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High Velocity Radio

Month: July 2012

Debbie Fuse: Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce, Danny Rinaldi and Dr. Russell Rosenberg: Harmonix, Al Loise: Vayu Media

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Debbie Fuse/ Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce

Debbie Fuse is the Executive Director of the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce. Debbie’s background was in sales management, and sales to the construction industry. Prior to that, she held positions in management in the hotel and restaurant industry. She led highly successful sales teams in the Southeast – from 11-28 sales reps with each position – and requirements of traveling up to 80% of her time. After two downsizings, she decided to redirect her focus locally and work within the community where she lives. She’s been in Dunwoody for 14 years after moving from the Baltimore area.

Danny Rinaldi/ Harmonix

A multi-million dollar sales executive and entrepreneur, Danny Rinaldi, Founder and CEO of Harmonix, had been traveling back and forth to China for business and his body clock was struggling with the constant change.  It was tough and it took time to make the adjustment to changing time zones. Add to that the burden that most Americans feel every day – stress from work.  In Danny’s case, his anxiety came from the pressure of selling the toys he made to some of the biggest retail chains in the world.

It was the search for his own natural sleep solution that led Danny to develop Sleep Formula 39™  and launch Harmonix, LLC in 2011.

Throughout his career Danny has developed brands and managed fast-paced, high-growth, public and private businesses.  He has generated revenues of more than $100 million in technology and consumer-packaged goods for Texas Instruments, Atari and Telxon Corporation.  As the founder and partner of his own companies, he has established a network of 18 sales representatives who call on all major retailers including Costco, Wal-Mart, Target, CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

Russell Rosenberg,Ph.D./ NeuroTrials and Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine

Dr. Rosenberg is a Scientific Advisor to Harmonix, LLC. He assists the company with the design, implementation and interpretation of clinical research.

Dr. Rosenberg has 25 years experience in clinical sleep medicine and research. He is a Board Certified Sleep Specialist and Fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He has made presentations on sleep disorders around the United States as well as in Asia and Europe. He has authored several book chapters and numerous peer-reviewed journal articles on sleep disorders. His current research interests include treatments for insomnia and circadian rhythm disorders as well as treatments for disorders that cause excessive sleepiness.

Dr. Rosenberg is Chairman of the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). He obtained his Doctorate in Clinical and Research Psychology from Ohio State University and received specialized training in sleep disorders medicine and research at Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Rosenberg also serves as CEO of NeuroTrials Research and the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and Technology.

Al Loise/ Vayu Media

Al Loise is the Director of Market Development for Vayu Media, an Atlanta-based search engine optimization and online marketing firm. Vayu Media caters to the marketing needs of all size companies by strategizing, developing and implementing interactive marketing strategies that fit the unique needs and budget of each client. Vayu Media leverages their extensive experience in different facets of marketing to develop a measurable return on investment for their clients.

Al consults with businesses of all sizes on developing a successful marketing strategy that delivers a positive ROI. His client base consists of both B2B and B2C businesses, as well as both e-Commerce companies and traditional brick and mortar-type businesses. He has been a featured speaker and presented on SEO and online marketing strategies at the Small Business Technology Tour, the Georgian Club, as well as the upcoming ICE Ecommerce Summit this October here in Atlanta.

Prior to joining Vayu Media, Al had gained extensive experience in marketing and business development in a variety of different organizations, where he was responsible for managing and developing employees and implementing different initiatives to help increase revenue and market share. Al also has extensive experience in managing operations and profit and loss responsibility.

Ankush Tewari: LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Andrew Katz: Thumb Friendly, Kent Reed: Murphy Business & Financial Corporation North Atlanta, and Bill Short: FiberTech

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Ankush Tewari/ LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Ankush Tewari is Director of Strategy and Market Planning for LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Lead Integrity products. He has over 10 years of experience developing and executing strategies to maximize profits and manage risk using information solutions and analytics. He has worked with Fortune 500 clients in a wide range of industries as well as multiple agencies within the federal government.

