Steve Gordon
I am a part time resident and have been coming to Solivita for over eight years staying longer and longer each year. I consider Solivita as my second home. I retired about eleven years ago and took up pickleball as a hobby long before most people were familiar with the sport. It didn’t take long to become addicted, having played racquet sports all of my life. It is one of the few sports that I think you can actually get better with age and experience. Recently, I have decided to give back, volunteering to help with the Wednesday night skills clinics and coaching players with lesser skills on the courts.
My work life included 30 years in various aspects of the printing industry, before joining my partner for fifteen years in the telemarketing industry, building a company from eight employees to three divisions employing 250 people in different parts of Pennsylvania. Fortunately, we didn’t collect money or do any of the bad things you hear about telemarketers. Rather, we were lead generators for the financial industry and educational institutions.
My background is in IT, with applications and support of computer systems as well as financial management as a CFO. I have managed organizations from a distance and as you know, implementing technology has made this even more possible.
My volunteer involvement has been with many non-profit organizations, serving on the Board of Directors, as well as President of three of them. This has given me a lot of experience dealing with volunteers. I have also been active in developing Bylaws and fundraising. Thank you for your consideration of me as a member of your board. I look forward to the opportunity to serve our Smashers community.
J. R. Gray
I moved to Solivita in December 2021 after 22 years in the Chicago suburbs of Bolingbrook and Aurora. I joined the Smashers in May 2022 and my favorite thing about the game is meeting other players and learning from them.
While in Chicago, I served on the board of the Neuqua Valley Booster Club for two years as their newsletter and webmaster, where I redesigned the club’s website. I also served on the Board of Trustees for the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.
I was part of the team responsible for developing the new solivitasmashers.com website, where I implemented the team’s design and developed most of the WordPress pages and has been posting email blasts to the website. I now serve as an Advisor as the club’s webmaster.
I recently retired after 22 years working for Motorola and then Nokia, most recently as Business Group Delivery Manager responsible for Nokia’s LTE packet core deployments at Verizon. A graduate of Georgia Tech with degrees in Management and Computer Science, I have been married to my wife Janie since 1991 and we have three children in Houston, TX, Atlanta, GA and Tuscaloosa, AL.
Jim Balas
I just completed 2-year term as Sec/Treasurer for Solivita Softball Club
I graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Business and Honors in Accounting. I obtained my CPA and upon graduation worked for a large accounting firm, Ernst & Young, for 6 years. Subsequently, I worked for an Indianapolis-based real estate development firm for 20 years, where I held various financial management positions, including Controller and Treasurer.
For my last 14 years prior to retirement, I started a CPA practice, where our firm provided tax and accounting services for small businesses, including notfor-profit organizations. While in Indianapolis, I also served on the Board of Directors for 4 not-for-profit organizations, including Meals on Wheels of Indianapolis and the Indiana 4-H Foundation. Because of the above experience, I am familiar with the accounting, tax and regulatory filings required for small not-for-profit organizations.