OVERDRIVE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Publisher Services & General Counsel
Erica Lazzaro joined OverDrive in 2003 and is the company's Executive Vice President, Publisher Services and General Counsel. She oversees the Legal, Publisher Services and Content Services teams. In her role, she leads the teams working with the company's content suppliers, including the operational and sales relationships and licensing of OverDrive's products and services.
Greg Farmer joined OverDrive in 2013 and is the company's Chief Financial Officer. He also serves on the company's Board of Directors. As CFO, Greg leads OverDrive's Finance and Accounting teams, and works with other members of the Executive Team to develop and execute the company's strategic objectives and overall business plan.
Prior to joining OverDrive, he was Vice President and Corporate Controller at Hilite International, a global designer and manufacturer of highly engineered powertrain components for the automotive market. Greg also served as an Audit Manager at a large public accounting firm. He is a CPA and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Kent State University.
Since 1994, Jeff has been leading the development and architecture of OverDrive's technology, including customer-facing applications, back-end services and everything in between. Jeff graduated from Ohio Northern University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.
The most recent member of OverDrive's Executive team, Jen Leitman joined the company in 2023. With a strong background of creative leadership and brand building, Jen is responsible for unifying marketing efforts across the company and raising brand awareness and engagement for the company's industry-leading platforms and apps.
Prior to OverDrive, Jen spent more than ten years leading creative and marketing teams in the media industry at HGTV and Great American Country. While at The Family Coppola global lifestyle company, Leitman led marketing teams across a portfolio of food, wine, spirits and resorts, developing new brand campaigns and industry partnerships. An avid reader and lifelong learner, Leitman earned her BA in Communications from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an MBA from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Lori Franklin joined OverDrive in 2002 and is currently responsible for operational functions including Human Resource Services, Talent Management, Facilities, Partner Services and Business Systems & Analytics. Prior to joining OverDrive, Lori held financial and consulting positions with Ernst & Young and franchise companies that own Applebee's and Chili's Bar & Grill restaurants.
She is a CPA and received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bowling Green State University and a master's degree in business administration from Baldwin Wallace University. Lori was recognized by Crain's Cleveland Business as one of its Women of Note in 2012, by Smart Business Cleveland Magazine as one of its Smart 50 Honoree's in 2018 and is a board member of the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation Board.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Product Management & UI / UX
Since 2000, Ryan has lead various development, supply chain and product management teams to build, maintain and constantly improve the OverDrive suite of products and services. Ryan holds both a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in business administration from Kent State University.
Steve Potash - CEO, Founder, President
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Founder
- President
Steve Potash founded OverDrive in 1986. As the possibilities of the internet and digital books evolved through the 1990s, we refocused our mission. OverDrive launched our content distribution service in 2000, and since that time, our reach has rapidly expanded. Along with the industry's leading digital reading platform, OverDrive now offers the largest digital content catalog in the world to more than 92,000 libraries and schools in 115 countries and the highest-rated apps that are built to create reading happiness.
Steve Potash is President and Chief Executive Officer of OverDrive, a company that he founded in 1986. He also serves on its Board of Directors. As CEO, Steve leads an Executive Strategic Team focused on OverDrive's vision to create a world enlightened by reading. Under his leadership, OverDrive has become the leading digital reading platform for ebooks, audiobooks and other digital media for libraries, schools, government agencies, corporate learning centers and colleges and universities worldwide. A true pioneer in the digital content and distribution industry, Steve was among the first to develop useful applications for digital books in the 1980s. He began his career offering innovative floppy diskette, CD-ROM and print-to-digital conversion services, and introduced early versions of digital books to the law, accounting and healthcare industries.