Ankush holds an undergraduate degree in Management from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Andrew Katz/ Thumb Friendly

Andrew is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Thumb Friendly. Andrew’s areas of focus include capital management, strategic direction, new market development and establishing Thumb Friendly as the market’s leading mobile presence provider for SMBs. Prior to founding Thumb Friendly, Andrew was a tenacious driver of growth in both start-up and publicly traded corporations. He has also helped launch, market and sell products that delivered over $200M in revenue. In addition to all of this, Andrew has broad industry experience in internet advertising, web presence optimization, venture capital and private equity, and he has worked with numerous other start-ups as an executive consultant to the leadership team.

When he isn’t working, Andrew is probably on a golf course, reading a book, or most likely spending time with his wife, two daughters and Chloe – his black lab.

Kent Reed/ Murphy Business & Financial Corporation North Atlanta

Kent Reed, owner of Murphy Business & Financial Corporation – North Atlanta, recently helped Bill Short, Atlanta entrepreneur, with buying a business.

Bill bought Lawrenceville, Ga.-based FiberTech using Kent’s business buying/brokerage services to negotiate the purchase and acquire the business. Bill left the banking industry after 34 years to own his own company. He acquired the 20-person fiber-optic engineering and installation company last March.

Kent cut his teeth as a professional primarily in marketing. He rose to the top of his field. However, Kent craved more balance in life — and he kicked the corporate world to the curb. Putting more importance on lifestyle, Kent launched North Atlanta’s Murphy Business & Financial Corporation.

Kent has immersed himself in his business and has become a statewide success story — recently earning a place in the Georgia Association of Business Brokers “Million Dollar Club.”

All of this, without losing focus on what is most important to him — more time with his family and enjoying life on a larger scale (loves time in the North Georgia Mountains and fishing with his twin boys).

Bill Short/ FiberTech

Bill Short is the Owner and CEO of FiberTech, Inc., a telecommunications construction company specializing in fiber optic based networks. Prior to purchasing FiberTech, he was a Banker in the greater metropolitan Atlanta area for 30+ years, most recently retiring as President & CEO of Touchmark National Bank. He did his undergraduate studies at Clemson University and completed his MBA at Duke University. He also completed graduate work at Dartmouth College and UNC at Chapel Hill. Bill has been active in and held leadership positions with many community and civic organizations over the years to include the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter, the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia, the Gwinnett Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the Council for Quality Growth, the United Way, the Robert D. Fowler YMCA, the Atlanta Athletic Club and the Peachtree Corners Rotary Club. He is a graduate of Leadership Gwinnett and served as the Assistant General Manager of Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Bill and his wife Joann live in Roswell, GA — he has three children.

 

Laurie Bacopoulos: Cobblestone Consulting, Inc., Nancy See: Atlanta Board of Realtors, Dr. Sally Jamara: Traversa Consulting, and Dan Redman: JavaTap Coffee

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Laurie Bacopoulos/Cobblestone Consulting, Inc.

Laurie Bacopoulos is President and Founder of Cobblestone Consulting, Inc.

One of Atlanta’s most highly respected technology consultancies, Cobblestone Consulting just celebrated 11 years of Business Excellence in 2011. A business and technology solution provider built on a solid foundation of integrity, long term relationships and innovative solutions,  they understand that the business landscape is not flat, nor does it flow in one direction. Cobblestone Consulting believes IT solutions should be reliable, grow with your business, foster productivity and make working easier. This means achieving real business results that yield a strategic advantage from IT and transforming your organization.

Ms. Bacopoulos brings 2 decades of experience working with Fortune 500 companies and has proven expertise building technology solutions to real business needs. Her portfolio of technology-centric consulting experience and solutions includes implementing enterprise-wide Intranets and Portfolio Management systems that transform organizations toward new processes and improved information and decision making systems to support “Smart Business.” In June 2010, Cobblestone Consulting launched their first product; “Smart Business in a Box©”, a SaaS solution that offers robust Intranet solutions that emphasizes operational efficiencies and project management.

Laurie is very actively involved in volunteerism with a mantra of “giving back”. She currently serves as President of the Association for Strategic Planners for the Atlanta Chapter, the only not-for-profit professional association dedicated to advancing thought and practice in strategy development and deployment for business, non-profit and government organizations. Additionally, she is very active with Georgia Women’s Business in their Mentor Protégé Program.

