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High Velocity Radio

Month: January 2013

CPA Roundtable Discussion with Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk Featuring: Marc Schwartz, Stacey Gorowitz and Bill Harshman

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Today’s High Velocity Radio featured a CPA Roundtable Discussion assembled by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk. Bonnie co-hosted the show today with regular host Stone Payton.

Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk is the President and founder of BBR Marketing, a firm that provides marketing strategy and services to professional services firms.

And Here’s A Little Background Info On Our Panel Members . . .

Marc Schwartz/Schwartz International

Marc Schwartz is a Partner with Schwartz International, a firm that takes pride in providing an alternative for companies and individuals looking for top-tier international tax consulting expertise with the flexibility, responsiveness and personal touch only a smaller firm can provide. Marc has lived and worked in the US and abroad in both governmental and private sector roles. His diversified experience has allowed him to bring a global perspective to the business. He holds a B.A. from Colgate University, a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University, and a law degree from Emory University. He is also a CPA.

Stacey Gorowitz/S.J. Gorowitz Accounting & Tax Services

Stacey Gorowitz founded SJG in 1991. Her broad knowledge and insistence on excellence was established during a successful career with Price Waterhouse where she worked extensively with closely-held businesses. Through her business expertise and the collective knowledge and creativity of an experienced staff, Stacey has grown the firm to become the success that it is today.

Stacey is known as a client advocate and a trusted advisor, dedicated to turning numbers into opportunities. She earned a Bachelor of Accounting degree as well as her MBA from the University of Miami.

Bill Harshman/Harshman Phillips & Company

Bill Harshman is a 30+ year CPA and co-founder of HPC. Prior to HPC, Bill spent 17 years rising through the ranks of a ‘Big 4’ firm, including 7 years as the Partner-In-Charge of the Atlanta Tax Department of Arthur Young & Company (‘AY’, predecessor to Ernst & Young). During his ‘Big 4’ tenure, he spent 2 years working directly under the AY US National Director of Tax, served on the AY National Tax Policy Group, and was an instructor for the AY Tax Management Training Program.

While at HPC, Bill has specialized in working with entrepreneurial and closely-held companies in the manufacturing, software, distribution, and food services industries. HPC clients have benefited from his expertise in tax planning, IRS representation, small business financing, and complex mergers and acquisition transactions.

 

Robert Grashuis and Joshua Schwarber with OneSpring, and Catherine Cattles with GTSI

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Robert Grashuis and Joshua Schwarber/OneSpring, LLC

Robert Grashuis, CIO, and Joshua Schwarber, Resource Manager, are with OneSpring, LLC. They believe software and interactive products have a direct impact on the world and daily lives. At OneSpring they are committed to making a positive impact by helping individuals, corporations, and government agencies create the best software and products in the most effective and efficient manner possible. To achieve this goal, OneSpring employs a diverse background of highly trained and talented consultants with experience across many industries and disciplines, including user experience, visual design, business analysis, product design, and presentation layer development.

OneSpring has created a powerful approach to product design and software definition through the use of visualization. They use innovative tools and techniques that enable its people and process to ultimately deliver the greatest value for the investment to its clients by producing products and software in less time with greater usability and accuracy, reducing ambiguity by gaining stakeholder and user buy-in early, prior to costly development, reducing defects and eliminating re-work by producing high quality artifacts that everyone can understand.

Catherine Cattles/GT Solutions International

Catherine Cattles is the Director of Business Development for GT Solutions International. GTSI represents AccountMate business & accounting software.  Through its strategic partner network they offer exclusive AccountMate applications for the smart phone or notebook, to track business whether in the office or on the road .

Special Edition: Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce

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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.

Phil Gura/Gura Law General Counsel Services, LLC

Phil Gura, President of Gura Law General Counsel Services, LLC is a multifaceted general counsel with over ten years serving as chief legal officer of major corporations in the Southeast including RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc. and LaRoche Industries, Inc. Phil has almost thirty years of transactional and consulting corporate law experience with partnership in major law firms including Sutherland and Nelson Mullins.

