful events – and client relationships – is focusing on planning and organization. She combines almost a decade of experience in non-profit association management and production with a passion for achieving high levels of client and attendee satisfaction.
Prior to joining RMK, Kathi worked at the Pennsylvania Ballet producing events and growing corporate partnerships. Prior to the ballet, she served as Director of Membership at the US-ASEAN Business Council. Before moving into her association management and event management career, Kathi was a Special Education Teacher.
She holds a Master’s from Arcadia University, Glenside, PA and a Bachelor’s from St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia.
Crystal Poole, Account Executive
Crystal’s two distinct career paths bring a thoughtful perspective to event planning perfectly complemented by grace under pressure at every RMK produced event. She began her career creating teen-focused programs for more than a decade before moving into a national leadership role in customer service training and development for a Fortune 500 company.
In addition to her event production role at RMK, Crystal works with several of our association management clients managing communications, membership management, customer service and tech infrastructure.
Jackie Udoji, Intern
Jackie has recently joined the RMK team as she pursues her undergraduate degree. Her exemplary professionalism combined with her strong copy writing and design skills make her a go-to resource for social media for RMK and its clients. Demonstrating her innate sense of client service, she’s quickly becoming a great asset for our event production teams as well.
Jackie will graduate from The Catholic University of America, Washington, with a bachelor’s in marketing in 2023.
