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Gary Price with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kevin Martinez with Premium Capital Management and Victoria Watkins with East Cobb Business Association

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Gary Price/PricewaterhouseCoopers 

Gary Price is an advisory partner with more than 28 years of experience providing a wide range of assurance, advisory and controls services to a wide range of organizations. Gary joined PwC in Cleveland, Ohio in 1983 where he served a number of public manufacturing clients. Gary participated in a industry based tour in the Firm’s public utility practice between 1985-1988. During his tour, Gary was responsible for both audit and advisory services to clients in the utility sector.

Gary was admitted to the partnership in Cleveland in 1995 and transferred to Atlanta in 1999 where he was responsible for delivering a wide range of services to a large, global transportation company. From September 2004 until January 2006, Gary served as the Firm’s Assurance strategy leader. In January 2006 he was appointed the Managing Partner of PwC’s Atlanta office, and in July 2007 he assumed responsibility for PwC’s practices in both Alabama and Tennessee.

Gary is actively involved in the metro Atlanta community with his focus and passion on improving public education. Gary is currently: the Treasurer of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; the Audit Committee Chair of the Woodruff Arts Center; Member of the Board of Directors of the United Way of Metro Atlanta; and, Chair of the Georgia Council on Economic Education.

Kevin Martinez/Premium Capital Management

Kevin Martinez is President and CEO of Premium Capital Management, LLC. He is the author of “The Book on Put Option Writing” and is a noted lecturer on the subject of writing puts to enhance portfolio value.

Kevin is a graduate of the University of South Florida and is a Life Member of its alumni association. He has also served as president to a number of civic organizations.

Victoria Watkins/East Cobb Business Association 

Attorney Victoria Watkins was born in the Motor City and raised in sunny Southern California. Victoria completed her undergraduate coursework at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Reading, England. She graduated cum laude from the Georgia State University College of Law, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board and interned with the Georgia Council on Aging.

Victoria is a member in good standing of the Georgia Bar and the Cobb County Bar Association, is an Accredited Attorney with the Veterans Administration, and is an active member of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers and the Academy of VA Pension Planners. She serves on the board of the Cobb Services for the Elderly and the Cherokee Services for the Elderly, and is the current President of the East Cobb Business Association.

Victoria enjoys gardening with her husband, playing with her two children, knitting and reading mysteries.

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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.

Kevin Holston/Holistic Consulting 

Kevin Holston is the Managing Director of Holistic Consulting. His practice focuses on enabling groups, organizations and companies to improve their health, well-being and productivity. This includes quantifying, evaluating and optimizing a company’s investment in its workforce. Holistic believes in Well-being Well-Business – a healthier workforce leads to a healthier bottom line. The firm performs assessments of organizational culture and workplace wellness programs, including evaluation of their data and metrics, operational plans and interventions – and looks for areas of improvement.  Holistic provides strategic planning services and provides solutions through its network of health providers and technology alliances.

Kevin has over 15 years of experience working in healthcare with payers, providers, healthcare IT and in the medical device industry. He is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, received his Master of Science degree in Applied Statistics from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Tennessee.  Kevin is a member of the National Wellness Institute and affiliate member of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Janine Anthony Bowen/Jack Attorneys & Advisors 

Janine Anthony Bowen is the Lead Partner at Jack Attorneys & Advisors. Her practice focuses on commercial transactions involving technology and intellectual property. These include licensing and acquisition of technology; issues surrounding the protection, utilization, and commercialization of Internet-based assets; as well as cloud computing and data privacy issues. The firm also handles trademark and copyright issues and technology and IP disputes. Janine is a Certified Information and Privacy Professional with expertise in information security, web privacy, and data sharing and transfer issues.

Prior to practicing law Janine worked at Accenture and IBM.

Janine received her JD from Georgia State University College of Law and both her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University.

