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Curated Collection Of The Best Interviews From Our Sandy Springs Studio





John Duisberg and Prem Bhatia from Cooleaf. David Schaeffer from Chilivis Cochran Larkins & Bever and Jared Lace and Chase Abernethy with CHASE Professionals

John Duisberg and Prem Bhatia/Cooleaf

John Duisberg and Prem Bhatia are Co-Founders of Cooleaf, an Atlanta based company focused on building a health and wellness platform for individuals, employers, and fitness providers. Prior to Cooleaf, John spent eight years at Availity in the healthcare IT industry. During his tenure at Availity, John specialized in new product development and program management. Before Cooleaf, Prem lead business development and strategy initiatives at RelayHealth and has a background in health care payments and benefits from his time at American Express.

David N. Schaeffer/Chilivis Cochran Larkins & Bever, LLP

David Schaeffer earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1981.  He graduated magna cum laude from Duke University in 1978 with B.A. in Economics and Religion.  David started his legal career with the Atlanta firm of Kidd & Vaughan in 1981 and became a partner in 1987.  The firm changed its name to Holland Schaeffer Roddenbery Blitch, LLP, in 2008.  David joined the firm of Chilivis, Cochran, Larkins & Bever as a partner in January, 2011.

David served as President of the Atlanta Bar Association in 2009-2010 and Chair of its Litigation Section in 2003-2004.  In his year as President, the Atlanta Bar Association was awarded the State Bar’s President’s Cup as the best overall bar association in the State of Georgia.  David was awarded the Atlanta Bar’s Distinguished Service Award in 2004.  As a successful litigator and appellate advocate, he was a statewide candidate for the Georgia Court of Appeals in 2010, and has been selected on the short lists for several state and federal judicial positions.

During his thirty years as a civil litigator, David has handled a wide variety of business and personal injury matters for individuals and businesses, both for plaintiffs and defendants.  He has tried dozens of jury trials and argued almost twenty appeals in state and federal courts.  David considers himself especially qualified and experienced in business litigation matters involving non-compete and other restrictive covenants,  trade secrets,  business fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and partnership disputes;  personal injury matters, including wrongful death claims and serious injuries such as amputations, paralysis and brain traumas; and school redistricting matters.  David also represented St. Joseph’s Hospital in defending medical and nursing malpractice claims for 12 years, and has also represented businesses, patients or their families in professional malpractice claims against a variety of entities and professionals.   He also assists professionals and managers in negotiating severance agreements and protecting employment rights.  Finally, David has participated in hundreds of mediations and arbitrations and is available to mediate business and personal injury/professional malpractice disputes.

Jared Lace and Chase Abernethy with CHASE Professionals

Jared Lace and Chase Abernathy handle staffing and recruiting at CHASE Professionals.

CHASE Professionals is a Nationwide contingency recruiting firm headquartered in Sandy Springs, GA. with 35 branches across the United States, It is our objective to present only the highest skilled professionals to our clients, tailored to your company’s unique needs.

 



 

DeKalb Chamber Special Edition with Greg Russell: Bank of North Georgia, Charles Blackmon: DeKalb Enterprise Business Corporation & Charles Green: Small Business Finance Institute

Today we had a special edition of Atlanta Business Radio spotlighting the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce. We featured several members of the Dekalb Chamber who spoke about their involvement in the Chamber of Commerce and the upcoming Capacity Building Series.

Greg Russell/Bank of North Georgia div of Synovus Bank

Greg Russell is a Senior Vice President and Community Executive for Bank of North Georgia. In this capacity, Mr. Russell is responsible for banking activity and operations in the Tucker and surrounding markets. His career in banking began in 1988 at C & S Bank now Bank of America as a Management Associate. Mr. Russell earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Georgia State University and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the same school. He’s also a graduate of Leadership Rockdale and Synovus Leadership Institute.

Mr. Russell has been very involved in his local community having served on the local boards for the Northlake Kiwanis, the Decatur-Dekalb YMCA and Dekalb Chamber of Commerce. He coached youth baseball and soccer for several years.

He is a native Atlantan and has lived in Dekalb County for the past 35 years. He and his wife, Carol, have one child; Gregory Russell, Jr. Gregory is a 10th grader attending Arabia Mountain High School’s Magnet Program. The Russells attend Mt. Ephraim Baptist Church where they have had some connection for the past 30+ years.

Charles Blackmon/DEBCO

Charles Blackmon is the Executive Director of the DeKalb Enterprise Business Corporation (DEBCO). Charles is a native of Atlanta and is a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia.

Charles Green/Small Business Finance Institute

Charles Green began working in his parent’s small business at age 8 and attended many dinner hour “board meetings.” Today he is a recognized small business authority with over 30 years of advising, financing and investing in entrepreneurs. He regularly consults with business owners and bankers, writes about financial topics and teaches finance through seminars and conferences produced by a non-profit enterprise he founded, the Small Business Finance Institute (www.SBFI.org).

His experience as a commercial banker, venture capitalist and advisor yielded clients from more than 30 countries. He founded and served as President/CEO of Sunrise Bank of Atlanta. Charles has served as corporate director for several businesses in the U.S., Mexico and Europe including a NASDAQ-listed company. Presently he serves as Chair of the Governing Board at Atlanta Medical Center, a 460-bed for-profit hospital owned by Tenet Healthcare.

Charles authored several books and articles about business financing including bestselling The SBA Loan Book 3rd Edition (Adams Media, 2011), and Get Financing Now (McGraw-Hill, 2012).

He earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Alabama and completed the Stonier National Graduate School of Banking at the Wharton School of Business. He serves as Chair of the Fulton County Arts Council. In 2005 he was named the Financial Services Champion by the Georgia District of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The Small Business Finance Institute is a vision to create a national education platform teaching business owners better financial management skills and how to navigate to funding through more informed preparation and search.

Charles Green & Co provides strategic advice on debt and equity financing, resource planning, cash flow forecasting, capital adequacy, business tactics, corporate governance, organizational planning, and big ideas to businesses and banks of all sizes. Hear him speak on Capital Management at the Dekalb Chamber Capacity Building Series on July 20.

Atlanta Dental Special Edition with Patrick O’Rourke: Solstice Dental and Vision, Dr Jason Eaglin: Eaglin Dental Group, and Benjamin Suggs: PracticePRM

Today we had an Atlanta Dental Special Edition put together by Patrick O’Rourke from Solstice Dental and Vision. The focus of this special was Modern Dentistry.

Patrick O’Rourke/ Solstice Dental &Vision, Atlanta Office

Patrick O’Rourke began his career in the Insurance industry at just 19 years old with Paramount Dental as a Member Services Representative. Now, Patrick is the Regional Vice President with Solstice Dental & Vision, an ancillary insurance carrier based out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. He is responsible for network development, branding, sales & marketing, plan designs, profitability, and overall strategy for the state of Georgia.

He sits on the board for both the Atlanta and Georgia state chapters of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU). He has also received an award for Outstanding Service for his involvement on AAHU Board this past year.

Patrick’s professional certificates include Dental Benefits Associate (DBA), Disability Insurance Associate (DIA), Professional, Health Insurance Advanced Studies (PHIAS), Also certified in Wellness, HIPAA, & Consumer Directed Healthcare (CDHC)

Dr Jason Eaglin/Eaglin Dental Group

Dr. Jason Eaglin received his DDS degree from Howard University College of Dentistry. For more than seven years he has provided dental services in private practice. Dr. Eaglin is an advocate of advanced dental technology to assist his patients in achieving optimal results. He is a member of numerous national and regional dental organizations. Visit their website at eaglindentalgroup.com to obtain more information about Dr. Eaglin and their multi-location practice in Metro-Atlanta.

