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Women in Technology (WIT) Special Edition

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Mona Charif

The work of Women in Technology has an incredible impact.
Since 1992, Women in Technology has had a mission dedicated to promoting the advancement of women in Georgia’s technology community. Through the WIT COMMUNITY, WIT Also educates and encourages girls and young women to pursue careers in STEM.

 

Sandy Welfare /  WIT 

Sandy D. Welfare is the Executive Director of Women In Technology (WIT). Prior to that, she was the Executive Director of Cool Girls Inc, an award-winning early intervention after-school program dedicated to the empowerment of girls (2009-2015).

Sandy’s career began in 1989 in Greenwich, Connecticut where she joined Rand Insurance as the Controller. Six years later, she accepted a position with Lucent Technologies, an international telecommunications leader, holding a number of positions including serving as Accounting and Treasury Manager in Singapore (1999-2000) and then as Senior Manager in Australia and New Zealand (2000-2002). Sandy returned to Atlanta in 2002 as Senior Manager of Global Financial Services.

In 2003, Sandy accepted a position as Director of Operations for Xchanging, a business processing outsourcing company. In 2006, her career took her to London, England as Managing Director for professional services, where she managed global business processing services for bank financial transactions, insurance and retail.

Sandy received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in New York, and a Master of Business Administration from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. She serves on the board of several non-profits, including Kiwanis Club of Atlanta. Sandy resides in Marietta, Georgia with her husband, Cliff and son, Soloman.

Twitter     Twitter(Sandy)      LinkedIn

 

Mona Charif / NTT Data, Inc.
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Mona Charif is an award-winning marketing and communications professional with a proven track record of over-achievement. She is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Office for NTT Data, Inc., a world-class IT services firm and systems integrator. Her focus is on programs and campaigns that increase client understanding of how NTT DATA helps them achieve their business goals.

Mona is dedicated to fostering awareness on diversity in the workplace, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) training for girls and young women. She is the proud mother of two exceptional teenagers, the wife of an extraordinarily patient man, and a devoted daughter and sister. Mona also enjoys tennis, gardening, travel, movies and award shows.

LinkedIn   Twitter

 

 

Digital Marketing Series Episode 7

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03-14-17-Thomas-Harpointner-Raychel-Sam2 (2)

 

Raychel Leong-Sullins / Maid Simple House Cleaning
VP of Operations

Raychel Sullins has been a part of Maid Brigade, Inc., since 1999. Her most recent position as VP of Operations, has provided the opportunity to oversee the Maid Simple concept since the first franchise opened in 2012. Raychel has worked in all aspects of the Maid Simple model, including new franchisee acquisition. Working with the franchise development team, Raychel assisted in locating and selecting AIS Media to be the SEM vendor for Maid Simple.

LinkedIn   Facebook

 

Thomas Harpointner (Co-Host) / AIS Media

Thomas Harpointner is founder & CEO of AIS Media, Inc., an Atlanta-based, award-winning digital marketing firm. Thomas is a recognized subject matter expert on digital marketing strategy development and execution.

Thomas has served as a keynote speaker at trade organizations, conferences, and corporate events. He has appeared on Fox Business, Bloomberg Television, CNN Radio, CNBC, The Advertising Show, The Today Show and many other TV and radio programs. He’s been featured in publications such as Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, CFO, AJC, Fortune, and Wired.

At AIS Media, Thomas consults executives at leading companies on digital strategy. He’s led hundreds of digital marketing initiatives for clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations such as AT&T, Synovus Financial, Emory Healthcare, Wake Forest Innovations, Pfizer, and Maui Jim Sunglasses. Under his leadership, AIS Media has been recognized with dozens of prestigious industry awards.

LinkedIn      Twitter

 

David Sheehan with Robert Half Technology, Margaret Lisi with ST!R Marketing and Author Chris Butsch

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David Sheehan, Margaret Lisi, Chris Butsch

 

David Sheehan / Robert Half Technology
Branch Manager

David Sheehan is branch manager of sales and recruiting for 2 divisions within Robert Half, including The Creative Group and Robert Half Technology. His practice areas include contract, direct hire, consulting, freelance. David’s specialties include UX/UI, design, development, e-commerce, advertising, creative, social media, digital,  and ERP. He finds jobs for technology professionals that consist of software developers, project managers, database specialists, networking and infrastructure specialists, and help desk support professionals.

Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of skilled IT professionals, specializing in consulting services on a project or full-time basis. A combination of online recruiting activities for job seekers and personalized service enables us to identify and provide the talent our clients need – when they need it most. For more information about Robert Half Technology, please visit our website at rht.com.

LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook

 

Margaret Lisi / ST!R Marketing
Owner

Margaret Lisi owns ST!R Marketing, a communications firm devoted to helping clients define and tell their stories to create a bond between people and business. A combination of disruptor, guide, corporate anthropologist and culture builder, Margaret uses these skills to help companies understand where they are and where they want to go, driving engagement, awareness and loyalty along the way.

Her expertise is around building dimensional programs of work for clients—whether it’s around a new or revitalized brand, changes to people, processes or technology, or simply building a strong culture. A constant learner, she’s touched virtually every aspect of communications and marketing, so she can see how to maximize the impact of a program on employees, customers and partners.

Margaret’s clients have ranged from major corporations to nonprofits and universities. She also has been committed to community service, serving on at least one nonprofit board at almost every point in her career.

Her efforts have resulted in successful marketing and advertising campaigns, millions of dollars in unearned media, and public speaking engagements on what she does and how she does it successfully.

LinkedIn   Twitter

 

Chris Butsch / The Millennial’s Guide to Making Happiness
Millennial Correspondent

Chris Butsch is BRX’s official Millennial Correspondent. A Millennial workplace and psychology expert, Chris published The Millennial’s Guide to Making Happiness in January 2017 and now works to reconnect Baby Boomers and Millennials.

 

Women in Technology (WIT) Special Edition

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Podcast: Download

The work of Women in Technology has an incredible impact.
Since 1992, Women in Technology has had a mission dedicated to promoting the advancement of women in Georgia’s technology community. Through the WIT COMMUNITY, WIT Also educates and encourages girls and young women to pursue careers in STEM.

WITSpecialEdition

 

Sandy Welfare /  WIT 

Sandy D. Welfare is the Executive Director of Women In Technology (WIT). Prior to that, she was the Executive Director of Cool Girls Inc, an award-winning early intervention after-school program dedicated to the empowerment of girls (2009-2015).

Sandy’s career began in 1989 in Greenwich, Connecticut where she joined Rand Insurance as the Controller. Six years later, she accepted a position with Lucent Technologies, an international telecommunications leader, holding a number of positions including serving as Accounting and Treasury Manager in Singapore (1999-2000) and then as Senior Manager in Australia and New Zealand (2000-2002). Sandy returned to Atlanta in 2002 as Senior Manager of Global Financial Services.

In 2003, Sandy accepted a position as Director of Operations for Xchanging, a business processing outsourcing company. In 2006, her career took her to London, England as Managing Director for professional services, where she managed global business processing services for bank financial transactions, insurance and retail.

Sandy received her undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in New York, and a Master of Business Administration from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. She serves on the board of several non-profits, including Kiwanis Club of Atlanta. Sandy resides in Marietta, Georgia with her husband, Cliff and son, Soloman.

Twitter     Twitter(Sandy)      LinkedIn

 

Richard Makerson / BlueFletch
Managing Partner

As the Co-Founder of BlueFletch, Richard is a Technical Manager with skills in Mobile, Microsoft .NET, and J2EE Application Development. Richard has also trained, deployed, and supported multiple application tiers across complex production environments. He has extensive technical experience in native, cross-platform and web-based mobile application development. Richard holds a BS in Computer Science from Morehouse College.

LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook

 

Nicole Gatlin / BlueFletch
UX/UI Designer

An ambition to build beautiful and intuitive designs gets Nicole out of bed each morning. At BlueFletch, she works as a User Experience and User Interface Designer. She has a background in visual design and holds degrees in Art History and Global Developmental Studies from Seattle Pacific University.

When she isn’t creating, you can find her rock climbing throughout the Southeast with her husband and pit bull.

LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook

 

Kira Greco / BlueFletch
Business Experience Lead

Kira has experience in business analysis, user experience, marketing, operations and project management. She has worked in many industries and uses her strong analytical skills to drive process performance and organizational efficiency. She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering and an M.S. in Construction Management and Engineering from Stanford University.

LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook

 

Larry Kihlstadius with Kinetix HR

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Larry Kihlstadius

 

Larry Kihlstadius / Kinetix HR 
Solutions Czar

Larry is responsible for the solution generation of new clients for Kinetix. Kinetix is the leader in recruiting driven by cutting edge recruitment marketing. Kinetix is at the forefront of developing talent once hired. Larry has led sales, consulted, and run P&Ls at several Global 1000 companies. He is a pioneer in the Human Resources Outsourcing market and developed the first Recruitment Process Outsourcing model to become commercially viable.

LinkedIn   Twitter

 

KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Mark Fonseca and Mike McCarthy

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Mark Fonseca and Mike McCarthy

KSUEntrepreneurship

Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

Mark Fonseca / Pragmetrix
Co-Founder and Partner

Mark has over 20 years of experience in consultative sales, sales management and client relations. As a top producer at Lanier Business Products, he sold document management solutions to a range of businesses and was prolific at establishing long term relationships.