 

 

Sandy Springs Chamber of Commerce

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Lara O’Connor Hodgson/NOWaccount

Lara co-founded Nourish Inc, shortly after becoming a mom. Nourish is a brand dedicated to bringing nutrition, safety and convenience to young children and their families. Nourish introduced its first patented products, Nourish Baby – a formula-ready bottled water for babies (just add formula, shake, serve and recycle) and Nourish Toddler – a spill-proof bottled water for toddlers, in airports, hotels, entertainment venues and retail outlets across the US. While growing Nourish, Lara experienced the challenge of managing cash flow in a growing business and having to fund the trade credit required to support the growth. Not finding a solution that worked, she partnered with John Hayes and launched NOWaccount Network Corporation, the first merchant service that works for B2B and enables small companies to get paid NOW while their business customers still enjoy trade credit that allows them to pay later. NOWaccount is poised to change the way small businesses manage cash flow and to turn a portion of the $1.2T of trade credit that small businesses hold into cash. NOWaccount is currently the subject of a Harvard Business School case study.

Lara is an internationally recognized speaker & facilitator, leading seminars on creativity, diversity & innovation. Internationally, Lara has worked in Koriyama, Japan with the U.S. Defense Department’s EAGLE Japan Program and served as the Ambassador to Lebanon for the 1996 Olympic Games.

Lara received an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BS in Aerospace Engineering with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She was featured in USA Today as one of the top 20 students in the US and was the ODK National Leader of the Year. Lara was a scholarship member of the varsity Track & Field team at Georgia Tech.

Lara has served on many public and private Boards including: ACE Loans, Atlanta Heights Charter School, Flag Bank, Georgia Tech’s Alexander Tharpe Fund, Society of International Business Fellows and HERO for Children. Lara is a member of the Leadership Georgia Class of 2005 and the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2004. Lara teaches Real Estate Finance as an adjunct professor in Georgia Tech’s MBA Program. Lara was appointed by the Governor of Georgia to serve on the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) Board and the Transit Planning Board, and she was recently honored by the Georgia Tech Athletic Association with the Total Person Alumnus Award and by the  Georgia Tech Women in Engineering as the Alumnus of the Year. She is a member of the Georgia Tech Young Alumni Hall of Fame. Lara is a recipient of a Womenetics 2013 POW! Award honoring Purposeful Women.

Tom Mahaffey/Sandy Springs Chamber

Tom Mahaffey is President of the Sandy Springs Chamber of Commerce.

Andrea Settles/Weinberg and Associates

Andrea Settles is with Weinberg and Associates,  a commercial real estate and small business financing firm specializing in financing for NNN credit tenants, retail, hospitality, SBA for owner occupied properties, multifamily and industrial. They originate commercial real estate and small business loans and handle all property types – investment and owner occupied. Their business is connecting clients with the best suitable money sources for their particular needs.

 


Katie Pereira and Marianna Miller with Meeting Expectations, and Mango and Huckleberry with Tunefruit

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Katie Pereira/Meeting Expectations 

Conference Manager Katie Pereira manages logistics, sponsorships and exhibits for a diverse range of clients.

Previously, she served at Meeting Expectations as a registration coordinator, handling multiple clients’ registration needs, including building online forms and managing on-site logistics. She also coordinated speaker programs for a large conference with over 500 speakers. Her clients include groups and companies in the technology and salon/spa industries, higher education, communications/marketing field, and a networking group for women in the STEM field.

Prior to joining Meeting Expectations in 2007, Pereira was a sales assistant at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta, where she was responsible for managing projects. She gained valuable experience in the hotel industry which she uses in serving her clients daily.

Katie has a Bachelor of Business Administration in hospitality management from Georgia State University.

Marianna Miller/Meeting Expectations 

Marianna Miller is Senior Membership Marketing Coordinator with Meeting Expectations.

Meeting Expectations has provided successful meeting and association management services to Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) for 20 years and will be managing the OAUG Collaborate 13, taking place in Denver, Colorado April 7-11, 2013.