Benjamin Suggs/PracticePRM – Dental Marketing

Ben Suggs is Managing Member of PracticePRM, a Dental, Medical and Veterinary marketing firm based in Atlanta, GA. PracticePRM provides Outsourced Chief Marketing Officer Services and Integrated Marketing Communications. Contact him today to schedule an initial consultation to discuss the opportunities to increase your practice’s new patient inflow!

ASTD Workplace Learning Special with Dr Stephen Harmon GSU Director of Learning Technologies

In this ASTD Workplace Learning Special Edition interview, hear from Dr. Stephen Harmon. Dr. Harmon is the Director of Learning Technologies and an Associate Professor in the school of Education at Georgia State University where he promotes effective and innovative uses of technology

After majoring in English literature at Furman University, Stephen moved to Upper Egypt to teach fourth-grade English for two years. While there he had the opportunity to travel extensively through the Middle East and Africa. During this time he realized that there was a tremendous need for education and training in developing countries, but few resources to provide it. He decided to attend graduate school and enrolled in graduate studies in instructional technology at the University of Georgia,where he completed a masters and doctorate in instructional technology with a cognate in global policy studies.

Dr. Harmon then accepted a position as an assistant professor of instructional technology at the Universityof Houston-Clear Lake and worked there the next five years building a masters program and working to improve the university’s educational technology infrastructure. He returned to his native Atlanta, along with about 15 million other people, just in time for the summer Olympics in 1996 and joined the faculty in Middle, Secondary Education and Instructional Technology at Georgia State University, first as an assistant and then as an associate professor.

In addition to his academic appointments, he has served as theDirector of Educational Technology in the College of Education and as Chair of the Division of Learning Technologies. His research centers on educational uses of emerging technologies and has focused on elearning for the last few years, particularly with respect to synchronous online learning environments. He also conducts research on educational technology in developing countries.

He has served as president of both the Division of Learning and Performance Environments and of the Research and Theory Division for the Association of Educational Communications and Technology, and is currently President elect of that organization.

 

Transformational Business Models Featuring Interviews with Bobby Ryan from ApolloMD; Asif Ramji from Paymetric and John Ujda from Better World Books

Today we shined our spotlight on some transformational business models impacting Atlanta, the US and the world.

Bobby Ryan/ApolloMD

Bobby Ryan joined ApolloMD in 2001 and runs all business development and marketing initiatives. On a day-to-day basis, Mr. Ryan oversees the strategic development, marketing and branding, along with financial projections. He has worked with ApolloMD’s clinical operations team at over 50 facilities to develop physician driven models in complex settings to ensure the highest quality service offering. With his extensive understanding of physician services and the healthcare marketplace, Mr. Ryan is distinctively qualified to run the business development for the company.

Mr. Ryan has a MBA and bachelor’s degree from the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University. He served active duty in the United States Marines Corps from 1993-1997 and is also a member of the Georgia Association of Health Care Executives and a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Asif Ramji/Paymetric

Asif Ramji, Paymetric’s President and Chief Executive Officer, is a seasoned payments executive, with over 15 years experience directing companies within the software and payment transaction processing industries.

Most recently, Ramji served as Chief Revenue Officer for Paymetric and led ten consecutive quarters of double-digit revenue growth. Ramji joined Paymetric in 2009 and was responsible for sales, marketing, business development and product strategy.

Prior to joining Paymetric, Ramji was Senior Vice President and GM for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group’s RBS WorldPay Card Services and ATM Divisions. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is one of the largest payment transaction processors in the world and manages the largest off-premise ATM transaction processing businesses in North America. Ramji was responsible for the strategic double-digit growth of the respective divisions.

Ramji commenced his formal business education at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada and holds an MTIS certification from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in Leading Teams for Innovation and Success. Ramji also attended Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts and holds an executive leadership certification on Strategic Negotiation.

John Ujda/Better World Books

John Ujda is vice-president of marketing at Better World Books. He has 10 years of Marketing experience, layered on top of a strong technical background. John previously served as vice president of product management at Primedia and as director of product management at EarthLink. He taught Math, English, Chemistry and Physics to 11th and 12th grade students for 2.5 years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Papua New Guinea. And he started his career in information technology at Procter & Gamble. John graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Notre Dame with dual degrees in Computer Engineering and Spanish. He earned his MBA with honors from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, GA. John drives a hybrid vehicle all the time, likes brussel sprouts, and shamelessly reads sci-fi.

