Officers
President
Erik Deckers
Erik Deckers was the Spring 2016 writer-in-residence at the Kerouac House. He is a proud graduate of Ball State University, earning his B.S. in Philosophy and M.A. in College Student Personnel Administration.
Erik moved to Orlando in 2015, after spending his entire life in Indiana. He owns a content marketing agency, ghostwrites books, and has worked in sales and marketing for nearly 29 years, as well as spending a couple of years handling crisis communication for the Indiana State Department of Health.
Erik has co-authored four books on social media marketing, including Branding Yourself and No Bullshit Social Media, as well as his first novel, Mackinac Island Nation, the first chapter of which was his submission for his Kerouac residency.
Erik is married to Toni, a local jazz singer and actor, and they have three children, Maddie, Emma, and Ben.
Vice President
Marelize Roets
Marelize Roets is a globe-trotting South African currently living in Central Florida. She is rapidly gaining her ten thousand hours of experience writing and she lives her life by making bad decisions until someone comes from the future to stop her. She primarily writes screenplays, short scripts, flash fiction, and short stories.
Her work has previously appeared in The Writer’s Path 2023, Bending Genres, FishFood Magazine, and Scarlet Leaf Review. Her short script, “Table,” has been selected as the category winner (Best Short Script/Screenplay) by Festigious International Film Festival (December 2022), Paris Play Film Festival (June 2022), and Top Shorts Film Festival (May 2022), among others. She is also an educator, an assistant editor at Ghost Parachute. Follow her on Twitter @MRoetsWritrix. Visit her online at https://www.marelizeroets.com.
Treasurer
William Jones
William C. Jones is a commercial relationship manager at SunTrust and has over 25 years of Institutional and Commercial banking experience.
William is actively involved in the Orlando community, currently serving on the Advisory Board of the Rollins College – Hamilton Holt School. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors as the Treasurer for the Jack Kerouac Project of Orlando, Inc.
William has previously served the community as Board Member for the Good Shepherd Catholic School Foundation, mentor for Orlando/Orange County COMPACT and a Board Member for the Florida Development Finance Corporation.
Secretary
Matthew Peddie
Matthew Peddie grew up in New Zealand, where he worked as a journalist before moving to Orlando in 2010. As a radio host and reporter in Central Florida, Matthew has covered elections, the economy, hurricanes, rocket launches, and Orlando’s vibrant arts and cultural scene. With more than a decade of experience telling stories of Central Florida’s dynamic and growing community, Matthew recognizes the historic and cultural value of the Kerouac project and the value that it brings, not only to the literary community but the cultural identity of Orlando.
Voting Directors
Brett Pribble
Brett Pribble is a teacher, writer, and editor. He moved to Orlando from the retirement home known as Sarasota after graduating high school. In the past few decades, he’s knocked on doors and volunteered for various progressives causes and organizations.
He’s taught creative writing at Full Sail University since 2006. There, he’s enjoyed helping young writers tap into their potential. His stories have appeared in such places as Stirring: A Literary Collection, decomP, Saw Palm, The Molotov Cocktail, Maudlin House, and Five of the Fifth. He is the editor-in-chief of Ghost Parachute, a flash fiction magazine.
Brett’s been on both the Board of Directors and Selection Committee of the Kerouac House since 2015. He works to bring synergy to the local writing community by bringing together residents and guests of the house, his students, and writers in artists in his magazine.
Barbara Fischler
Barbara Ilvento-Fischler is a retired businesswoman and community volunteer who moved to Florida in 2010. Once she arrived, she dove right into College Park community life, getting elected to the College Park Board of Directors the following year.
She organized several Walking Tours of College Park Homes for a few years, before retiring and joining the College Park Art Center’s Board of Directors for two years.
She then joined the Kerouac Project Board of Directors in 2019 and has been a valuable addition to our organization.
Barbara is also a sculptor whose bust of Jack Kerouac greets every visitor who walks in the front door of the house.
Patrick Greene