Mango and Huckleberry/Tunefruit 

Tunefruit was first developed in 2011 by two music industry professionals with experience writing, producing, and licensing music for commercial projects. Their combined credits include writing music for over 100 shows, several movie trailers, movies, and numerous national commercials. They decided to simplify the experience that many companies have when it comes to licensing music by offering a 3-step process (Search, Listen, License) on Tunefruit.

Over the last year they have developed several relationships with ad agencies, tech companies, and video partners to further their customer reach. With curated content, and a simple mouse-over listen function, it’s easy to browse the thousands of tracks made available by contributors from across the globe.

 

Chrystal Ramsay-Dyess with Junior Chamber International, Trevor Smith with JCI Atlanta, and Tom Lakatos with NestWise

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Chrystal Ramsay-Dyess/Junior Chamber International

Chrystal Ramsay-Dyess joined the Ocala Jaycees in 2002, where she immediately jumped in with both feet accepting the position of Individual Development Vice President on the chapter board in 2003. She went on to serve several different positions on the Chapter and State Board including Chapter President in 2004 and State President in 2008. Chrystal is Senator #68800. She moved onto the National level serving as Vice President, Membership Director, Chief of Staff, State Presidents’ Coach and is currently serving as the 93rd National President of JCI.

Chrystal has won such National honors as Write Up and Master Speak Up Winner. R. Bradley Trafton for Outstanding State Officer, Clint Dunagan for Outstanding Regional Director, Allen Whitfield for Outstanding State President, Don Cavelli for Outstanding National Vice President, and Outstanding National Officer of the Year.

Chrystal holds a BA in Business Administration from Stetson University. She currently resides in Ocala, Florida with her husband James and their son Aaron. There she works for Revolution of You as an Empowerment Specialist, where she empowers females to take control of their lives, including lifestyle changes and coaching with Katie Humphrey. Chrystal believes “service to humanity is the best work of life” and is very excited to work with you to Turn your Passion into Action!

Trevor Smith/JCI Atlanta

Trevor Smith is a native of Hernando, Mississippi. At a young age, he learned what hard work and ingenuity can bring to any business enterprise.  He graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2009 with a degree in Business Administration and a concentration in Real Estate Finance.

Trevor currently  works as a Commercial Real Estate Agent for The Wesley Company and is pursuing his CCIM designation.  He represents companies such as Viacom, Paramount Pictures and MTV by consulting their real estate needs; whether it’s office, retail or industrial space.

Trevor is actively involved in the Atlanta Junior Chamber of Commerce.  He served as Executive Vice President in 2012 and will serve as President of the organization in 2013.  He is also an active member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

In his spare time, Trevor enjoys the thrill of motocross racing, cheering on his Ole Miss Rebels, and sharing spontaneous adventures with his friends.

Tom Lakatos/NestWise

As Vice President of Advisor Development at NestWise, Tom Lakatos is responsible for recruiting NestWise advisors from a wide range of backgrounds, including new to the industry, career changers and those with some industry experience, and helping them build their business.

Tom brings more than 12 years of experience in financial planning and building teams of successful advisors. Prior to joining NestWise, Tom served as Managing Associate at New England Financial where he was responsible for recruiting, training, and developing financial advisors in their Orlando/Tampa agency. His financial services career began at Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. where he was repeatedly recognized by the company for his leadership and exceptional performance in training and developing high performing teams of advisors. As Field Vice President, Tom grew regional offices in Columbus and Phoenix and built one of Ameriprise’s top offices in the United States in Easton, Ohio. Throughout his career, Tom has developed an expertise managing and expanding successful teams of financial advisors across the country.

Tom is also an active volunteer for multiple non-profit organizations including Operation HOPE here in Atlanta and has served on the Board of Directors for Best Buddies Florida, the North Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio University Sales Centre.

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.

