Magnolia Gardens creates two positions to expand services

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens has created two new positions to meet a growing need to manage special events and shield its computer network.

A veteran of NASA, Karen Lucht has been named Special Events/Festivals Coordinator. Paul Paez, an information technology specialist, was selected as director of information services and cyber security.

During Lucht’s 20-year career with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, she held positions of increasing responsibility at NASA centers in Texas, New Mexico, Florida and at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. In her most recent position, Lucht was a member of the management team responsible for developing a vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle. After leaving the agency in 2013, Lucht worked in the Public Relations Department of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater, Florida, where she oversaw the professional appearance of 1,400 staff members.

Lucht is a magna cum laude graduate of Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

As the Special Events/Festivals Coordinator at Magnolia, Lucht will coordinate with management, vendors and local organizations to provide special events and festivals which invite the local community to share in the beauty and legacy of Magnolia.

For six years, Paez served in the U.S. Navy as a sonar technician on a nuclear powered submarine. After the military, he studied computer and electronic engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.

He is the former owner of Timely Tech, a company that specialized in resolving workplace computer failures. He is also president of e-Security Solutions based in Summerville.

Paez began his computer career nearly 30 years ago. In the last decade, he gradually switched from a computer generalist to an online security specialist. Cyber security will become more in demand as the internet connects the global community.