Mark consults one on one with the most successful CEO’s and Executives in Atlanta and has interviewed thousands of Executives and Business Professionals. He has experience in Sales, Sales Management and Sales Training Best Practice. Currently Mark is the owner of his own private men’s custom clothing and executive image consulting business. He has developed strong business relationships with heads of State, CEO’s, top-level executives and successful entrepreneurs, through one on one consulting and exceptional customer service.

As a Partner in Pragmetrix, Mark is responsible for Client Relations, Business Development and conducting Client Interviews.

LinkedIn

 

Mike McCarthy / Pragmetrix
Co-Founder and Partner

Mike McCarthy has been passionate about delivering exceptional customer service since he started his career in the 1980’s with GE Technical Services Company.   Eleven years on the front lines of mission critical, capital intensive projects at client sites  instilled in him a core belief that every business decision must first and last be looked at through the customer’s eyes.  Mike has since held senior leadership roles in GE and Siemens Corporation and is a veteran of business and operational excellence methodologies such as Voice of the Customer, Six Sigma and the Net Promoter System®.

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, in 2004 Mike launched Pirtek Fluid Transfer Solutions in Atlanta. Today it’s the market leader in its industry in Georgia.  In 2011 Mike co-founded Pragmetrix to help small and medium size “B to B” businesses become the Loyalty Leaders in their industries, thus fueling their compound annual growth rate to more than twice that of the competitors.   Mike holds an honors degree in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Ireland and an MBA in Strategic Marketing from Trinity College Dublin.

LinkedIn

 

Joost Rutten with Liaison Technologies, Dwayne Hill with Ashton Woods, Millennial Author Chris Butsch and Matt Thomas with Brawl for a Cause

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Joost Rutten / Liaison Technologies

Mr. Joost Rutten has been Chief Financial Officer at Liaison Technologies, Inc. since January 19, 2017. Prior to joining Liaison, Mr. Rutten held strategic leadership positions at several organizations including SAP SuccessFactors, a leader in the fast growing Human Capital Management (HCM) cloud space which generates more than $1 billion in subscription revenue on an annual basis. As Division Chief Financial Officer, he was responsible for leading and managing the SAP SuccessFactors finance team and managing the Global SAP SuccessFactors P&L.

Mr. Rutten is the Co-Founder of Standard Tael BV. Joost worked in Corporate Banking, Investment Banking and Private Equity. Joost started his career at ABN AMRO bank as a management trainee, after which he joined ABN AMRO’s European Leveraged Finance team as an associate. In 2008, he joined the Secondary Investments Team of AlpInvest Partners in Amsterdam as an associate. AlpInvest is the world’s leading independent private equity fund of fund with over USD 50bn under management. At AlpInvest, he was responsible for executing secondary private equity transactions in Europe and the US, such as the acquisition of limited partnership interests and direct private equity portfolios. He served as Chief Financial Officer of a private equity backed start-up company in the US.

Joost holds a Masters in Aerospace Engineering from Delft University of Technology. He is also a CFA charter holder.

LinkedIn

 

Dwayne Hill / Ashton Woods

Dwayne Hill serves as Division President of Ashton Woods Atlanta. He is originally from North Carolina and moved to Georgia in 1978 where he graduated with a business degree from Georgia State University. Before finding Ashton Woods, Hill held division and corporate level positions at public and private builders. He began his career at Ashton Woods in 2010 as the Vice President of Sales, later to be named the National Vice President of Sales before becoming Division President of Ashton Woods Atlanta. Hill chose Ashton Woods because of the company’s land strategy and high level of personalization offered to homebuyers.

Outside of work, Dwayne enjoys spending time with his family, including three kids and two dogs. He also enjoys off-shore fishing and classic cars.

Twitter   Facebook

 

Chris Butsch / The Millenial’s Guide to Making Happiness

Chris Butsch is Atlanta Business Radio’s “Millennial Correspondent.” Author of The Millennial’s Guide to Making Happiness, Chris educates other generations on how to decrypt and connect with his unique generation.

LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook

 

Matt Thomas / Brawl For a Cause

Matt is a @GAfollowers event manager and writer, covering special events, technology, business, food and travel. An avid startup aficionado, Matt founded Brawl for a Cause, works on @Roadie’s pit crew, and can be found sweating at the Atlanta Tech Village ping pong table.