Jason Shapiro/TransactionTreeâ„¢, Inc.

Jason Shapiro is with TransactionTree™, Inc., the leading provider of electronic receipt solutions for the retail industry and other transaction-oriented enterprises. Based in Atlanta, TransactionTree™ was established in 2008 by forward-thinking, green innovators seeking technological solutions to common environmental business challenges.

Today, TransactionTree’sâ„¢ groundbreaking e-Receipts solution improves the human experience by incorporating new eco-practices into everyday consumer activities. Their technology recognizes transaction events, validates customer information, and sends a copy of the receipt to the shopper, along with relevant content from the retailer.

Attorney Sam Levine, Nicole Monique and Byron Grover with Thats What SHE Said Sports and Sidney Slover with Learn It Live

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Sam Levine/Law Office of Sam Levine, LLC

Sam Levine is a civil and criminal defense attorney from Atlanta. He loves helping people, making a difference and improving his community.

Nicole Monique and Byron Grover/Thats What SHE Said Sports

Nicole Monique recently launched a new sports show “That’s What SHE Said Sports”.  She describes herself as a BIG TEN girl living in a SEC world.  She is a sports fan, wife, host and executive producer.  Nicole is a recent graduate of Kennesaw State University’s EMBA Program.

Sidney Slover/Learn It Live

Sidney Slover, founder of Learn It Live, talks about the new trend toward online learning, and why it is the future of 21st Century education.

 

 

 

April Newsletter Article

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COLLABORATE 13 Conference Featured on High Velocity Radio

On March 25, 2013, co-hosts Stone Payton and Lee Kantor of BusinessRadioX®’s High Velocity Radio welcomed to the studio Katie Pereira and Marianna Miller with OAUG.

Pereira and Miller are part of the team managing the upcoming COLLABORATE 13. The Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG), the world’s largest user knowledgebase for Oracle Applications users, co-hosts the COLLABORATE 13: Technology and Applications Forum for the Oracle Community conference in partnership with the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) and Quest International Users Group (Quest), April 7-11, 2013, at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colo.

According to Periera, the COLLABORATE 13 keynote presenters are Oracle President Mark Hurd; Aron Ralston, extreme adventurer and subject of the film 127 Hours; Sean D. Tucker, aviator with Team Oracle; and Martin Wildberger, vice president of IBM’s worldwide information development within IBM Software Group. Katherine Ridenhour, a retired battalion chief of Aurora Fire Department in Colorado, will deliver the keynote presentation during the Women in Technology luncheon.

Illustrating its theme, “Elevate Your Potential,” the COLLABORATE 13 – OAUG Forum offers more than 500 user-driven educational sessions focused on practical training to help Oracle Applications customers derive the most value from their Oracle product investments. The variety of content within 23 educational tracks presents attendees with multiple opportunities to find the most relevant information on topics including application strategy, big data, business intelligence/data warehousing/enterprise performance management (EPM), cloud computing, customer relationship management (CRM), human capital management (HCM), middleware, supply chain and more.

Explained Miller, Oracle community members are exposed to various networking opportunities to further their professional connections and exchange ideas with more than 5,000 knowledgeable peers and recognized subject matter experts. Networking activities include the popular Women in Technology Panel Discussion and luncheon, more than 50 OAUG Special Interest Group (SIG) and Geographic (Geo) meetings held throughout the conference and a selection of social events.

Representatives from Oracle are scheduled to present a number of education and Oracle Roadmap sessions, participate in SIG meetings, provide demos in the exhibit hall, host the Oracle Meet the Expert meetings at the Hyatt and meet one-on-one with attendees throughout the week.

Some notable sponsors of COLLABORATE 13 include EiS, Excel4apps, IBM, Noetix, Eprentise, and ITConvergence.

To learn more about COLLABORATE 13, listen to this interview in its entirety at High Velocity Radio.

 

AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Members Georgia Chapter

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AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Members are featured on today’s episode of High Velocity Radio.

