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Special Edition: Meeting Expectations

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Christine Hilgert/Meeting Expectations

As vice president of the Meeting Management Business Unit with Meeting Expectations, Christine is responsible for the day-to-day staff/client management and strategic direction of the unit’s staff, which is comprised of meeting planners, registration staff and contract management staff. Her focus is to introduce the latest ideas and opportunities offered by the industry to her staff and clients. In September 2012, Christine will celebrate her 15 year anniversary with ME!.

Christine has extensive experience in budget management, and has overseen client budgets ranging from $100,000 to $10,000,000. Christine has also facilitated speaker management for programs consisting of 30 – 350+ speakers. In addition, Christine has managed show floors with up to 300+ exhibiting companies and 100,000 gross square feet. She has also coordinated the fulfillment and management of many high profile partner programs.

She has experience working on meetings at hotels and conventions centers throughout North American, Europe, Asia PAC and the Middle East. Christine has been the lead venue liaison for programs ranging in attendance, 200 – 10,000.

Before joining Meeting Expectations, Christine worked as a multi-sport manager with Special Olympics of Georgia.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Management from Florida State University.

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.

 

Special Edition: Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce

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Upcoming February Dunwoody Chamber Events

Bryan Tate/Digitel Corporation

Bryan C. W. Tate is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer for Digitel Corporation; a Georgia based IT Solutions Company, providing “CLOUD Services”, datacenter, virtualization, data storage, unified communications and network infrastructure solutions to mid-market business customers, and wireless solutions to rural municipalities. Mr. Tate has acquired seven companies and sold an Internet subsidiary in 2008. Prior to founding Digitel Corporation, Mr. Tate held various management positions at NCR Corporation, Questor Corporation and was interim Chairman and CEO of a publically traded NASDAQ company.

Mr. Tate earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology in 1968 from Ohio University. Mr. Tate served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1974, and was an Airborne Combat Infantryman in the Republic of South Vietnam. He led a rifle platoon with the 1st Infantry Division, and later served with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Cam Higgins/First Financial Merchant Services

Cam Higgins has run event marketing companies from 1980 to 2005 acting as marketing and sales director, creative director, writer, designer and executive producer of major corporate events worldwide. Since retiring in 2005, Cam invested in residential real estate, and developed mountain subdivisions, supervised home construction and laid roads and utilities.In 2008, he became part of First Financial Merchant Services to develop Sales and Marketing for Business and Professional Associations and Business buying groups. Cam designs, implements and directs the sale and marketing of merchant services as a member benefit and added revenue stream to associations and chambers of commerce. His goal is to save client-merchants fees on credit and debit card transactions and provide them with the systems, hardware and software that maximize their earning potential and increase revenue for associations, community banks and chambers of commerce. Specialties include: set up merchant services programs for trade and professional associations and organizations and for their members as a member benefit; provide software and hardware solutions, fee savings and PCI compliance.

 

 

Peter Pasternack with Foundations Designs, Jeremiah Jarmin with The Jarmin Law Group, Lisa Johnson with Coldwell Banker and Krisztina Bell with Virtually Staging Properties

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Peter Pasternack/Foundations Designs

Peter Pasternack, from Foundation Designs, is one of the stars of Flip This House,  one of television’s most recognized real estate investment and home renovation shows. His company designs, builds, and renovates residential and commercial property.

Peter is in charge of the largest real estate networking event in town, Real Estate Connections, that is held every month.

Lisa Johnson/Coldwell Banker Intown Office

Lisa Johnson joined Coldwell Banker in 2002. She became the Assistant Manager in the Coldwell Banker Buckhead office in 2003, took over the Coldwell Banker Roswell Office as the Managing Broker in 2006 and then took over the Coldwell Banker Intown Office as the Managing Broker in March of 2010. Originally born and raised in Southern California, Lisa moved to Atlanta in 1992. She’s been in Real Estate since 1997 after being with 2 other firms. Intown is where she plans on growing old.

Jeremiah Jarmin/The Jarmin Law Group

Jeremiah Jarmin is the owner of The Jarmin Law Group. He is a Georgia attorney who practices real estate and corporate law. His practice areas include commercial real estate transactions, commercial financing, business formation, and foreign investment in United States real estate. Jeremiah’s clients include real estate investment groups, individual investors domestic and foreign (Israel, South Africa, Europe), and banks and lenders both institutional and hard.

Krisztina Bell/Virtually Staging Properties

Krisztina Bell is a professional home stager and got into the business after receiving herrealtor license about 10 years ago. Krisztina’s niche market is the staging of vacant properties listed for sale. She, along with her husband, pioneered a new marketing tool called “virtual staging” that they offer nationwide and in Canada. Her company, Virtually Staging Properties, is a patent-pending process that digitally transforms any photo of a vacant home into a beautifully “staged” home using images of REAL furnishings and decor. 90% of home buyers search for their next home online and 85% of those buyers say it’s the photos that are the most important factor when deciding to go view a home. Krisztina developed this process for agents and sellers as an economical marketing tool that creates more attractive photos online, instantly drives buyer traffic and sells vacant properties faster.

 

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.

 

Julie Gudger and Emily Rowell with Crowne Office Suites, and Al Meyers and Jacqui Chew with TEDx Peachtree

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Julie Gudger/Crowne Office Suites

Julie Gudger is an executive offices suites and commercial real estate expert specializing in helping small businesses in the Atlanta area. She has been with Crowne Office Suites starting at the location in Marietta in 1998.

Now part owner of Crowne Office Suites, Inc. at Downtown, Offices @1100 Peachtree, LLC and Southeast Realty Group, LLC, she helps professionals find solutions ranging from a simple mailing address for their business to 2,000 square feet of private office space.

Her goal is to make sure all of her clients are happy and getting the support services they need to help grow their businesses.