Laurie is very passionate about and an avid competitor on the endurance horse racing circuit. In 2007, she joined the AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference) to compete in the Southeast with her horse Dublin.

 

Nancy See/Atlanta Board of Realtors

Nancy See is President-Elect of the Atlanta Board of Realtors®. She became licensed as a REALTOR® in 1984. She has been a Managing Broker since 1994 and currently is employed by Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, where she manages their Buckhead and in-town offices.

 

Dr. Sally Jamara/Traversa Consulting

Dr. Sally Jamara is an organizational psychologist with over 25 years experience working with companies to help align business strategies, culture and enhance business results. She is the founder and practice leader on executive development and innovation for Traversa Consulting. She helps individuals and companies be successful. She is known for providing tools and practical methodologies to support change and development. She is a known thought leader and is often asked to speak and consult with organizations in all different industries.

Innovation is critical to any successful business. It is important to be aware of your individual strengthscapabilities, and approach to innovation. As a business leader, you need to fully understand how yourorganization’s culture impacts the type of innovation your employees are being rewarded to deliver.Your culture leverages your innovation capability. Aligning the innovation style you need to becompetitive with your culture and business strategy ensures a clear direction and path forward.

 

Dan Redman/JavaTap Coffee



Linda Lee Hughes: The GreatRidge Company, Frank E. Paterno: Intelliverse, and John W. Fowler: Facility Supply Group

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Linda Lee Hughes/The GreatRidge Company

Linda Lee Hughes is the founder and CEO of The GreatRidge Company. Prior to starting GreatRidge, Linda held executive positions at The Coca-Cola Company, AIG, and The North Highland Company. She contributes to numerous Fortune 500 companies as a C-level consultant, and provides interim CIO leadership to many Small to Medium Businesses.

Ms. Hughes is a frequent speaker and author on business and technology topics. She has presented at numerous industry conferences as a panelist, individual presenter, and key-note speaker. She is heavily involved in non-profit activities and serves on the board of multiple organizations headquartered in the Atlanta area. She has been interviewed for articles appearing in CIO Magazine, TechRepublic, as well as many local Atlanta magazines and has written articles for publications such as Optimize Magazine.

Be looking for Ms. Hughes book which will be coming out August 1st, 2012, CEO’s Secrets to IT Success. The book provides CEOs advice and insight about the Information Technology (IT) function of their company. Some secrets found in this book can be heard today in our interview with her on the show!

 

Frank E. Paterno/Intelliverse

Mr. Paterno,VP of Marekting at Intelliverse, is responsible for all of Intelliverse’s Marketing activities including marketing communications, product management, and strategic development. Frank and his team strive to generate maximum sales activity by continually evaluating market conditions and creating industry-focused service offerings that effectively meet the demands of Intelliverse’s customers.

Before moving into his current role at Intelliverse, Frank was most recently the Director of Product Management and previously the Channel Manager for Wholesale Services. Prior to joining Intelliverse in 1999, Frank worked for MCI and Arthur Andersen.

 

John W. Fowler/Facility Supply Group/Preferred Service Group

John W. Fowler is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Facility Supply Group. He has 30 years of business-to-business management experience including 13 years in senior management roles with Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Mr. Fowler had responsibilities for the $600MM combined business units of Kimberly-Clark’s Filtration, Skin Care, Wiper, Office Building and Global Customer Contract divisions.

John is a pragmatic results-oriented business leader with extensive global experience in leading multiple P&Ls in Fortune 500 organizations, a clear leader in Industrial Supply Chain Management. He has an outstanding track record in design, developing and executing business strategies and operating plans, to consistently drive growth and performance targets, by sector, business and global regions.

 

Now Booking: Summer Success Stories On High Velocity Radio

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HVR Studio

Now Booking On High Velocity Radio

Summer Success Story Series (Atlanta)

 

Are you an Atlanta area Business to Business firm with a Client Success Story To Share ?

If so, we want to share your success with our listeners . . .

Join us In Studio on High Velocity Radio, along with your Delighted Client — to talk about your business, their business, and how you worked together to Produce Better Results In Less Time.