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.

Lynn Browder/InComm

Lynn Browder is the Creative Services Manager at InComm: Innovative Commerce. A leading provider of prepaid wireless and gift cards, InComm also develops transaction technologies for retailers. Her team designs the retail presence for the company’s products, along with advertising, tradeshow graphics, etc. She is also the current president of the Atlanta chapter of AIGA, the professional association for graphic design.

Lynn is an experienced design and brand manager with a passion for leading creative teams. After being a part of in-house design groups at Accenture, The Coca-Cola Company and UPS, she is currently managing the creative services team at InComm.

Throughout her career, in addition to meeting the challenge of solving communications and marketing issues through successful design, she thrives on keeping the team inspired while helping them build a positive reputation within the company.

As an active member of AIGA, the professional association for design, Lynn brings their resources to her role in developing designers along the arc of their careers. She is in her second year as president of the Atlanta chapter.

Lynn is also an avid student of the social media sciences. A few of Lynn’s favorite things are open-minded clients, white space and doing dangerous things with type.

Albert Whitley/Sapient Nitro

Albert Whitley is an award-winning creative director with over 13 years creating memorable digital experiences. He joined Sapient Nitro as a Senior Art Director in 2011 where he is shaping brand moments by combining multi-channel marketing, multi-channel commerce, and the technology that binds them. His client list spans from Fortune 500 brands Adobe, Amway Global, AT&T, BMW, Carter’s, Herman Miller, Maybelline New York, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Tele Atlas. Albert is a former adjunct professor at Georgia Data University and The Creative Circus. As a recognized thought leader, his work has been recognized in many publications, such as Communication Arts, Contract, Graphis, How, Interior Design, STEP Inside Design and Metropolis magazines. His honors include IIDA Creative Excellence Awards and AIGA Atlanta’s SEED Awards.

As a creative director it is Albert’s goal and passion to drive original thinking and cultivate ideas into smart visual solutions that impact client market distinction and increase business profitability. As a persuasive, strategic creative thinker and designer. Charismatic, vision-driven team leader and mentor.

In his free-time, actively volunteer on the board of directors AIGA Atlanta chapter, the professional organization for design.

 

 


Allison and Everett Steele with Baby Robot Industries and Tracey Vasallo with Perk-N-Pooch

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Allison & Everett Steele/Baby Robot Industries

Allison and Everett Steele are the founding partners of Baby Robot Industries, one of Atlanta’s fastest growing digital marketing agencies. With clients ranging from startups to international corporations, their work has been featured on CNN, NPR, MTV, Vice, Slate, HuffPo, Boing Boing, USA Today, the AJC, ScoutMob, Creative Loafing, and countless other outlets around the world. Over the last three years, Baby Robot has quickly grown from a two-employee boutique agency into one of Atlanta’s most innovative creative agencies. Baby Robot serves clients in a wide range of industries, and currently provides services including design and development, search engine marketing, social marketing strategy and community building, and publicity.

Tracey Vasallo/Perk-N-Pooch

Tracey Vasallo is Manager at Perk-N-Pooch, a new coffee café and dog wash concept created by local Sandy Springs family, the Guerrisis. Tracey has a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Wheeling Jesuit University and is a Licensed Veterinary Technician with experience in the veterinary dermatology specialty field.

Perk-N-Pooch was born out of the owners’ love of dogs and coffee as well as their frustration with being unable to find a comfortable place to wash their rescued Basset Hounds and the poor customer service they received at other coffee shops in the area.

Perk-N-Pooch has 4 washing tubs to accommodate the needs of dog owners who wish to do DIY washes for their dogs. They also provide drop-off washing services and have professional grooming by appointment.

The Coffee Café serves a full line of coffee and espresso drinks for carry out or table service. Customers can stop by for a favorite hot or cold coffee drink, smoothie, or low-calorie, low-carb ice cream.