Emily Rowell/Crowne Office Suites

Emily Rowell achieved Top Honors in 2010, earning the “Agent of the Year Award” at New York Life.

Coming to Crowne Office Suites with her experience and training in referral marketing for small businesses, she helps her clients’ take their business to the next level. Her care for their success is what makes her successful.

At the referral meetings Crowne holds, Emily is the director who guides Professionals on how to build their business through qualified referrals.

Her favorite accomplishment is the joy of putting the right people together.

Al Meyers/TEDx Peachtree

Al Meyers serves as the Founder, Official TEDx Licensee, Team Cheerleader for TEDx Peachtree.   Al is a Senior Executive Leader experienced in leveraging Fortune 100 companies.  His background is in Strategic Planning, Corporate Development, Start-ups, and M&A with a proven impact in Marketing, Operations, Finance, and International business, coupled with expertise in digital/new media, television, home video, and kids’ media.  Al’s specialties include critical thinking, negotiation, leadership and vision, managing people, cultural awareness and sensitivity, global perspective, relationship building, execution, digital media, video games, innovation, organizational behavior, and strategy development.

Jacqui Chew/ TEDx Peachtree

Jacqui Chew Spent the last 15 years leading high-performance teams at both marketing consultancies and corporations. Four years ago she started iFusion Marketing to exorcise her passion for supporting innovation and by extension technology startups. Officially, iFusion Marketing is a consultancy that provides fractional CMO services to technology startups. In practice, she serves as the stand-in senior marketing executive for companies that aren’t quite ready to add a permanent senior marketer to their team. Tasks run the gamut from strategy planning to brass tacks execution.

Jacqui apprenticed with some of the best in Atlanta such as Georgia Technology Hall of Fame inductee Leland Strange and worked with or at some pretty recognizable companies like eBay, Durex Consumer Products, PeopleSoft (acquired by Oracle), Miller Brewing Company and Stonesoft (HA+infosec for you cyber security buffs). Finally, she led the launch of Silverpop, RealEstate.com, drkoop.com and hsupply.com during the tech boom of the late 1990s.


Special Edition: Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce

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Amanda Masters/Carmichael, Brasher, Tuvell & Company PC

Amanda Masters, CPA, CGMA, is a Manager at Carmichael Brasher Tuvell & Co. Amanda received her bachelor’s of accounting from Florida State University and master’s of accounting from Kennesaw State University. She became a CPA in 2002 and has worked in public accounting with business and individual clients for more than ten years. Amanda previously had seven years of experience working as a controller for small businesses.

Carmichael, Brasher, Tuvell & Co is a full-service public accounting firm located in downtown Dunwoody. The firm blends personal service and tax and accounting expertise to provide unique value for small to medium businesses and individuals.

Daniel Boaz/The HealthLife Group Insurance Agency

Daniel J. Boaz is the President of The HealthLife Group Insurance Agency in Dunwoody, Georgia. The HealthLife Group specializes in Individual, Family, and Group Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Dental Insurance, Medicare and Long Term Care Insurance Plans. He holds insurance licenses in GA, AL, FL, NC, SC, TN, and KY and represents over 40 insurance companies.

An Atlanta native, Dan received a Bachelors Degree from Georgia State University and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics at Mercer University. He served as the Treasurer and Education Chairman on the Board of Directors of The Atlanta Association of Health Underwriters and holds membership in the Georgia and National Association of Health Underwriters. He earned the Leading Producers Round Table Award for 2006 through 2012 from the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU).

The HealthLife Group Agency is proud to be a participating member of the Dunwoody Georgia Chamber of Commerce where Dan served as the first chairman of the Insurance Committee.

Mike Gomez/Allegro Consulting

Mike Gomez is the founder and President of Allegro Consulting. He brings to his clients a passion for business discipline and process, a wealth of program management and sales leadership experience and compassion for life as a business owner. His vast and in-depth experience is what makes him Atlanta’s “thought leader” for growth consulting, particularly as it applies to privately-held businesses and not-for-profit organizations. His mastery of both the long and short-term sales cycles as well as international expertise contributed to his sales record of over $3 billion.

Mike was instrumental in leading the phenomenal growth of a small business from $8M in revenue to $35M in just two-years. In addition he has served as an executive in both Fortune 500 companies and small business.

He has conducted business in over 20 countries including Israel, the Middle East, East Asia, and Europe. Mr. Gomez holds a B. S. in Aircraft Engineering. Mike served our Armed Forces as an Officer in the USAF. He also served the USN as a civilian aerospace engineer.

 

 

 

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

Ron Reardon with Patents and More and Amy Brown Greene with Ritani/Brown & Co. Jewelers

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Ron Reardon/Patents & More, Inc.

Ron Reardon is the President of Patents & More, Inc., which he founded in 2002 after 32 years with a Fortune 50 company, where he was responsible for services that generated over $1B in annual revenue. The team at Patents and More helps entrepreneurs grow their brand and protect their ideas so they can realize their dreams.

Amy Brown Greene/Ritani|Brown & Co. Jewelers

Amy Brown Greene is a savvy business woman who is firmly grounded in the company’s day-to-day operations and is an integral part of running Brown & Co. Jewelers, a premier Atlanta area diamond and luxury jewelry company for almost 40 years. Today, Brown & Co. Jewelers has become one of the largest independent jewelers in the nation, and the business is also a proud member of American Gem Society. Brown & Co. Jewelers is one of the first retail jewelers to partner with Ritani, a leading designer of engagement rings and fine jewelry, to roll out an all-encompassing clicks-and-bricks experience where diamonds and engagement rings can either be purchased online and delivered directly to the consumer, or can be reserved online and delivered to Brown & Co. Jewelers to be seen in-person before purchase.