TAG Staff

Larry Williams is President and CEO of the Technology Association of Georgia.

Williams brings more than 25 years of experience in global branding, international trade and finance, public and industrial policy, and administration and management to TAG. As the former president and CEO of The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County’s official economic development partnership, Williams helped facilitate local, national and international business growth and expansion programs. Under Williams’ leadership The Beacon Council created and executed a new economic development framework to help the area grow and secure investments in today’s innovation economy. This is resulted in $687 million in new investment, 119 company relocations or expansions, and more than 4,500 new jobs.

From 2011 to 2014 Williams helped shape the vision for Atlanta’s tech sector as vice president of technology development at the Metro Atlanta Chamber. He provided leadership and direction to the Chamber’s Mobility Task Force, positioning Atlanta as a global hub of mobile technology, and to the Technology Leadership Council.

Julie is the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at TAG, working to ignite and inspire Georgia’s technology community, enhance TAG’s impact and create great experiences for TAG members, sponsors and supporters.

Julie previously served as Chief Marketing Officer for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, leading strategic direction for communications, new branding, legislative policy and marketing efforts to support and promote ACFB’s core mission to fight hunger.

As Senior Manager, Communications & Marketing for the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Julie steered communications, media and marketing strategy for the economic development team, coordinating multiple industry sectors around MAC-led initiatives.

As Managing Editor of Atlanta Business Chronicle, Julie served as part of the executive editing team for the city’s premier business paper, reaching more than 200,000 weekly readers. In her 12 years with the Chronicle, Julie led the health care/bioscience beat; managed the paper’s more than 80 annual industry-related publications; managed the delivery of exclusive, breaking news; led an effort to expand the paper’s international business coverage and worked to make the Chronicle the leading news outlet for business.

Before coming to work for the Chronicle, Julie was a staff writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and worked as a reporter for the Tulsa World. She began her career in TV and radio, working as a news director and radio morning show co-host in Greenville, South Carolina and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Julie is a 2008 German Marshall Memorial Fund Fellow, a proud member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2007. She is also mom to a busy, funny and beloved 8-year-old son.

Heather Maxfield serves as the Vice President, Government Affairs and Statewide Economic Development. In this role, she will be responsible for producing TAG’s annual State of the Industry: Technology in Georgia Report. This report, which is supported by the Georgia Economic and Community Development Department (GDEcD), the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) and the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC), provides an in-depth analysis of factors critical to the continued success and growth of the Atlanta technology community.

Heather will also be responsible for executive TAG’s Business Launch Competition, Facilitating Leadership Council meetings, TAG Radio, the TAG Ambassadors program, developing White Papers and TAG’s Society Showcase, as well as several TAG Societies including BPM, CRM, Entrepreneurs and Infrastructure Societies.

Prior to joining TAG, Heather was a Community Outreach Director for Edison Learning – an education management company. Other experience includes nearly a decade of educating state and federal legislators on issues facing Georgia credit unions and educators, serving as an account coordinator for Duffey Communications, a public relations firm in Atlanta, interning for Rep. John J. LaFalce (D-NY) and working on the political campaign of Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA).

Heather holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies from State University of New York at Brockport. She has also attended the University of Georgia.

Rebecca is excited to be part of the TAG team as Chief of Staff. She has spent her career with some of Atlanta’s best organization committed to the future of the region, including the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Atlanta Police Foundation. With more than 20 years working with Atlanta leadership, Rebecca knows companies find great value and real purpose in supporting the communities they touch, resulting in financial growth, employee engagement and world perception. Her experience encompasses collecting and analyzing information, creating and implementing strategy, and collaborating closely with diverse audiences to successfully accomplish company initiatives. She thrives on giving order to chaos and making others successful.

Kyle Ross joined TAG in June 2013 as the Director of Sponsorship Relations. In this role Kyle will work to ensure companies sponsoring TAG events receive the benefits promised. In addition, Kyle will manage the CIO Roundtables, CEO Dinner, CIO/CFO Roundtables, and CIO under $100 Million Roundtables. Prior to joining TAG, Kyle worked 12 years in the non-profit sector focusing on youth development.

Rebecca Markusson is the Senior Director, Corporate Events and Society Engagement. She is responsible for the strategic direction and management of TAG major events and oversight of TAG Societies. In addition, she serves as a liaison to a number of TAG professional societies, oversees and helps to coordinate the benefits execution of TAG’s event sponsorships, executes sponsorship prospect plans and manages individual ticket sales income through management of event committees and tasks force.

Prior to joining TAG in February 2018, she was Program and Marketing Manager for the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC) Ecosystem Expansion team concentrating on Bioscience, Mobility and IoT, Supply Chain and Technology industries. In this role, she worked with the Ecosystem Expansion directors to promote the existing ecosystems (Bioscience, Mobility and IoT, Supply Chain and Technology) in metro Atlanta. She joined the MAC in September 2011 as a Project Coordinator. In this role, she supported the Supply Chain and Business Services industries in recruiting and expanding companies in metro Atlanta. Previous to joining MAC, she worked in Real Estate Property Management for various properties in metro Atlanta.

Rebecca graduated from Elon University with a degree in Sports Management and a minor in Business Administration. She lives in Brookhaven and enjoys playing tennis and traveling.

Kellie Jackson joined the TAG staff as Associate Director of Accounting on April 2017. In her role she served as a liaison for the Corporate Development society and the Associate Director of Accounting. She is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and attended Louisiana State University. She values teamwork and relationships and believes that treating people like you want to be treated is still the golden rule. Kellie enjoys meeting new people and spending time with family & friends.