Helena Pechaver Starc is the Secretary for the Slovenian Hall since 2016 and has served on the Board of Directors for the Slovenian Hall for over 4 years. 

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Helena’s parents Ann (from Germany) and Anton Pechaver (from Semic in the Bela Krajina region of Slovenia) were active participants in the San Francisco Bay Area Slovenian community since 1950.  They married in the Slovenian Church of the Nativity, where Helena and her husband (of parents from Metlika and Ribnica, Slovenia) were also married.  Helena grew up playing several instruments including the accordian, and with the Northern California Button Box Club, recorded two albums of polkas and waltzes. Both Helena and Mario sang in the Church of the Nativity Slovenian choir and have been members of Club Slovenia for 25+ years together (she has been a member since birth).  Helena is also a member of KSKJ St. Francis Lodge #236, where she has been a life-long member and a Board Member for over 5 years, as well as an Auditor for 3+ years.  Helena and her husband founded and led the Slovenian Study Group in 1995, which featured global speakers and discussions on Slovenian history, politics, and culture.  Her family continues to actively participate in the local Bay Area Slovenian community.  Their three children, Josef Matthew (graduate of Columbia University of New York), Martina Pavlinka (attending Columbia), and Antonia Francesca (attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), have also been involved in Slovenian events such as Martinavanje, the Grape Harvest Festival, and the American Slovenian Education Foundation (ASEF).

 

Helena’s career in the High Tech industry began with IBM as a programmer, then project manager for large systems implementations for clients nationwide.  She continued in this vein, leading large technology projects and programs for Wells Fargo and ATT, then as a Senior Product Manager for Siebel Systems.  After helping grow a start-up IT Services firm as Marketing Vice President, she founded a mobile marketing company, then led digital engagement programs for EMC, Cisco, and Salesforce, where she is currently Director, Office of Innovation.  She received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science / Math, and a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric / Communications, both from University of California at Davis, as well as an MBA from University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business.