Twitter   Facebook

 

Biz Radio U Featuring Jeff Jahn with DynamiX

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Jeff-Jahn

KSUEntrepreneurship

Biz Radio U

Hosted by Adam Wozniak and Darren Parkinson

 

Jeff Jahn / DynamiX
Founder

Jeff Jahn founded DynamiX in 2005 as a college sophomore. Today it’s one of the most respected website development and software companies in the world, having been recognized with more than 585 awards in just the past three years. More importantly, DynamiX has created significant bottom line improvement for hundreds of amazing local, national and international businesses. DynamiX was named a 2016 Top 25 Small Business, and Jeff was recently recognized as one of three finalists in the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Small Business Person of the Year awards, in the experienced entrepreneur category.

In addition to DynamiX, Jeff has founded, or co-founded, five companies, including the world’s first neighborhood-based social media platform. He has contributed to Forbes, Inc. and Huffington Post, among others, and is a regular speaker on entrepreneurship and digital technologies.

Twitter   Facebook

 

Jimmy Etheredge with Accenture, Maurice Cherry with Lunch and Laura Flusche with Museum of Design Atlanta

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Accenture

 

Jimmy Etheredge / Accenture
Senior Managing Director, US Southeast Region

Jimmy Etheredge is a senior managing director at Accenture responsible for leading the company’s business in its US Southeast region, which covers 10 states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia—as well as the District of Columbia. In this role, Etheredge focuses on bringing innovation to clients, attracting top talent and strengthening the company’s impact in its local communities; he also serves as member of the North America Leadership Team and the Global Leadership Council.

Additionally, Etheredge is managing director for the company’s Atlanta office, where he provides oversight for developing local business relationships, expanding civic presence and fostering employee engagement.

Before being appointed to his current role in December 2016, Etheredge was senior managing director of Accenture’s Products operating unit in North America, where was responsible for Accenture’s business across a set of consumer-relevant industries: Retail; Consumer Goods & Services; Life Sciences; Automotive, Industrial Equipment, Infrastructure & Transportation Services; and Air, Freight & Logistics and Travel Services.

Among the other leadership roles that Etheredge has held during his 29 years with Accenture are global Customer Relationship Management lead for the Resources operating group and global lead for Accenture’s Retail Utilities practice. Etheredge spent six years based in London with global responsibilities before returning to Atlanta in 2007.

A graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in industrial engineering, Etheredge is an ardent supporter of his alma mater and a member of the Alexander Thorpe board of directors, the Hill Society and the Georgia Tech Lacrosse Advisory Board. He was honored as an inaugural inductee into the Georgia Tech College of Engineering’s Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni. An active member of the Boys Scouts of America, Etheredge sits on the Atlanta Area Council Board of Directors.

Etheredge lives in Atlanta with his wife and three children.

LinkedIn   Twitter  Facebook

 

Maurice Cherry / Lunch / Revision Path
Principal, Founder, Editor-in-Chief, Host

Maurice Cherry is the founder and principal at Lunch, a multidisciplinary studio in Atlanta, GA that helps creative brands craft messages and tell stories for their targeted audiences, including fostering relationships with underrepresented communities. Past clients and collaborators include Vox Media, NIKE, Mediabistro, Site5, SitePoint, and The City of Atlanta.

Maurice is a pioneering digital creator who is most well-known for the Black Weblog Awards, the Web’s longest running event celebrating Black bloggers, video bloggers, and podcasters. Other projects of Maurice’s include the award-winning podcast Revision Path, 28 Days of the Web, and The Year of Tea. His projects and overall design work and advocacy have been recognized by NPR, News One, CNN, AIGA, HOW, Print, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, and The Los Angeles Times.

Maurice is also an educator, and has built curricula and taught courses on web design, web development, email marketing, WordPress, and podcasting for thousands of students over the past ten years.

Maurice was named one of Atlanta’s “Power 30 Under 30″ in the field of Science and Technology by the Apex Society, one of HP’s “50 Tech Tastemakers” in conjunction with Black Web 2.0, and was selected by Atlanta Tribune as one of 2014’s Young Professionals.

Maurice holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Morehouse College and a Masters degree in telecommunications management from Keller Graduate School of Management.

LinkedIn   Twitter   Twitter   Facebook   Facebook

 

Laura Flusche / Museum of Design Atlanta
Executive Director

Laura Flusche has been a member of the MODA staff since 2010. Prior to joining MODA, Laura lived in Rome, Italy for fifteen years, where she was assistant academic dean of an American academic program; taught art history, archaeology, mythology, and ancient history to undergraduates; and excavated on the east slope of the Palatine Hill, near the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine.

In 2016, Laura received the Business Design and Arts Leadership Distinguished Alumni Award from the Savannah College of Art and Design where she earned a master’s degree in Arts Administration. She also holds a Ph.D. in Ancient Roman and Etruscan Art and Archaeology and an M.A. in Italian Renaissance Art. When asked about the transition from archaeology to design, she fiercely maintains that design is archaeology backwards.

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