Atlanta area Businesses & Their Atlanta area Clients Only.

These are “In Studio” interviews Only, No Call-Ins.

Guest Nominations & Sponsor Inquiries: stone@businessradiox.com

Clint Crosby: Baker Donelson, Adam Ross: Socialvest, and Maury Margol: Pyramid Consulting, Inc.

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Clint Crosby/Baker Donelson

Clint Crosby is a shareholder in the Atlanta Office of Baker Donelson. Clint focuses his practice on intellectual property and the procurement and protection of intellectual property assets for his clients. Clint also works with entrepreneurs and emerging companies to guide them through business issues including formation, business agreements, employment agreements, joint- development agreements, intellectual property agreements, mergers and acquisitions, and related matters. Clint acts as outside general counsel for many of his clients.

The highlight of Baker Donelson’s platform is their Emerging Companies Institute which provides fixed-cost legal solutions for startup businesses including entity formation, stockholder and business agreements, mentoring on legal issues, access to all Baker Donelson training and education programs and document hosting on the firm’s extranet.

 

Adam Ross/Socialvest

Adam Ross, believing that people inherently want to do good, has made it his mission to turn the traditional business model into a sustainable social enterprise. Two years ago, Adam started his latest adventure as a social entrepreneur and formed Socialvest, a company that capitalizes on three extraordinarily powerful forces: shopping, consumer consciousness and social media. The model allows consumers to buy the things they want and need, while simultaneously giving them a chance to support their favorite causes and inspiring their friends to join them.

“Everyone has something they care about, and fundamentally wants to give back,” Adam says. “My goal is to make it easy for people to invest in social good by providing tools to empower, support, and mobilize.”

Adam’s light bulb moment to start Socialvest came to him during a brunch with some of the world’s largest brands. When the conversation steered towards how the companies gave back, Adam recognized a major disparity in how brands were giving back and why consumers were engaging with brands because of their philanthropic efforts.

So Adam set out to revolutionize the way brands and consumers interact by enabling consumers to shop at hundreds of leading retailers, including Target, Macy’s, Home Depot, Best Buy, Nordstrom and iTunes. Registered users on the Socialvest website can earn money for their favorite charities by simply shopping through the Socialvest site or at participating local stores. And to make online shopping even easier, Socialvest offers a browser toolbar to make sure earning happens automatically.

Socialvest users earn between one and 35 percent of their total purchase from the company’s retail partners. The money earned is automatically deposited into Socialvest users’ online Giving Accounts. Each time a purchase happens, the event and the retailer who made the contribution – can be broadcast to users’ friends via Facebook, Twitter and other social channels. Donations made by Socialvest users to their favorite nonprofits can also be publicized via social media, thus raising awareness for important causes and motivating users’ friends to get involved. Overall, Socialvest gives members the freedom to donate to over 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States.

In addition to running Socialvest, Adam sits on the board for First Step, a non-profit social purpose-staffing agency. He’s also a loving husband to his beautiful wife, Gwen Ross, and new father to an adorable baby girl, Charlotte.

 

Maury Margol/Pyramid Consulting, Inc.

Maury Margol is the Co-Founder and past President of the Wireless Technology Forum, an Atlanta Technology Not-for-profit with over 650 members and a mailing list of over more than 7000 technology professionals.

Besides his volunteer work on the Wireless Technology Forum, Margol is the Mobile Practice Director at Pyramid Consulting where he builds channel partner relationships for Mobile Application Development and Mobile Application testing with companies such as Motorola Solutions and HP. Previously, Margol founded Productiv Wireless to leverage his experience launching tier 1 Telco products and services at BellSouth, AT&T Mobility, and Cox Communications and provide clients an efficient and productive business development process.

Margol’s Mobile experience also includes his roles as Sr. Director Client Services, at Nielsen Mobile; Director, Business Development, Macquarium Intelligent Communications where he created a Mobile and Wireless practice; Senior Sales Director, North America Sales, Comverse Americas in charge of managing the Atlanta branch and selling into the AT&T, BellSouth, and Cingular, and Director, Wi-Fi Strategy and Product Marketing for BellSouth.