Meet Us
Peter Brand is the Co-Founder and CEO of Virtual Press Office. Peter focuses on strategic development and partnerships.
Prior to founding Virtual Press Office, Peter helped establish Newsdesk, the first European online news service for technology news. It was in this position that Peter developed the concept of trade show online media centers and advanced measurement services to support the PR industry. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History from Hobart College and a Masters of Business Administration from Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management.
Tom Cherry is the Co-Founder and COO of Virtual Press Office. Tom is English. (please read all posts written by Tom with an English accent)
During the Premier League season Tom spends most of his time trying to find live coverage of Arsenal matches – usually to no avail. He also works to explain English words like ‘petrol, spanner and jumper’ to the office, again usually to no avail.
Prior to founding Virtual Press Office, Tom helped establish Newsdesk, the first European online news service for technology news. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Nottingham Trent University.
Chris Kenrick is the Director of Sales at Virtual Press Office.
Chris has been with Virtual Press Office for over 9 years. During his tenure with the company he has made 3 moves to 3 different buildings – along with the company, of course.
Chris is a graduate of Hartwick College (not to be mistaken with Harvard), where he played lacrosse and hockey. Prior to joining VPO Chris worked at Fidelity Investments in the Boston area, where he lived for almost 8 years. Chris loves a good joke, and if you’re into 8th grade humor, he’s your guy.
Allie Schick is the Senior Manager of Marketing & Events and has been with VPO for over 5 years.
Allie is not a fan of boring biographical information in this kind of forum so she will refrain from such. Instead she can tell you that she is originally from New England and is an avid Patriots fan. She asks herself why she moved to the Tri-State area every year during football season while she is being harassed by Jets and Giants fans. Allie is a proud Stag and graduate of Fairfield University where she was the captain of the Women’s Golf Team. She still plays golf as much as she can and is always up for a little friendly competition on the links!
Jennifer Ro is a valuable member of the Operations Team and has been with Virtual Press Office for 3 years and counting.
She is a native of New Jersey but has also lived in Philadelphia and Boston. In her cube you will find birthday cards propped up on her desk, pictures of JT pinned up on her wall (if you don’t know who this is, you’re probably better off) and random toys/gadgets from trade shows. She loves going sailing, appreciates fine dining as well as food in general and has recently taken up snowboarding as a hobby.
She is a graduate of Rutgers University – New Brunswick and will always have a place in her heart for the grease trucks on College Ave.
Polina Opelbaum is a member of the Operations Team and manages social media at Virtual Press Office.
In the office, she goes by the name of Po and Po Po. Po is a huge fan of Will Ferrell, and can be found using his movie lines during regular conversations. She also enjoys singing random songs off key on a daily basis.
Po graduated from Rutgers University, and is proud to say she rushed the field during the Rutgers vs Louisville game. Ever since, she hasn’t been back to the stadium.
Cindy Black is a Sales Executive at Virtual Press Office.
Cindy recently joined VPO but has been a member of the PR Newswire family since November of 1999. She graduated from American University in WDC with a communications degree and has been in media relations for over 20 years. Even though VPO is in the NYCity area, she is a die-hard “Philly” sports fan – she’s an Eagles season tickets holder. She loves to travel and spends her summers at the “Jersey Shore” – yes, lots of stereotypes here.
Gina Espinosa is the Marketing & Events Coordinator at Virtual Press Office.
During football season, she proudly cheers on her team – The Philadelphia Eagles! (even though she grew up 30 minutes away from Giant’s Stadium). Cooking for her friends and family is one of my favorite things to do when she has the time.
She is a Montclair State University alumni, and during her time there, she acquired her Bachelors Degree in Communication Studies with a focus in Public Relations.
Tricia LaMagna has recently joined the Operations team at Virtual Press Office.
Tricia is responsible for the daily management of client documents and press kits for trade shows. She is a graduate from Marist College. She loves her three dogs and reading, but only on her Kindle. Tricia can often be found at the Giants game on Sundays as she is the #1 NY Giants fan.
