The Affinity Circles Management Team

Steve Loughlin

President and CEO
Steve sets Affinity Circle's strategic course and also oversees its engineering, sales and marketing, and operations. Prior to Affinity Circles, Steve served as director of business development at a medical information company, developing strategic alliances and forging new revenue opportunities.   He also serves as advisor to Amidzad, a Seed Venture Capital fund, and sits on the board of the 2008 International Children’s Games.  Steve earned his B.A. in Public Policy from Stanford University and completed coursework at the London School of Economics.

Julie Mahowald

Chief Financial Officer
Mahowald is responsible for Finance and Administration at Affinity Circles.   Previously, she developed the finance team for an electronics manufacturing spinoff that went public in 1997. She later led the M&A team as the company was purchased by Celestica, Inc. Earlier in her career she served as Oracle's Assistant Treasurer, raising debt financing and managing the foreign exchange exposure for the company. She has held similar roles at other technology companies, both public and private.  Julie earned a Bachelors of Administration in Economics at Tulane University. She also earned an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania where she was a Lauder Institute fellow.

Chuck Taylor

Vice President of Marketing and Business Development
Taylor is responsible for all marketing and business development activities at Affinity Circles, including market strategy, strategic partnerships, corporate communications and marketing programs. Prior to joining Affinity Circles, he was director of product marketing for HotJobs, a Yahoo! property serving the online recruitment advertising market. He also worked as a product manager for Progressive Insurance, where he ran a national marine insurance business, a consultant for Bain & Company, where he advised Fortune 100 business leaders, and an operations manager for Procter & Gamble where he managed manufacturing systems. Taylor earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, and his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

J. R. Becko

VP, Sales and Client Services
Becko leads Affinity Circles' sales team, driving revenue and building a first-class client services organization. Previously, he served as vice president of sales at NextWeb, a Covad Communications Company. While a member of the senior team, Becko made significant contributions to the rapid growth and expansion of its fixed wireless network, and helped NextWeb become one of the largest wireless Internet service providers in the U.S. by managing strategic channel partnerships, growing the sales force, and overseeing thousands of new corporate accounts. Becko also worked in the venture capital field for two years, conducting research on early-stage high technology companies. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ashvin Kumar

Head of Engineering
Ashvin is responsible for product development and technology strategy at Affinity Circles. He has played an integral role in the development of the company's software and services platform, contributing to every aspect of the product and technology. Ashvin received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Teresa Torres

Head of Product
Torres is responsible for the product vision, user experience and execution strategy for inCircle and inCircle Recruiting. Previously, she was an early member of Become.com where she owned the user experience and as a product manager drove key initiatives including their social shopping strategy. She grew the site from launch to 3.5 million unique visitors per month. Prior to Become, Torres was an interaction designer at HighWire Press, a division of the Stanford University Libraries, where she was responsible for the user experience for several online communities.Torres earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University.