GTECHer Spotlight: George Jones Posted on June 4, 2014 by Grounded Strategies Share this post Get to know…George Jones [one_half padding=”10px 0 0 0″][/one_half] Current GTECH connection: SCC Member Hometown: Birmingham, AL Alma Mater: Vanderbilt and Carnegie Mellon University Favorite Activity: Grillin’ at Bayardstown Favorite Cocktail: Boulevardiers from Bar Marco Favorite Burrito Topping: Queso is King! These days George’s favorite view of Pittsburgh comes from a top a bike. In fact it was on his bike last year at the Two Wheels Lots of Green Bike Tour that the group rode past a community garden that had once been a GTECH Sunflower project in Larimer; a sunflower project that George found himself weeding only two weeks after moving to Pittsburgh back in 2009. George came to Pittsburgh by ways of Benton Harbor, MI to get his MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon. Volunteering with classmates in those first few weeks is how he found himself (serendipitously) introduced to GTECH’s work. From the day one, he was impressed with Pittsburgh’s ability to continues to improve itself, yet maintains its character and coolness. Since graduating in 2011, George has worked at a Denali Sourcing Services where he helps companies reduce costs by first analyzing how and what they buy, and then by executing the resulting sourcing projects. I’m particularly fascinated with GTECH’s ReClaim projects. I think it’s a very unique approach to purposefully addressing vacant spaces. A few cities I’ve lived in (Benton Harbor, MI and Selma, AL to name a few) would benefit greatly by developing a similar model. – George After last year’s bike tour, George decided to get more involved with GTECH’s work and join the Social Capital Council. He will be assisting in planning this year’s Two Wheel Lots of Green event. This will be especially helpful because of his own bike riding coordinating experiences. He and his friend have been coordinating Tour de Tacos which is an organized bike ride of taco joints around the ‘burgh. Who knows, maybe soon we will be collaborating on a Bikes and Burritos ride… Connect with George LinkedIn Each week we highlight a community member who makes our work possible. Email Sara if you’d like to nominate someone or share your GTECH story.