 

LawJam 2012 Special with Burr and Forman’s Scott Hitch and Atlanta Bar Foundation’s David Schaeffer and Sally Hogsette

LawJam 2012

Come join the Atlanta Bar Foundation for the third annual “LawJam 2012: Battle of the Atlanta Lawyers’ Bands”!  Watch as Atlanta’s most muscial lawyers compete for the top spot in an American Idol style competition.  Proceeds support youth programs in Atlanta and free legal services for low income citizens.

Tickets can be purchased through the Variety Playhouse.  Please contact Sally Hogsette at shogsette@atlantabarfoundation.org or (404) 521-0781 if you have any questions. Keep up with all the latest news!  Add “LawJam 2012” on Facebook!

Scott Hitch/Burr & Forman

Scott practices in the firm’s Environmental group and works with clients in all aspects of environmental law. Scott counsels clients on business strategy, regulatory compliance, permitting, policy, transactions and resolution of disputes. Scott’s services include: land conservation, historic preservation, brownfield redevelopment, environmental remediation, corporate responsibility/sustainability and recycling and regulation of wastes. He also consults with corporations in dealing with resource allocation and regulation such as water quality and its environmental impact, air quality, greenhouse gas, climate changes and energy sources. Scott’s environmental services also include dealing with commercial real estate transactions and the entire sustainable building process.

Prior to joining Burr & Forman, he practiced at national and regional law firms and had his own law practice. Scott’s environmental law background also includes previous law clerk experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental & Natural Resource Division, Environmental Enforcement Section and the Georgia Land Trust Service Center. Scott is a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional and has been named a “Georgia Rising Star” by Super Lawyers for three consecutive years in environmental law. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Land Conservation Center and Georgia Wetlands and Streams Trust Fund, and has served on the Stakeholder Committee for the City of Atlanta Sustainable Building Ordinance and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Environmental Conference Steering Committee.

Aside from Scott’s professional leadership, he is involved in a variety of community organizations including: Board of Directors for Keep Roswell Beautiful, Vice President on the Board of Trustees for the River Eves Education Foundation, Inc., and President of the International Board of Directors for the Center for Mediation, Peace and the Resolution of Conflict, Inc.

Scott received both his B.S., in ecology, and J.D. from the University of Georgia where he served as President of the Environmental Law Section in law school.

David Schaeffer/Chilivis Cochran Larkins & Bever

David is a partner at Chilivis Cochran Larkins & Bever as well as the former President of the Atlanta Bar Association (2009-10) and the Current member of the Atlanta Bar Foundation Board of Directors

A founder of LawJam, David brought the idea of the battle of the bands to the Foundation while he was bar association president. He is a leader of the LawJam 2012 Executive Committee, a major sponsor and fundraiser for the event.

Sally Hogsette/Atlanta Bar Foundation

Sally is the Executive Director of the Atlanta Bar Foundation as well as a member of the Atlanta Bar Association.

She has practiced law for 30 years now in Atlanta with the last 20 of these spent as senior international counsel for Delta Air Lines, Inc. She retired from Delta in 2009. Sally was Treasurer of the Atlanta Bar Foundation and the Board invited her to become Executive Director.


 

 

Dr. Govind Hariharan: ICA Institute, Sue Reager: International Services, and Alvin C. Miles: Coles College of Business and the Executive MBA Program

Dr. Govind Hariharan/ICA Institute – Kennesaw State University

Dr. Govind Hariharan is the Executive Director of the India China America Institute. He was the Chair of the Department of Economics, Finance and Quant. Analysis at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia (until September 2011) and is the Associate Director of the Econometric Center. Dr. Hariharan also spearheads the India Initiative for Coles College that has resulted in significant partnerships in business education and corporate training. He has previously held positions at SUNY-Buffalo (including Co-Director at Center for Public Policy and Regulation) and West Virginia University.

Dr. Govind Hariharan has consulted for numerous organizations, public and private, such as the World Bank, Council for Quality Growth and M&T Bank. He was a cofounder of a technology start up in the retail food sector between 1999 and 2001. He is very active in the business and civic communities in Georgia. He has been a member of various state and local task forces on health care especially in the areas of health information and transparency. He has been a key speaker at various summits including Global Business Leaders Forum and Tie-Con East. He was a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) on Forecasting Atlanta 2040. Dr. Hariharan is a member of many advisory boards including the WellStar Institute for Better Health, the American Diabetes Association- Atlanta, Georgia Indo American Chamber of Commerce and is a mentor for TiE-Atlanta. He is actively involved in many academic and business organizations in India as well. He has been interviewed or quoted in many media outlets including the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Buffalo News, National Public Radio, Money Talks, Channel 5 and the Weather Channel.

Dr. Govind Hariharan’s research is extensively cited. His papers are key citations in a health care, personal finance, regulation, economic development, information technology, and law. He was coeditor of a conference volume on The Problem of Development which featured articles by most of the recent Nobel Laureates in Economics. One of his papers was chosen as among “key papers by leading scholars” and reprinted in “Classics in Risk Management” edited by Professors Gayer and Viscusi of Harvard University. Similarly his paper on Estate Taxation, and on smoking initiation are very heavily cited in the academic and policy literature. His recent research on the stockholding behavior of US individuals won the prestigious Ross award in 2006 and another is among the top 10 most cited papers ever in the Financial Services Review. His current research studies the effect of different health shocks on portfolio allocation by the elderly (AMHCR award recipient), medical technology and technology intermediaries. He has taught a wide range of courses at universities across the globe including stints in India, China and Singapore and has received numerous awards for his teaching.

Sue Reager/International Services

Sue Reager is the founder of International Services and serves as it’s Chief Executive Officer. She oversees a virtual company that is comprised of 300 people spread over 90 different countries. Sue is a programmer and Software Developer. She invented the GlobalConcat System Localizer, which is a tiny software “library” component that enables computer applications to be translated into 200 languages and dialects using one original code, eliminating the need to vary a product in order to display or play correctly in a new language. Sue Reager is also a columnist for Speech Technology Magazine.

Alvin C. Miles/Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA Program

Alvin C. Miles is a native of Lake Charles, LA, and he retired from AT&T with over 30 years of business experience. He is the Director of Business Development for the award-winning Executive MBA Program (EMBA) and an Instructor of Management in the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University.

Before his tenure as the Director of EMBA, Alvin served in many leadership capacities to support his alma mater. He was a Vice-President for EMBARK; the alumni association for the EMBA program, he served as both a team and an individual coach, and he served on the Coaching Advisory Board. Alvin currently teaches Introduction to Teaming, Introduction to Team Constitutions, High Performance Teaming and Teaming & Beyond. He discussed the Program as a guest on “Money Talks” in 2010.

In his career with BellSouth and AT&T, Alvin held a series of diverse strategic and tactical roles. These roles included leading customer-facing field forces in the Network Organization, Project Management for BellSouth’s bid to enter long distance, Director of BellSouth’s only Wholesale Maintenance Call Center and Product Ideation & Lifecycle Product Development in Marketing for Customer Information Services.

Alvin received a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management with honors from Morris Brown College, a Master’s Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University and his Masters Degree in Business Administration with honors in 2005 from the Michael J. Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University. He recently earned his Managerial Coaching Certification and he will complete his Doctoral education in 2012.

Alvin has a strong commitment to family, community and personal development. He and Toni are the proud parents of Alicia, Alexandria and Amanda. As a past Finance Council member, a current lector and a Fourth- Degree Knight of St Peter Claver – he maintains leadership roles in the ministries of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Decatur, GA. Alvin currently serves as a board member of the Global Soap Project.