Ellen Durnin, dean of Southern Connecticut State University School of Business, is pleased to welcome Lindy Lee Gold and Lakisha Jordan to the Business Advisory Council.

Durnin said about the importance of the BAC, “The Business Advisory Council serves a critical role in connecting the School of Business to the business community. The BAC members provide connections, internships, and employment opportunities for students; they advocate for the School of Business in the community; and they are key partners in fundraising efforts for strategic initiatives.”

Lindy Lee Gold has worked for the State of Connecticut since 1998. She is currently a senior specialist in the Department of Economic and Community Development, where she is responsible for business retention, recruitment, and expansion.

Prior to joining the state office, Gold was director of development and community relations for the Connecticut office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Her professional background also includes work in the travel and investment industries, as well as devoting efforts to directing and coordinating development and renovation of low-and-middle-income housing.

Gold’s civic accomplishments are expansive and include serving two terms on the New Haven Board of Alderman for the 26^th Ward, where she chaired the Legislation Committee and served on the Finance Committee. Her current leadership roles include serving as board chair of the Gateway Community College Foundation since 2009, as a Fellow at Yale’s Pierson College, Vice-President of the Jewish Federation Association of CT, and as a member of the Executive Board of the Shubert Performing Arts center since 1997.

Additionally, she serves on the state board of the Anti-Defamation League; and on the boards of the United Way of Greater New Haven, The Community Action Agency, New Haven Arts Council, Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, Housatonic Community College Foundation, Southern CT State University Foundation, JobLinks Fairfield County, CT Technical High Schools, New Haven Manufacturers Association, and the Women’s Business Development Center.

In the past, Gold has served on the New Haven Board of Education, where her volunteer work included being vice chair of the Intergroup Relations Taskforce; and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, where she was president and chair of community relations. She also was founder and the first female president of Fellowship Inc, and Cornerstone Inc., and is past president of the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven.

Gold is a friend to Southern, where she serves as the chair of the SCSU Development Committee, is a member of the SCSU Governance Committee, and is the generous funder of the SCSU School of Business Women’s Leadership Program.

She resides in New Haven and has one son and one grandson.

LaKisha Jordan serves as the Corporate Responsibility Officer for KeyBank’s Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Hudson Valley markets, where she oversees a broad community engagement strategy, which includes Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) compliance and execution of KeyBank’s $16.5 billion National Community Benefits Plan. In her role, she works in close partnership with local KeyBank leadership and community organizations on critical community issues impacting the respective markets.

Jordan has more than eighteen years of experience in financial services and banking. She joined KeyBank in 2016 as a relationship officer for the Commercial Banking team. Prior to KeyBank, Jordan spent nine years at Bank of America in various roles in Commercial Banking.

An active community volunteer, Jordan has served as a mentor and currently sits on the board of directors for Phenomenal I Am, a nonprofit in New Haven that provides mentorships and empowerment enrichment workshops to at-risk female teens. She also serves as the assistant program coordinator for KeyBank’s mentoring program, a partnership with the New Haven Public Schools that pairs students starting in their freshman year of high school with a mentor at the Bank. Additionally, she serves on the KeyBank Servicing Company Board of Directors, the Community Economic Development Fund Foundation Board of Directors, and Gateway Community College Foundation Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Corporate Leadership Circle of the State of Connecticut’s Council for Women and Girls, the Hartford Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) Advisory Committee, and recently joined Southern Connecticut State University’s Business Advisory Council.

Jordan is a member of several social and professional organizations, volunteering her time to various initiatives including Susan G. Komen Foundation and Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. She was named as one of the “100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut” for 2018 by the State Conference of NAACP Branches.

Jordan is a proud Southern alumna, holding a Master’s in Business Administration and a bachelor of science from the university, with concentrations in psychology, sociology, and public health.  Jordan resides in Hamden with her husband and three children.

Ellen Durnin, dean of Southern Connecticut State University School of Business, is pleased to welcome Kevin Burke and Lauren Tagliatela to the Business Advisory Council.

Durnin said about the importance of the BAC, “The Business Advisory Council serves a critical role in connecting the School of Business to the business community. The BAC members provide connections, internships, and employment opportunities for students; they advocate for the School of Business in the community; and they are key partners in fundraising efforts for strategic initiatives.”

Kevin Burke is a senior vice president and Market Executive for the Wells Fargo Commercial Banking in Connecticut and NY Capital Region. He manages commercial banking division that develops and maintains business relationships with companies with annual revenues greater than $5 million. Burke’s team has offices in Albany, N.Y., and Greenwich, Hartford and Shelton, Conn.

Burke started his banking career in 1991 and, before joining Wells Fargo, had a long and impressive career utilizing his talents at Consolidated Asset Recovery Corporation, a subsidiary of Chase Manhattan Bank; Shawmut Bank; and Fleet Bank, a successor to Shawmut.

Burke, a U.S. Army veteran, earned a B.A. from Fordham University in New York; an M.A. in international relations from Boston University in Heidelberg, Germany; and an MBA in finance from the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

Burke is an active member in the community. He is the chairman of the Gateway Community College President’s Council, and immediate past chair and board member of the Shubert Theater in New Haven. In addition, he is a member of the board of overseers of the Bushnell Theater in Hartford.

Burke and his wife have two daughters and reside in Guilford, Conn.

Lauren Tagliatela joined Franklin Construction, a family business founded by her great-grandfather over a century ago, in 2006. She serves as the chief community officer for Canal Crossing at Whitneyville West and Franklin Communities, managing a total of 1,200 apartment homes in the Greater New Haven region. She is responsible for marketing, social media campaigns, online reputation analytics, resident engagement, conflict resolution, budgeting, and creating design concepts for future apartment communities.

Born and raised in Wallingford, Conn., Tagliatela currently resides in North Haven with her wife and twin boys. She graduated from Boston University in 2002 with a B.S. in journalism, a concentration in photography and minor in women’s studies. In 2017, she received her MBA with high honors from Albertus Magnus College, with a concentration in marketing and leadership.

Currently, Tagliatela is serving on the Board of Directors for the Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Durnin said, “Both Kevin and Lauren bring experience, knowledge, and passion to their roles as new BAC members. I am pleased to welcome them to my advisory council, and I look forward to continuing our progress of building bridges with the business community.”