Phil founded Gura Law General Counsel Services, LLC in December of 2012 with the purpose of arming companies large and small with the power and influence of a highly skilled, deeply experienced, corporate general counsel.

Phil’s specialties include: corporate law, M&A, procurement, contract drafting and negotiation, public relations, regulatory compliance, finance, supply and distribution, creation and protection of intellectual property, corporate governance, litigation management, and preparation/approval of policies/procedures.

Phil earned his law degree at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC and his BA in English at Emory University. He has been named one of Georgia’s Top Rated Lawyers and as selected as a Super Lawyer. Phil has lived in Dunwoody for the past 20 years with his wife Sarah, a medical imaging professional at CHOA and a faculty member at Gwinnett Tech, and his two children: Brian, a senior at the University of Arizona, and Alison, a sophomore at Appalachian State University. Phil, a competitive cyclist and triathlete, is a long time member of Dunwoody Cycling and the Depaula Racing Team.

Debbie Smith/Design Seven Inc.

Debbie Smith is the owner of Design Seven Inc., a design company based in Atlanta. For over 20 years, Design Seven has provided services for over 200 clients from start-ups to educational institutions to Fortune 500 companies.

Design Seven’s work has been featured in Print, Art Direction Magazine and The Best in Business Card Design and The Best in Brochure Design books. The firm has been recognized with design awards from Art Director’s Club, International Association of Business Communicators, Public Relations Society of America, Women in Communications and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

Debbie is the creator of the idbids – iddy biddy steps for a greener world – eco-friendly characters and brand. The first idbids toy product was launched at The American International Toy Fair and was named a “Top Toy” by Time Magazine and a “Toy Fair Breakout Hit” by CNN/Money.

idbids products have been the recipient of many industry and parenting awards including Creative Child Magazine’s Preferred Choice Award, Dr. Toy’s 10 Best Socially-Responsible Children’s Products, NAPPA Honors Award Winner, Winner of The National Parenting Center’s Seal of Approval and the Toy Industry Association’s Nominee for Education Toy of the Year.

For her development and design of the idbids characters, Debbie was the recipient of a Wonder Woman of Toys Award in the Inventor/Designer category. The idbids Eco-friendly Starter Kit won the 2009 Grand Prize in the Georgia State University’s MAX Awards program which honors the best in new products, services and marketing innovations developed by Georgia based companies.

Debbie is a founding trustee and a past president of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA).

Specialties include graphic design, front end web design, brand strategy and management, product design and development from concept to market.

 

 

Today’s show is brought to you by the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce.  Be sure to check out their UPCOMING EVENTS.

 

Mathew May with Cherry Bekaert and Holland, and Steve Youngblood with Salestrakr

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Matthew May/Cherry Bekaert and Holland, LLP

Matthew May is a CPA with Cherry Bekaert and Holland, LLP.  Matthew is also known as The TechCPA.

Steve Youngblood/Salestrakr

Steve Youngblood is CEO and Co-Founder of Salestrakr. Steve has spent over 23 years building and growing software companies. His latest effort is Salestrakr, a cloud based CRM/Sales Force Automation software application.

Steve co-founded Salestrakr with Atlanta technology veteran Paul Freet in 2008. Prior to Salestrakr, here are a few of Steve’s successes:

– Part of the launch team and the EVP of Sales and Marketing for Infoweapons, a maker of next generation networking appliances, based in Johns Creek, GA

– Director of Product Management at Earthlink, responsible for the Earthlink Portal

– Co-Founder of Motionspeak, maker of online presentation technology

– Vice President of International of Epicentric, a San Francisco start-up offering portal technologies to the largest companies in the world

– Director of International Marketing and Sales for Harbinger, an EDI vendor based in Atlanta, Steve started as Harbinger’s product manager for their new range of Internet EDI products

– Product Manager for S2 systems, an Atlanta based middleware vendor

Steve received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Florida and his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Steve has been married to his wife Rena for almost 27 years. He has 2 children, one a graduating senior at Georgia Southern University and another finishing 11th grade at Alpharetta High School.

Steve was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida.